Mystory@Ilayaraja D: How I overcame my weaknesses to establish my career

If I had to summarise the journey of my life in a few words, it would be: holding an Engineering Degree from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, average marks on the mark sheet, not eligible to sit for campus placement due to pile of arrears, not good at speaking English, no knowledge of any programming language, and no core subject knowledge.

With all this, going back to my village and doing some petty job would have been undisputed. But I did not sweat in school and college just to do that. This is how I was stranded in Chennai after graduation- without a job in hand. Invading companies without key weapon called ‘communication’ only helped me get rejected in interview-after-interview. But only thing I didn't lose was Hope.

After futile attempt in Chennai and Bangalore for four months, I got a job in small non-voice BPO in Electronic City. Within months, I got a better job (or that is what I assumed) in a Top IT company's BPO division, which seemed job for 'Engineer' in Chennai. First mistake.

Without even knowing the job description properly, I joined. It was a call center and I had to talk to Americans. My English was not even good enough to converse with Indians, speaking to Americans was out of question. I became speechless, the client was helpless and the HR was merciless. Result? I was jobless.

I sought refuge in non-voice BPO again and felt it as a safe haven even when the salary was paltry. But, I often felt that I could do better things. Only poor communication held me back. So, I improved my English by reading newspaper, novels and speaking in English.

As I wanted big break in career in terms of designation and salary, I quit job and prepared for MBA – here is where the real challenge began.

After many poor performance in practice tests, I slowly inched up but it was too less for coveted CAT, and I miserably failed in the same. Life appeared bleak and gloom. For 'what to do next' there seemed no plausible answer. But I had one last chance.

I had applied to XAT too and the test was just one month away. I practiced and revised subjects as much as I could and got a decent score. Surprisingly, I scored 95 percentile in English. But now another challenge started.

In all B-School selection, Group Discussion was a default round and clearing the same seemed like an insurmountable task for me. I lost chance in many colleges due to GD. However, in each interview that I attended, there some or the other takeaway. I gradually improved and finally got admission in Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore. Worst failures yet to come.

In secured a seat in the B-school, but in first term itself I failed that too to the extent of receiving a warning letter from the dean that had to be acknowledged by me saying that 'If I not improve, I could not go to the second year'. I had to work hard to get decent score. I could not risk the campus placement this time like I did in Engineering. So, my focus was to get a placement through campus interview, but this time again, my marks were mediocre just like those during Engineering days. So best performers got placed in Top IT companies and I, after many rejections, got placed in a Public sector bank. I was happy to have got my first ever decent job.

Finally, I choose the right career for myself.

I made many mistakes as given below:

Mistake 1: I didn’t not prepare myself to face the challenges posed by Engineering; I should have fixed my communication problem much earlier than I finally did. It would have avoided many problems later.

How did I fix it: I joined a spoken English course, learnt grammar, started reading ‘The Hindu’ newspaper voraciously, English novels, and tried speaking in English. I also created a vocabulary list in Excel and kept adding a new word whenever I came across one. The result of this was that the language, as much as it ditched me earlier, helped me later.

Mistake 2: I overlooked the job description while applying for the job. Without realising my strengths and weaknesses, I randomly accepted the job offer, and it resulted in my termination.

How did I overcome it: After realising my weakness and the need for fixing it, I took a job for survival and worked on fixing my communication problem.

Mistake 3: Wasted too much time without having a big ambition. Though I was decent enough in studies and confident enough to take bigger challenges, when I look back, I wonder, how on the earth I spent two full years without any real big aim in life! Despite a marginal pay and bottom- of- the- pyramid designation I was in the slumber.

How did I fix it: After two years in a mundane job, I wanted to get a big break in my career. I did MBA which helped me to get a decent job. However, I am not suggesting or endorsing the decision of doing MBA to anyone. Whatever works best for you to achieve your dream, pursue that.

What worked for me:

One thing that changed my life was, fixing my communication problem. Learning to speak in English really changed my misfortune and knowing the language well now is key reason for where I am today.

Tips for career selection

Whatever job you get accept it. But, be quick enough to understand what works best for you and what not, what are you interested in and what not. If you fancy some job and if you lack the required skill then fix your weakness and try for that.

Don’t be too stubborn with choice of job. Here is an example: My MBA classmates who were toppers in finance, got job in IT and marketing and other non-finance streams. I started as a banker and credit underwriter and am now working as a Decision Scientist, which is a technical job. So, in reality more often than not, what you study becomes irrelevant to what job you do. Just picking it up on the way and moving forward works often. The willingness to learn new things and the ability to adopt to new situations will help you survive in the ever competitive job market.

About the Author:

I was born and brought up in Krishnagiri district in Tamilnadu. I am a voracious reader, interested in fiction and non-fiction. More interested in inspirational stories from ordinary lives however small the achievement might be. I am passionate about teaching: be it to school kids or graduates. I am also a published Author. My first novel was “Stories after They Slept: Account of a failed Engineer”.