Kartikey's decision
There is nothing wrong with kartikey's decision. We are all not made for flying high in corporate world. We don't have to go by the trent. There are majority of the population who are working in grass root and sustaining our economy. There are equally important as the CEO of a company sitting in his A/C cabin.
If Kartikey felt that he is not enjoying his job (and so called 'rate race'), he should immedietely move out and choose something which he thinks will enjoy. And he exactly did that.
I would definitely support a friend who will contemplate to a similar act.

Too many Verticals make your life horizontal
True. Many of us want to change the flavour too soon. Corporate world has become more of a war zone than just cubicles. People want to win one after the other. Patience is lost too quick, thrist for new thrill is shooting up day by day. People take decisions in haste and decide to change job profile too often (for career prospect, for learning and sometimes for sheer thril).
This may be dangerous in many aspects.
- Unpreparedness may lead to loss of business and loss of face
- Lack of indepth knowledge about the vertical leads to incompetence
- Insufficient experience may lead to leadership crisis
Knowledge can be read, but wisdom has to be achived. That needs time.

Too many Jobs make your life a Transit camp
Similar to changing too many verticals, changing too many jobs too is fatal for one's career. I think one needs to align oneself with the mission, vision of a company and accordingly act to be a true professional. Changing comapanies too frequently may lead to loss of vision and aim in life.

Organization's role in offering career choice
An organization has variety of roles and responsibilities. If carefully dealt with, organization can be in a position to prioritize employee's aspiration and offer a role in accordance with that. It may not be possible all the time, but given a proper transition cycle, its very much doable. But again its a question of scale and consistency.

People leave Managers, not Organization
This is one of the most hyped corporate myth. People dont live Manager truly. They make their manager an excuse to leave the organizatoin. There are instances where they may have issues with Manager, but if properly handled, there can be alternates. Such as changing of department, changing of reporting structure. It depends how HR handles such a situation.

A career is one

I am completely agreed with Babita. We should admit that our career growth depend on us. We should do what we wish to do. Only our passion can able to grow our career graph.

In the both cases of Mr. Komisar and Mr. Kartikey, we see that Komisar kept changing jobs getting knowledge in different fields and trying to do things that he found interesting. As a result he was a satisfied person and loved his job and succeeded. In career development, self-knowledge is everything. In a career, you can be two or three degrees off course and walk into a wall, instead of through a doorway. You don't have to be far off to have it fail. Career unhappiness often results from limited self-knowledge. Komisar acquired self-knowledge from different working fields, but in case of Kartikey he worked in the same field, he was doing well but ultimately he was not happy because his interest lied somewhere else.

In modern times you have to be always on the look out for a better opportunity. Money wise, job satisfaction wise, environment wise, prospective wise. If you get a job best by all means or you get a chance to work elsewhere where it promises greater prospects, nothing is wrong for shifting. But simply shifting from job to job is no good practice. Many companies will be hesitant to hire someone who's going to disappear on them frequently, especially if a job involves a significant amount of training. Only when you feel that your interest is gradually going to collapsed on your job, nothing is left behind for your organization and vice-versa, and then you should change your job.

Mr. Kartikey was right to take the decision, though he realized after 14years; he was finally doing what he really wanted to do.

Whatever Mr. Bagchi says it’s true that we have to satisfy job and job does not satisfy us, but we need to know what we want to do and we have to choose our career accordingly. That is where Kartikey went wrong as per my opinion. I observe that if you have worked same job in a company more than 3 years, you will reach the saturation point as per job or career, unless you shift on another job.

It is true that about 80% of people are unhappy at work and only 20% are happy. Our culture has separated work from passion, and taught us to prefer a higher paycheck to higher happiness. That mistake costs us our souls. The goal of career development is to uncover one's gifts and passions, and to link them to the practical needs of the world. We describe as "being in the right place," "finding a good fit," or "making the best use of one's talents."

On the conclusion, I feel that high compensation and high happiness are not incompatible. It's not that we shouldn't seek money. But we should first seek to love, or at least to like, what we're doing. That's the realization of our highest calling.

A career one

Non Career, Career Path:
A real interesting story of Komisar. He was doing the job on his own terms and risking himself. I have met two persons till date who works for the job 2 to 3 years and changes it on regular basis. While discussion with them I understood from both of them due to some circumstances in their early part of career they were forced to change their jobs frequently and then, they get accustomed to the remuneration and losses due to change of job and have no dread . The changing job itself becomes their passion and side of that sometimes they get better deal which makes a jump in their career. However in my view changing 11 jobs in 25 years span is not possible in normal circumstances and choosing adventures non Career, Career is an extreme end of career building methods.
Kartikey; marketing job, 14 hours a day a ridiculous pursuit:
After working for 10 to 15 years and getting fulfilled his moderate needs , in his mid way of working life a person starts reconciling what actually he has done till date and how in future, he is going to be recognised. Some person thinks to be an entrepreneur and some thinks giving back to society, humanitarian and so on. Hence Kartikey decision was very good as long as a person can afford to take steps in his life.
People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers
I believe organisation is run by a group of people and managers are the representative of an organisation. An organisation culture prevails in any organisation and the same gets reflected through their managers. Manager as an individual sometimes has influence. However in most of the cases it is the organisation behaviour influences the people. Hence I believe it’s the organisation which people leave; there is no question of leaving managers in usual cases.

Career Decisions

I do agree with Komisar here – A career is after all what you make of it. If you are drawing a fat paycheck and have a lot of perks and amenities, it does not imply that you are satisfied with the nature of your work. Working on what you like surely has its own benefits, you put in real efforts as you like your work and the money is bound to follow.

One might take up jobs in various kinds of disciplines and yet excel in all, though people might call that person ‘Jack of all trades and King of none’ but that’s his/her way of working. Komisar is such a person. These kind of people love to broaden their horizon of friends/acquaintances and also to learn things from people of all walks of life. The best part of his way of work is he has the option of doing what he likes. He can fail at times but that would be his own decision. Although there are deadlines to meet and goods to be delivered, he is not restricted with his scope of work nor does he have to have a boss who rules his every decision. Given a chance, I myself would like to try working on a myriad of platforms.

In the case of Kartikey, he is a person who is over-burdened with work and does not have the time to stop and smell the roses. Kartikey has arrived at his decision by thinking over for quite sometime and if he were my friend I think I would not advise him on anything. He is the best judge of his decision as he is the only one who knows why he has taken this decision. On the other hand there are people who are workaholics and perfectionists – those who love to spend 14-18 hours of their day working and they are satisfied doing that.

Both, Komisar and Kartikey are right in their own way – each individual is different – one man’s food is another man’s poison! What may suit one might not suit the other. Kartikey derives satisfaction from helping others whereas Komisar loves to gamble, as he has explained it – but his gambling is of another kind – he likes to gamble with ideas, as many at a time as is humanly possible. He likes to pour energy into them and see if they'll ignite.

The statement - “If you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent” does not hold true for all. In the IT industry where I work, the attrition rate is very high and people at the lower rung change jobs almost twice a year. They are very successful in their jobs and tend to learn not only the technicalities of the job but also the processes of the various companies that they work at. But at the same time, there have been cases where we have Senior Managers, who have worked for around 10-12 years in the same company, have got thorough knowledge of the various cycles and processes involved and are terrific in understanding any application/business unit despite of not having worked on any of them. They are a major asset to the company and these people drive the projects very well.

The best part of working in an IT industry is that we are allowed to change our projects after every 2 years. This way we can move from one domain to another with ease. Some companies also offer to train their employees in different platform if the employees are keen on learning new things. This way there are less cases of burn-out as I myself feel that after working for 2-3 years in the same project – one cannot contribute anything more to the project. The work becomes monotonous and people tend to leave the company in search of a new job. Learning new technologies help the employee in getting over the boredom as well as achieve job satisfaction. We have had such a case in my previous organization – people who had completed 2 years in our project were given the option of moving to an altogether different technology and it was in a different domain. The technology was a hot skill and experienced people for that skill were very less. So the company decided to take candidates from its own workforce and train them and bring them on-par for the project requirement. This way people are able to change their domain and the company too need not hire highly paid resources.

Moving from one job to another – across different domains is good for people who get bored very easily and dread doing the same thing again and again. These kinds of people enjoy the thrills of learning new stuff, meeting new people. In a short stint they might multiply the profitability of the organization and once their job is done, they move to fresher pastures. Such people are good in projects which have stringent deadlines and high visibility. They work very well under tremendous pressure and are risk taking in nature. But the same thing holds true here too – some people might not like such kind of jobs.

Working across different domains helps one understand the functioning of various domains as a whole and how one domain’s functioning affects the functioning of the other. This makes an individual aware of the business processes underlying that domain and also the others.

Not only does Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of MindTree Consulting say that “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”, this statement has also been made by Azim Premji – the Chairman of Wipro Limited. Managers do play a very pivotal role in shaping the career of an employee. If the Manager is a good person – takes active part in the betterment of the career of the individual – then his subordinates look up to him. They do not think twice on staying late to finish an important assignment, people even stay late without any overtime. The manager fights for the benefit of his subordinates and maintains the unity in the team. Such a person plays a crucial part in moulding the professional life of his subordinates. If the manager is not good enough, then his subordinates will not respect him and if persistently harassed, they will seek new jobs. We had an associate manager who was very friendly and approachable. He used to actively seek opinions from us regarding our work, chalk out guidelines, stay back with us if we had some unfinished deadlines to meet. He was the one who fought with our Project manager to give us home drop as we used to work till late hours. We never thought twice for working late to finish our work and used to work on weekends too. The day he left the project, we stopped working late as the new manager was in no way close to what our old manager was!

Komisar, Kartikey and Bagchi: Visualizing three different (but connected) dimensions.

Komisar vouches for a go-getter who makes a career (or no-career) by cruising into the corporate world in full throttle, one racing track at a time. It works for him, so for few others. Some people like it stationary, some like it constantly changing. There are CEOs who pick up an ailing company every third year to turn its fortune around, and do it with style. And there were CEOs who joined the organization as mere foreman and retired as CEO. Both have different taste, both justify their career.
Kartikey wants thinks enough-is-enough! He clearly is an idealistic mind who manages to measure what he is losing in return of what he is gaining. With due respect to motivational speeches, sayings and quotes, after all we are (well, a majority of us) are mere humans; with real emotion and real stretching-limits. There are times when, if you don’t enjoy it here, you will not enjoy elsewhere. Kartikey’s marketing career is in such a juncture, where he had to think about a radical change. To make peace with his inner voice, his conscience. It did not click in marketing for him. But it may in social service. Why not? After all, it’s all there in the mind. Stupid!
Bagchi’s voice to me looks like an appeal to employees from an employer. Especially to those employees who are bitten by the career bug. While his attempt to shed the ‘Over’ expectation of employees from company is crisp in this article, his attempt to discourage employees from dreaming has bitten the dust completely. While I appreciate the service of our apartment cleaner, I would definitely not teach my kid to be satisfied with a mediocre job like the apartment cleaning guy. I think nobody would.
Of these, the one appeals to me the most is Kartikey’s angle. Work should be a celebration. Despite its providing me a luxury car and posh lifestyle, if it’s taking a toll on every moment of my LIFE, I would rather settle for less and try enjoying more. It really takes so much of suffering that a successful (?) guy like Kartikey decides to give up everything and start living. A prison is a prison, who cares what is it made of!

“If you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree?

I think it’s all about a fine balance. Apart from few exceptions (or exceptional people), does anyone decide before joining a job, when he is going to quit? Nobody likes to quit but forced to by circumstances. Few planned transitions (for a raised bar of remuneration, higher grade, intermediate jobs) are necessary in a career, but a job has to be of full cycle. It has set of phases. Joining, Learning, Performing, Transforming and Saturating. While time for these phase are not fix, phases are inevitable. Quitting in between is always dangerous. Changing or Switching of jobs should not be planned, but be forced (by internal or external stimuli). Manager, Role, Saturation, Growth (or more precisely not of it) are such stimuli. We are not in a race of maximum number of jobs we switch in our career, but the sense of achievement we carry home day in and day out.

Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them?

Reiterating the similar sentiment as of last response, a job has a full cycle. Domain is incidental, professionalism is perpetual. A professional can switch to any domain, any role with proper grooming and in sufficient span of time.

“People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. What is your experience / opinion?

At home we are son, spouse, brother and dad. But at office we wear a mask that’s stuck to our face even after we come home. Although we promise to leave our file at office while driving home, we hardly manage to overcome office trauma at home. We are highly influenced (sometimes intoxicated) by job demand. Especially when time is not-so-good, it shows in the face and it becomes a necessity to change the tag. Occasionally thanks to the Manager.

A CAREER IS A ONE....

Hi Everyone...

Query 1:

Komisar was bold and brave enough to take the decision of changing his job. I would rather stay in the same organization to learn more about it, would never take such decision based on passion to make things simple. I would rather take a Chance of changing myself for the sake of organizational benefits. Frequent changing in would not be fruit full at times.Though Komisar was enjoyed every where he had worked, but still it will always have bad impact on him.

In case of Karthikey, he is freshers to the industry, at times people should be given time for learning. I mean to say, there is a learning period in every one's professional life. Until you are well versed about the product/market on which your company is dealing with. It could tough for anybody while doing planning about the new product/scheme/strategy which is launching in the market. So Karthikey should give time to his first job to learn more about the industry. It would beneficiary for him while planning seating inside the cold room.

As both the cases are different from each other, need to be discussed differently.

Query 2:

I strongly oppose such comments that "If you are tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent". I have a list of managers who all are working in the same organizations for more that five (5) years. They all are well settled in the organization and they got huge power. Employee who are working more than five years in an organization gets more privilege than other employees. Even at times it can also be found that, an old employee who is working an organization more than four or five years are given more value than the other one by the management. They become more trustworthy to the organizations. When such employees are stating something in front of the management, it means they would taken as first choice. Most of the time employees having much experience in an organization being looked after in a different way. It has also been seen that they are given more value than a newly joined MD/COO. An employee of having more than five years in the same organization is an asset to the organization.

Yes, there are also some cases where employees can't change their job, because of their incompetency.

Query 3:

It's true that, changing job that too very often in unrelated domain is good for one's career. In to days market condition, one should be expertise in his own field. Changing job in unrelated domain would spoil ones career. Today's organization plays huge role in choosing ones career. It has been seen in the organization that a SCM/HR guys are making calls to their customers to get feedback on their products or and finance guy is doing HR practices into the system. It is due to the pressure of the organization. And the result would either good or bad. Bad part is the- bad quality report, and the good part is that one SCM/HR guy is getting expertise into the functions. While changing such roles into the system one ca find their suitable place. Giving pressure to the employees organizations sometime plays a role to choose ones career.

Query 4:

Yes, it very much true that, employee leave organizations for managers. At times the fate of the employee depends on the managers feedback. It is very much true in to days organizations that buttering and welling plays a very important role in ones career. Employees who fails to do this, they are not a good performer to their bosses. As a result they are not being focused and given good rank. In such a condition however good performer you are, you must be frustrated and leave the organization. Do some personal/professional favour to your manager would take you to the high.

But there are also some good managers, who look their buddies as per their quality and as they should be treated.

I don't think that anyone can influence your career. If you have the potential in you, no one can stop you choosing the right path of your career. They can suggest you, but can't influence you.

Submitted By:

Debasis Chakraborty

U610077

A Career is a One

I do agree with Deepak that changing Job very frequently is not good for any individual.I would like to share my career experience, I started working when I was in +2 Final year for a Real Estate Company that point of time I was completely blank, there was no one to guide me.Then after completing my Graduation I worked for a Call Center then for a Educational Institute then for a Event management company then at last I ended up with Kingfisher Airlines.When I started working with Kingfisher I saw that my Resume has all total 6 ex-Company's name for which I have worked. Now I landed up with a Private Aircraft operator where during my Interview they asked me why you have worked and left so many companies, for which I was answer less as I have worked for many company that are into different business product and aspects.

Keeping my personal experience in view I think if an individual changes job very frequently is not at all good for an individual as it shows how frequently his/her mind changes.

Does others influence your career ?
It depends on every individual that how they react with their working environment and situation.My Ex-manager used to say that people never change Company, they change their boss.Sometimes if a person reacts to something which his manager says and takes it personally that may become a reason which influence the career of that individual.As far as my opinion is concerned I always suggest everyone that "please do not mix your personal life with Professional and Professional with personal.If anytime your senior screams on you that is not his personal grudge,that is his work pressure and responsibility.the day when you reach at his level you will also do the same thing but try to do it in different way that you achieve your goal".

Thank you

Dwarika-U610020

A Career is one

The story of Komisar and Kartikey contradict each other in a way.Komisar says that career is after all what you make it.This is absolutely acceptable.In both the cases its the individuals who decided to change the jobs which Komisar did and take a break from present job of marketing and engage self in some other like Kartikey.None of them kept themselves idle inspite of being discontent of the present job.Its always the individual who shapes his/her career and opportunities which helps them to do so.In my veiw Kartikey's decision is right to live a peaceful life may not be right with regards to his carreer.I am sure most of us will cherish to have such break from the cat race going on provided the person is not too much materialistic and money oriented.Its very much true that our lifes are too much mechanised and dictated by routine where human being will try to deviate at some point of time.What we notice now a days that job hops doesnt include mere salary hikes but seeks for places where a person can conveniently be in touch with friends and relatives.Komisar's jump to various fields may not meet conventional standards but it added to his knowledge and experience and that helped him in long run.
Its ok to have a change in job profile if we feel we have gained ample knowledge in that area or we can do better in the next venture which will help us anyways.Not only in the duo case many people dont like to be commanded,frequently scrutinized and interrupted the way they work.This one of the causewhy people keep changing jobs.Being at one place cant be said as incompetency.It has got its own pros and cons as has a slow carreer growth as in public sectors.Senario isdifferent in private sectors where performance plays vital role.These are very debatable topics.I think it could be a relevant example where mostly this present generation is practising including me.We are pursuing electronics,electrical or mechanical engineering as a carreer andjump into a management carreer even without having a feel of the engineering carreer.It depends on individuals how they cop with their decisions to have a growth.
Subrao Bagchi has rightly said that people leave managers not organization.I have many examples where my friends who work in different organizations have quit only because of the managers.The usual complain which i have noticed is the injustice done to their caliber,lack of recognisation of their delivered work,improper career paths defined for them and partial decisions by managers on the ground of linguistic community.Whereas these reasons can be well addressed by a manager.Even there are cases where associates departed from the team or organisation as the manager changed or they moved along with the managers.Besides other parameters for parting from an organization like Salary,location,job preferences,manager's role has got a major contribution.In our organization there are few managers who very well address the concerns of associates like relocation,domain preference,recognition,setting carreer development path where there a minimum rate of attrition as associates feel secured and can forsee the growth.I would say that influence of the parents,friends and colleagues even have an impact in carreer choices mostly for female associates.Due to family they have limited location preferences or can say no preference.In case they need to relocate to perform a higher role they sometimes cant due to lack of proper family support.Many a times people join the company where they have friends or ex colleagues.So though its finally the individual's decision but it carries the impact of surroundings.

Virtual CEO

Yes, I agree with Pranati that manager/bosses influence career of their buddies. I will also take pleasure to express my experience regarding the same. I work with a company where talent is less important than loyalty as people from outside see this organisation but as a lower/middle level manager we see exactly opposite. Here we find that the employee should be loyal enough to his/her boss instead of organisation. Once upon a time there was less demand of talent in this organisation but not now. now a days talent are much more employed and their career is purely depend on their so called loyal boss who decide the fate of their buddies.

I started my career in electrical/electronic maintenance in this organisation. I got an offer of doing cross functional assignment for about one year where I was very successfull. My unit head as well as I wanted to switch over and continue to new assignment but my immediate superior did not and as a result I had to come back to maintenance once again. The very reason behind the leg pulling is not that I was indespensible to this department instead the reason was loyalty to my immediate boss.

Now coming to the influence of family, freinds and colleague: Yes, all they have very big role to decide one's career. Family or specifically parent sometimes impose their want or need to their children. Sometimes children also get influenced to see their parents the way they live. Yhe act of playing in childhood sometimes become the real life role when chidren mature. Same thing happened to Mr. Randy Komisar. He saw the seriousness of his father regarding career. Moreover the socioeconomic condition of the individual plays a vital role. The way people grow up in developed country, the facility they get, the environment they are surrounded by, the culture they swim into are totally different in developing country like ours and the developed country like Mr. Randy Komisor. Mr. Komisor had the luxury of styding at Harvard, working with apple and floating the life as he wanted. To him life is not to struggle but for willingness to see himself/herself as the individual want. To him, he is the virtual CEO and least bother to the way world think.

Friend and colleague pressure is the one which never ending force sometime decides one's career. This pressure force to take some career path where individual satisfy their ego by comparing economic status, social status, positional status and sometime self satisfaction with the view of 'grapes are sour'. Mr. Randy Komisor never thinks of others though he needs not to be but in our society, it is difficult to supress the external forces. Living beyond all expectation and isolating private life and professional life is not so easy in our society where individual works for 16 hrs a day and merely gets 8 hrs for other activities This horse racing is not only to acheive the target one set for his career but also sometime to sustain in present global competetive market. I think, most of the cases, least likely we get an opportunity to opt for career path rather than we force-fit ourselves where sustenance is a big question in our society depending on demography, race, caste, age and educational background.
When we talk about freind pressure, I can remeber one of my friends who could not join in IIT instead did BE from regional engineering college, still he desires to get a MBA degree from Harverd to compete his friend who did B tech from IIT
I see careervis not independent of variables like family, friends, relatives, surroundings, culture, race, demography rather it very much sensitive to the external factors where we need to manage career instead of making career.

Virtual CEO

Virtual CEO…


1 ) Komisar claims that a career is after all what you make it. Do you agree? If so, are you ready to take up the non-career career path? To make things simple, would you only do things you are passionate about and call it a career like Komisar calls himself as a “Virtual CEO”? On the contrary, Kartikey claims that his marketing job where he spent 14 hours a day as ridiculous pursuit and decides to call it a day! Do you think Kartikey has taken a right step in his career? If you were his friend, what would have advised him? How would you related Bagchi’s ideas on Job Satisfaction with Kartikey’s experience?


ANS: Komisar was brave and bold enough to do what he was passionate about.This type of boldness is not prevalent in every individual.I personally feel I would not have done things purely based on my passion to make things simple. Though I am a person getting bored with the routine nature of the job still I would have still taken time in jumping jobs and would have tried my maximum to stay with an organization till both are at a benefit.

And Karthikey’s claim about his present job and his dissatisfaction is welcome. But this point arises in each one’s life during some point of life. But I think I would have advised Karthikey to bring his dissatisfaction under control and to see at the brighter side of his job rather than quitting his well paid job.

Both the case are rather differet. Komisar ‘s nature is of a very restless type of person who cannot stay in a single job but he enjoys wherever he goes. Whereas Karthikey is totally frustrated about his job and feels he is not living his life to the fullest.So both are different cases about 2 different personalities and in both the cases there are different levels and types of dissatisfaction.

2 ) Komisar claims that by conventional standards, his resume is a disaster. Eleven companies in 25 years. On the other hand, I have heard people saying, “if you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree? Few years back, one of our PGDM participants was offered a job where he had prior experience. But our quintessential XIMB participant insisted on a job profile in unrelated domain. When asked by the recruiter as why he wanted a different profile, he told the recruiter, “Sir, I want to work in as many verticals as possible”. The immediate reply from the recruiter was, which I liked the most, “too many verticals make your life horizontal”.

ANS: Staying in the same job for more than 3 years means you are incompetent is a very wrong notion. In fact I believe it will differ in every organization. Most of the organization will prefer that you stay with them for a long time. It is because you know the job well and the people and your familiar with their policies. Teaching a new person once you quit is a tedious job as the organization has to once again groom the new person. So it’s always wished that the employee stays as long as he can in the organization.

And also for the employee satying more than 3 years is a good deal. He creates a name in the organization in three years and then if he continues there he would be at an advantage because his chances of getting promotions and increments will be quite high then.

3) Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?

ANS: Changing job in unrelated domains may or may not be challenging at times. Its better to have a change always but only if the employee is smart enough to grasp the changes he has to face in the new work. Only then it would prove to be beneficial. This is my view.
In today’s organization I feel people are given huge opportunities to work in different domains inside the organization.They are given a different domain to work with where they can expand tehri scope of knowledge. But yes the choices are to be given keeping the employee’s interest in mind.

4) Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of Mind Tree Consulting, once wrote “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. Do you think managers / bosses influence the careers of their buddies? What is your experience / opinion? Further, do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?

ANS: For the first question I definitely agree that managers and bosses influence the careers of their buddies. I have had my own experience of not getting to work with a good manager and the difficulties I had due to this. It was very difficult to justify my work in front of my colleague’s of similar experience and age group because they were blessed with good managers to groom them.
But it can be argued that what if the boss is not effective, the individual should be able to groom himself and take his career forward if he has the will to do it. But this natural instinct need not be strong in every other individual. Thus for the rest I strongly feel a good boss is a must to influence the career of their buddies at least at the beginning of each person’s career.
In a society like ours parents’, friends and colleagues influencing an individual‘s career choices may not be true in every case. It depends on each person‘s family background and their way of looking at things. There are families who leave the decision of the individual’s career on him and are ready to face the constraints or benefits due to that. And there are opposite cases also where the individual is forced to think about the family before thinking about his career.
Colleagues and friends also influence an individual’s career but as I said it need not be a generalized statement. It can differ according to the people and their attitude.

A Career is One

Changing jobs frequently is not very good for an individual that too in todays world , where there is a cut throat competition and a job scarcity situation . I would therefore suggest people not to take risks of changing frequently and also , not to try out different domains. I strongly recommend an individual to focus on a career which he / she is well versed , expertise and enjoy doing it . I have seen people changing industry and failing miserably though the job responsibilities were almost the same . One should enjoy the job he/she is doing and excel in that particular area as in todays world every one looks for an expertise . Becoming a " Jack of all trades and masters of none " is a bit riskier in todays world .
In shaping up of an individuals career , the responsibility also lies in the organizations which can and should play an pivotal role . This will help both the organization and the individual to progress and develop further in tandem . Also this will uplift the image of the organization in the market .
My personal experience in this regards has been very good as my present employeer is doing a lot in this direction . The HR department has taken this responsibility and assignment to ensure that the company gets an competitive edge over others and meet the purpose and vision of the company . My company has identified the best talents in the organization and are taking them through different coaching so that the succession plan can be lined for the future .
This may be the practice in lot of other companies so that companies have an edge over others and to ensure that talents don't move out who are so very important for the companies growth .
Does others influence your career ?
My view in this regards shall be very candid , open and different from majority as my response is neither YES nor NO as I strongly feel and believe that career decisions and matters should not be influenced by anyone else . But unfortunately it does gets effected by relations , peers , bosses , managers etc. This is very tragic . I would urge people reading my blog , plz don't allow others to take a decision on your behalf as far as your career is concerned . To avoid this situation , I follow a very simple mantra - listen to everyone very pateintly but finally do what your heart says . This gives you an immense satisfaction after you have taken the decision , whether it was right or wrong , as the decision was yours . In my case , if the decision taken was right , I used to be thrilled and if the decision was wrong still I felt satisfied as I knew that it was my decision and there is no one to be blamed . Slightly philosiphical but that is how it should be and that is how I am . I have garnered this from my personal experience which I wanted to share with all of you . Would request the readers of this blog to respond on my view , may be for or against .

A Career Is a One...

Dear Participants,


I am happy to receive a number of requests from our participants to share their experiences of career through our dialectic forum. Besides, the four questions that I posted yesterday, we may go through the interesting story of Mr. Randy Komisar (sent through email) and compare it with that of Kartikey (in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

Komisar claims that a career is after all what you make it. Do you agree? If so, are you ready to take up the non-career career path? To make things simple, would you only do things you are passionate about and call it a career like Komisar calls himself as a “Virtual CEO”? On the contrary, Kartikey claims that his marketing job where he spent 14 hours a day as ridiculous pursuit and decides to call it a day! Do you think Kartikey has taken a right step in his career? If you were his friend, what would have advised him? How would you related Bagchi’s ideas on Job Satisfaction with Kartikey’s experience?

Komisar claims that by conventional standards, his resume is a disaster. Eleven companies in 25 years. On the other hand, I have heard people saying, “if you tend to stay with one company for more than two to three years, you are seen as incompetent”. Do you agree? Few years back, one of our PGDM participants was offered a job where he had prior experience. But our quintessential XIMB participant insisted on a job profile in unrelated domain. When asked by the recruiter as why he wanted a different profile, he told the recruiter, “Sir, I want to work in as many verticals as possible”. The immediate reply from the recruiter was, which I liked the most, “too many verticals make your life horizontal”.


Changing jobs, that too very often in unrelated domains, is it good for one’s career? How do you see them? What do you think as the role of today’s organizations in providing career choices to individuals?

Subrato Bagchi, the Gardener (???) and COO of MindTree Consulting, once wrote “People don’t leave organizations, they leave only Managers”. Do you think managers / bosses influence the careers of their buddies? What is your experience / opinion? Further, do you think career choices for an individual in a relational society like ours is largely influenced by parents, friends and colleagues more than the forces acting within organizations?

With Regards,
Ganesh
 
P.S: This dialectic forum will be open till 31st August 2010.

Letter of Intent

1. Every one thinks differently and every one have different views on this subject.From my point of view world class employer has been doing excellent works and the company brand image is definately good in competitive business market. And to maintain the brand image is also a difficult task for the entire organization and they have to adopt new innovative technological and strategic changes to compete the market. Due to recession mostly IT company’s are badly affected. Infosys is a good brand image company and they have set a good example in the IT world and that’s why are top in IT sector. Economic meltdown / slowdown is for all IT sector and not for this company only and this is well known to all . So there is no question of loosing “The Best Employer Brand Image" .
The recession is also for temporary period and big IT companies can recover fast once the recession is over
2. At the time of campus interview company’s makes a condition that selected candidate should have first class in final exams and give him / her an offer letter, letter of intent , but after joining if he / she couldn’t get the first class then company terminates him/ her and pull back the letter and in that case there is no question of loosing brand image of the firm or company because of their recruitment policy. Its again the question of reputation of the company eg. for particular company recruits only first class passed candidates. Its totally company’s decision to choose the candidates as per the their required candidates prospectus If we think legally company is not bound to recruit whom they had given offer intent letter but they will loose good prospective candidates and affected candidates will get disappointed. Infosys had not cancelled the job offer they cancelled intent of offer. For some candidates it would be difficult for them to distinguish job offer and the letter of intent
3. As a placement officer I would have adopt following clear cut policies of placements
I – Invite all company’s not only IT sector companies and before inviting one to one discussion with the firm recruitment policies with the respective organization. Discussion with candidates and clear the concepts of job offer and the letter of intent to avoid misunderstanding
II – If and unpleasant decision has required to be taken then company should again consider that candidate when the recession is over with written agreement.
III – Knock out recruitment policies. Once the candidate has got placement in one company he can’t appear for the next company. This would give 100% placement.
IV – I would ask the written bond from the company for fixed period say one year. If any unpleasant situations comes then company should pay compensation to that candidates so that he would not be disappointed and he can search the new job or further higher studies without loosing his moral
4. No one from my friend circle had such kind of experience.

1) The domain of ‘Best Employer Brand Image’ is not limited within the recruitment of freshers or
Keeping promises about recruiting. How a company treat its employees, how they are comfortable in the working environment of the company, how are the employee welfare policies there, how transparent is the organization in any transaction with it’s employees. All these factors mainly decide about the brand image of any organization as a best employer. As far as I understood, due to recession/slowdown these companies rejected the offers of ‘would be employees’. If we see it in a business or legal or in a large scale point of view it does not affect the brand image of the company but certainly affect the beliefs of freshers/students who aspire to join these organizations. It may create a temporary competitive disadvantage. In this context I think Infosys could show tolerance and sustainability by retaining the offers. They could delay it to resolve the issue. In fact I have faced a similar environment where I was recruited by Infosys in 2008 and due to recession they extend the training period but not rejected a single job offer in entire country. They have showed leadership by example in such a tough condition, where companies like Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley fall down. May be Infosys learnt it from its previous experience which helps it to gain competitive advantage in such a tough situation.
According to me such short term issues are not much powerful to hamper any large company’s image though such incidents should be avoided to maintain the honor, values, and promises.

2) Yes, I agree with the statement as they are legally 100% correct. In ‘intent of offer’ there is no obligation present that company is bound to absorb the offered candidates. In that context the Infosys spokesperson is correct. Because by this ‘intent of offer’ both the company as well as students is free to search for better options. It is not observed by any of us that many students among the groups are also selected by other organizations. These candidates choose for more options probably better options for them. If they are not bound to the offer or not questioned about loyalty then why the company? In today’s world there should be back up plan for every situation. It is applicable to organizations as well as to individuals. Blaming other for bad situation is not advisable thing; better prepare yourself for tougher and competitive world. I think those students who have visions and caught two job offers had better and longer competitive advantage over others. Competitive advantage is not only applicable to organizations rather to individuals also.
3) If I were the placement coordinator in IIT, then in such scenario I would definitely tried for other placements by alumni networks and by contacting with domestic companies, govt. sectors. Also preparing gem students of IIT (Who are capable to do anything) for higher studies and off-campus prestigious jobs I might end up with better result than any other year! I would definitely take this as a challenge or a twisting but better result opportunity and would try different plans to fulfill the targets.
4) Yes, my entire batch had faced this situation due to recession of 2008. Where as lucky people like me are not affected by this as Infosys keep its promises, but my friends in Satyam were not lucky enough as their offers are cancelled due to the Satyam disaster.In such situations my friends worked harder for off-campus recruitment, some for govt. jobs, some for higher studies, some for small but efficient farms to get selected. The positive point is all of them were selected one by one gradually and they are progressed even better than us now! Such negative situation actually helped them to understand their hidden but actual ability! According to me tough situations are coming with hidden opportunities. It depends on us how we tackle these.

Questionable HR Practises

A letter of intent is not a contract and cannot be enforced - it does not have any legal binding. Companies always play a very safe game - they generally do hire candidates when the market is doing well, but in adverse conditions they can very well get away by refusing to hire them. The best thing for candidates to do in such a situation is to keep on applying for jobs even when they have a job offer/letter of intent. This way they are assured of at least one job even if the others do not hold good.

Here I would like to mention an Incident – There was a well known computer institute which used to conduct exams and interviews for a particular computer course. The highlight of the course was that the candidates were given offer letters before the course commenced. Various well-known IT companies would select candidates, and on successful course completion, the candidates would immediately start their job with their respective companies. I was a part of the technical team from my company who conducted the interviews. We interviewed a lot of candidates who had come from various locations with only with one hope in their eyes “to get the coveted job”. We short listed quite a few of them and were happy that we were able to get well qualified candidates. Our Manager had appreciated us a great deal by saying that we had done a very good job. A few months later, mistakenly one of the managers mentioned that the interviews were a farce, the company had to fulfil its commitment of conducting interviews and there would be no jobs for any of the candidates. This came as quite a shock to all of us. We really don’t know what the institute or the candidates must have done to get good jobs for them. The company’s reputation of course did suffer but this act really displayed their lack of ethics.

As suggested by many of my batch mates, "Cancelling the Job Offers" would not affect the Brand Image of the firms like Infosys, TIL, SLM Software and would definitely not reduce their competitive advantage. These are all well established companies and a small incident like this would not harm their brand image. Although such a kind of action should warrant a tarnished image, the issue is soon forgotten when the times change and all is well in the job world.

I do agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement that Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer". The legal jargon in such situations is not understood by the general public and this is where they get stuck in a rut – in this case, the IITians from Mumbai. Infosys was able to get away unscathed by citing “Letter of Intent” instead of Offer Letter but it does put the company in a bad light – at least with the IITians.

If I was the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai I would first try to procure jobs for the 120 candidates who were left with no job offers. I would try for smaller companies who were doing reasonably well. I would then try to remove the loopholes in the current placement system by getting inputs from the candidates as well as the management, check for the placement practises followed by other institutes, refine them and put them into practise from here on. I guess this would help resolve the problem to a certain extent.

I have not gone through the experience as the IITians, but yes one of my friends has faced a roughly similar kind of situation. She was already working for an IT firm, got a job offer from a reputed IT Company. She was serving notice period in the current company when the market crashed. On contacting the HR person of the 2nd company, she was informed that taking into account the current market scenario, the letter would not hold good. She would either have to forego the new job or take up the new job on a low pay scale, even lower than the one she was getting in her current company. This came as a shock to her but she had to take up the new job as she had already resigned from the current one and there was no likelihood of her getting any other job in such a short duration. It was quite distressing to see such a kind of a unethical behaviour from a reputed IT Company. Finally when the market picked up, she was the first to resign from that job and landed up getting a really good one!!

Letter of Intent Vs Offer- My Views

1. Do you think "Cancelling the Job Offers" at IIT Mumbai would affect the "The Best Employer Brand Image" of these firms and thereby reduce their competitive advantage?

My answer to this question would be YES, as with this kind of callous attitude and approach, it would not only tarnish the image but also kill the business. By and by would anyway reduce their competitive advantage. The product of IIT are considered to be the Crème de la Crème, therefore playing with them would seriously set a wrong interpretation in the job market it may discourage others not to participate let alone with enthusiasm as it is a direct defeat of the BEST by the BEST and would definitely bring out a disadvantageous environment the job market if not lost its sheen instantly but certainly in time to come.

With the onset of recession if these kinds of cases are reported then it is evident that these sorry stories are the product of recession or economic slowdown, but on the other hand if this kind of an irresponsible attitude continues to be seen or heard PRE - or POST recession period then it is but an excuse and double play by these brands as we can read from the given case, this news was reported before “R” May 2002 while the recession begun by the end, December of 2007.

2. Do you agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement that Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer"?

It is apparent that the spokesperson of Infosys is not too clear about the entire incidence which is perhaps not true he may be trying to shield his misdoings, in the name of "LOI" these big name just casually make best use of their brain while the students’ career are at stake in the worst situation someone of them have lost the opportunity to apply afresh in the foreign university or at best apply in an equally a good organization as seen in the case of a student.

The actual experiences shared by two graduates of IIT as sufferers, Infosys Spokesperson differs with them and on the contrary presents the case as far from true which is an absolute a lie, he has indeed played with the career of meritorious and bright students, Ashwini Tank from Jaipur and Rahul Joshi of Jharkhand to name a few express their frustration and anger towards the company. Intent of offer has entirely been misused by these big players in fact these confusing terms should be out rightly striked off as this is more suitable or apt in a business deal than in an ordinary recruitment or job placement opportunity as it works against the interest of the student while on the other hand is only helpful to shield their offense culminating into distrust and annoyance amongst the students who toiled hard, along with them the entire family struggled to help excel in their studies amidst a great struggle but the struggle continues when they come in direct contact with those who thinks more about these terminology than students and these big brand mislead and gives out a careless and wrong statement.


3. If you were the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai, what would you do to resolve the placement issues present in the above case?

The responsibility lies on the shoulder of the internal policy makers of the institute, as in the case of IIT, it is the onus of the institute to assure students of their jobs, incase of on-campus recruitment, failure by the company as in the case of Infosys would surely attract penalty and not only that, assurance of the right placement should be given with the tangible result immediately in another organization failing it would not only de-motivate the students but also be their waste of time, money and energy. When the internal policy and infrastructure is sound and firm which works for the best of interest for the institute and students the external factor would have least impudence to act injudiciously and could be least a reason for further cause of concern, there would be in fact no room for such kind of a crisis on the contrary the recruiters would think twice before approaching the institute for their Le Crème de la Crème. The system needs to be changed within and prosperity is assured without.

If I were the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai I would have appointed an Ombudsman or a Representative who could in turn play a trusted intermediary body between the institute and the organization for the best of the interest of both the parties. I believe in dialogue and shall always advocate that a right communication with timely action definitely go a long way and do help resolve the crisis.

4. Have you or any of your friends gone through similar experience where the job offers or intent of offer has been cancelled by the prospective employer? If so, how did you or your friend handle the issue?

NO not so far, had it been the case, I would have had taken care to apply in other organizations as well as I consider nothing is certain or believable until it is there.

I quote a Sanskrit shlok to best describe my opinion
“Yodhravani parityajya adhravani nishavate dhruavani tashya nashyanti adhra… … nishevate”.
Please do excuse me for little incorrect

That is “In life there is certainty and uncertainty. We swing between these poles, if one chases uncertainty at a cost of a certainty then what may be certain in life is also lost to uncertainty”.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

Letter of Intent is basically a document illustrating the willingness of the employer to hire the candidate but may or may not turn into successful hiring. When we issue letter of intent that can never be treated as offer of appointment. Offer letter speaks about faith and trust from both sides, as employer you are confirming employee to join with you. If we issue 'Offer Letter' we will be legally bound to keep the employee but such boundation will not be there if we issue 'Letter of Intent'.
1. Intend of offer" word itself implies its only intending-to and not promising-to offer you a job in any of the company or the company in specific which is issuing the intend of offer letter. Thus, cancelling the employment of a selected candidate would not and should not affect "The Best Employer Brand Image" of these firms. Rather, in other case, if a company approves the offer of the selected candidate, it adds up to the image of the company, thus indicating the up-hill movement of the company and its deals. Also it depend upon the Economic situations of the company. During recession they have no choice but to cut jobs. There are circumstances in which layoffs are necessary for a firm to survive.
2. I think Infosys Spokesperson's statement was totally acceptable, as during the campus recruitment, Infosys gave out the Intend of offer letter to the selected candidates and not the offer letter as such. It was the responsibility of the candidates and Placement officer (in major) to look in each and every details of the company's offer and assure their stands on the candidates they select.

3. In that case, as a placement co-coordinator ,I should look at the micro details of these kinds of offer and give more options for candidates who have been selected in such criteria.
More options could include, pool campus, dream options, real offer letter option in case of candidate getting a intend of offer .I should be coordinate with the college(employee) and corporate(employer) and get on to a better solution or a fair agreement which has equal opportunity at both ends.
4. Yes one of my friend face the similar situation. She got the intent of offer letter from one of the company but after two weeks she received a regret letter from the same company .she didn’t lose her patient as she has already one more offer from a different company.

Letter Of Intent Vs Offer

Hi Everyone...

1. According to me it would not effect the brand image of a best Employer or it will reduce the competitive advantage of Employers, as the situation was held when these companies were going through treamendous Economic slowdown.There was no such incident was found in past that these companies have withdrawn employment of fresh employee. They were almost impelled to go throgh the situation to cuscade down their employees, when the whole world was going through tremendous financial turbulance. If the fact is true then they must be going through maximum financial crunch, otherwise they would have never do it, as they have very good HR policies and employee retention scheme. These companies believes that the employees they have are the most valuable resorces they have and they are the main strength of the organization. But it is also true that if it is done repeatedly, the good faith of the best employer may be affected while IIT students are concerned.

2. I don not agree with the Infosys spokesperson statement that they have not withdrawn any employment. They have coveyed their massage in a very tricky and clever manner. They were trying to escape from the tough situation to avoid to be called as guilty party. Rather they have act ina very assertive way to handle the critical situation. In such conditions they should always be transparent on their views as the whole world was going through the same financial turbulant condition. Their speech was quite clear to understand that they are taking any of the students to whom they have provided Letter Of Intent. Rather this type of statement could affect the Brand Image of a best Employer.

3. If i would have been the place,ent officer at IIt, Mumbai, I would rather follow the below mentioned steps to rejuvenate the student who all are suffering in the situation.

a) I would clarify them term and condition of different companies HR policies and legal agreement of the same to clarify the clear idea of Letter of Intent.
b) Would allow to access HR desk as and when required and would extebd whole hearted support to them to console.
c) Suggestions for future prospective and forthcoming job oppprtunities.
d) Would arrange different training session on HR to strenthen their mental health.

4) None of my friends have gone through this kind of situation ever.

"Intent of Offer" Vs "Offer"a Corporate HR Practice.

(1) From my point of view, by denouncing the "intent of Offer" Infosys's image as "the best Employer does not get hampered nor the company would lose its competitive advantage, because it is one of the precautionary step to sustain in an adverse condition, when economic slow down have already alarmed to every company to take steps to stand firm. Also I agreed with the statement of Ashish with slight modification that cancellation of job offers at IIT Mumbai would not affect the best employer brand image of a reputed IT company like Infosys. About the IIT Mumbai campus, it would rather hamper the reputation of the Institute related to its campus placement, for which they have to face a lot of problem related to parents and students. Also company like Infosys have never a past record regarding the same situation, it is only a situational problem and only for the economic recession pressure and a common phenomenon at that particular situation.

(2) It is just like various advertisements, where companies mentioned the discount amount boldly and the conditions applied with very small fonts in order to biased and harass the customer, here Infosis's " Intent offer" is just like this. Though there is difference between "Offer" and "Intent of Offer", which implies some conditions behind it. I think this conditional offer has no transparency. Rather Infosys should have been more transparent with the students as well as with the Institution. I hope every body were aware about the economic slow down and people will understand the situation and cop with the possible taken steps to sustain in the market.

(3) A placement coordinator plays a vital role in an educational organization. Even if a single mistake related to placement would crash the reputation of the organisation. If I were the placement coordinator at IIT Mumbai, I would first motivate and encourage the students, that this job offer is not an end of the placement process and this job offer cancellation of Infosys will never stop the horses like you to win the race with better job offers and with best jobs. As economic slow down is not a permanent situation, the blue moon will come and they need to make themselves ready to enjoy the situation. For this I could have contact different organizations with different networks to accommodate our students with wel informed the present and future job prospects. As the offer letters are not the Appointment letters, I must try to make our students to get three to four offer letters with them.

(4) One of my friend Mr. Biswajit Nanda faced this type of situation in the year 2008, when he was working with Phillips India Private Ltd. He got an offer letter to join with Melia White House Hotels, UK. He was with a great pleasure informed me regarding his offer letter. But after one week he came to know that the consultancy company through which he got the letter was a fake one. Thank God he was not quit his old Phillips India's job. Now he is also continuing with Philips India at New Delhi.

Manoranjan Behura
PGCBM - 6
U610029

Letter of Intent: Politically right, but ethically ?

What we are talking about here is not about a legal battle between two parties, but about a demi-legal instrument with two sides, Offer letter and Letter of Intent. And how a company can use it to secure its future talent pool, or trim them in crunch even before they are onboarded.

Response to the situations
1. Do you think "Cancelling the Job Offers" at IIT Mumbai would affect the "The Best Employer Brand Image" of these firms and thereby reduce their competitive advantage?

The brand image of a company is built by experiences. It is obvious that the incident of Infosys cancelling the job offers at IIT Mumbai did led to a bad experience for all the students rejected. It makes things worse considering IITs produce the best talents in the country and there is a huge stake on those students. So, I think this incident would take a toll on Infosys's brand image as The Best Employer. Atleast and not limited to the IITs.
While the company could not have avoided rejecting the candidates due to economic crunch ( after all everything is business), it should have tried sacrificing a little to keep the branch image intact. For such a huge debt free company like Infosys with so much cash reserve, it would have not been a daunting task to retain/include such a talented pool from IIT Mumbai. It would have definitely been a good return of investment.
I f the company was not in a position to take those students, it should have assessed the situation beforehand and avoided such an embarrassing situation.

2. Do you agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement that Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer"?

While the need for "Intent of Offer" as a substitute of "Offer Letter" is debatable, it has been an industry accepted standard to go for the former while recruiting freshers from colleges, to safeguard their legal obligations. I agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement. The students should have noticed clearly while accepting that it is not the "offer letter" but "intent to offer" letter. He is legally and politically right, may be ethically not very right. While most of the job haunting candidates in the current situation keep their options open by having more than one offers in hands at the same time, the organizations too have to maneuver through rough economic situations.

3. If you were the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai, what would you do to resolve the placement issues present in the above case?

As placement coordinator at IIT, I have to devise stern strategies to tackle this scenario
a. Start dialogue with Infy HR Head and leaders regarding this issue, explaining them future impact of their deed on Infy and IIT relationship.
b. Look out for alternates, give student some options, such as revisit salary structure that was promised, or take them in contractual basis. Atleast their interim needs will be satisfied by these options.

4. Have you or any of your friends gone through similar experience where the job offers or intent of offer has been cancelled by the prospective employer? If so, how did you or your friend handle the issue?

Not any of my friends, but my junior colleagues have gone through similar experience during 2008-2009 campus drives. They were issues letters of intent, when they were pursuing their 7th semester. Soon hit the recession, they were put on hold. Now (2010) when they are recalled after 2 years of their selection, they share their stories how did they spend this 2 years.
I find one group of candidates who were optimistic and anticipated a call-back any moment. So they took up teaching jobs in institutes and tutorials.
Other group had little faith in my company and its policies, so headed to market for look out for options with the intent of never return to this company even if recalled sometime.
There were the third category who opted for higher education, preparation for MS, GRE, MBA. They thought this is right time to strengthen their skills and go for higher degrees.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

1. Market downturn companies follow different strategies to survive. In my view “Cancelling Job Offer” strategy adopted at IIT-Mumbai will not at all affect the brand image or reduce the competitive advantage of the giant IT company “Infosys” because Project based company depends more the market condition, once there is expected future business then only they will hire the guys. So to safe guard the organization image as well as the operating cost this strategy works as indomitable.

2. I agree with the Infosys's spokesperson's statement the Infosys had not really cancelled the Job Offer as they had given the students the "Intent of Offers" not the “Actual Offers". It’s a clear strategy made by Infosys regarding the “Intent of Offer” which include some terms and condition with respect to market downturn or if it really worst market condition then its “rescission”. Infosys were clear and loud or rather I can say transparent in there intent.

3. As a placement coordination I would have used my networking skill to get more companies for on-campus and at a same time I would advise student to have patience and fine tune their vocational skills.

4) Fortunately not yet.

Intent of Offer Vs The Offer

1) I don’t think cancelling the job offers at IIT-Mumbai will affect the brand image of employers or it’ll reduce the competitive advantage of employers like Infosys,Tata Infotech etc. As companies like Infosys and Tata have never done anything such in past. This time they were forced to do so due the world wide financial instability or recession. The entire IT industry was affected worst by the economic recession, the whole world was aware of it, in such a case I don’t think that cancelling job offer will affect the brand image of these companies. Both Infosys and Tata Infotech are employee oriented company, at that time they were following various HR practices to maintain an efficient Human Resource. It is the situation that compelled them to opt for such an action. Best employer brand image is created through Strict adherence of HR policies like employee motivation, training & skill development activities, job involvement, varieties of fringe benefits, following employee retention programme etc., I think it is rarely affected by such decisions of cancelling job offers, that are taken due to economic recession pressure.

2) I’m not agreeing with Infosys spokesperson’s statement .As both the term “Intent of Offer” and “Offer” has same meaning. Infosys being an organization of such high repute can’t give such irresponsible statement. Rather they should have made it clear to the students about the actual problem which force them to take such harsh step. There should be clarity in their statement, giving such statement implies that Infosys was trying to justify their decision of not to hire students from IIT. Rather these companies should accept the real situation, as this type of statement would adversely affect the future prospects of the students who have been refused for jobs. The economic recession was global and therefore there is no reason to give such statement just because to maintain the brand image in the corporate sector.

3) If I would have been the placement coordinator I would have tried to pursue various companies’ and try to place some students on priority. I also would have advised student not to panic rather to wait for the things to improve. I think the best alternative would have been to look for other opportunity offered by various other companies as soon as possible, as time is much valuable and waiting for the best possible alternative may badly affect the future prospects of these students.

4) Fortunately none of my friends has gone through this situation.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

1) No, I don’t think "Cancelling the Job Offers" at IIT Mumbai would affect the "The Best Employer Brand Image" of firms like Infosys & Tata Infotech and thereby reduce their competitive advantage. If this would has been true then firms like Infosys & Tata Infotech might wouldn’t have been the most preferred employer in the present scenario. The period in which this incident took place was most crucial for the IT companies, due to the slow pace of economic movement these companies were going through a very critical situation. They all were in the process of layoffs, cost reduction, retrenchment etc. and recruiting more employees would have more worsen the situation. As we all know that in the situation of economic recession, for the survival of the corporate sectors, cost reduction is a valuable technique. Employee’s Benefit and welfare expenses forms the major part of total expenditure of a company, recruiting more employees in these situations will badly affect the financial stability of the company. If these companies would have recruited students from IIT’s in such a situation, then at a later stage the company might would have retrenched these employees to sustain in the market, which would have a bad effect on the future prospect of these students. These companies have followed what the situation has demanded. In my view, cancelling job offers will no way affect the best employer brand image or reduce their competitive advantage.
2) No, I don’t agree with the statement that “Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer". These types of statement mean that the company is trying to withdraw itself from the situation that has been created by them. Very cleverly they are escaping from being the culprit. But legally these students can’t take any action against these companies because they have only given the “intent of offer”, this means there were no agreement between the students and the company regarding employment. These companies have placed themselves in a secured position by giving this type of statement. I think rather there should be clarity in their explanation regarding cancellation of job offers. Everyone knows that the entire industry is going through a tough phase, all these companies are not in position to recruit more employees, and they should accept the situation rather than giving such absurd statement. If the entire corporate world is passing through a similar situation, then there should not be any hesitation in disclosing the real facts, this will no way affect the competitive advantage of these companies. Delivering such statement only for the sake of showing the corporate world that we are not affected by the economic recession is no way ethical.
3) If I would have been the placement officer, I would have taken the following steps to resolve the present situation -:

a) Offer and acceptance of jobs between the companies and students should be legally supported by agreements.
b) Students are to be well informed about the present and future job prospects through market research’s.
c) Every Student should be provided with secondary alternative job opportunity.
d) Students should have free access to the HR policies of the recruiting companies.
e) Minimum periodicity should be maintained within the date of offer and date of joining.

4) No, none of my friends have ever gone though this type of situation, therefore I think it would be difficult on my part to comment on the issue.

Letter Of Offer Vs Letter Of Intent

1. In my opinion when Recession Approached,companies were affected because
More people on float (people who are for forth coming projects).Because of more people on float resource utilization is less.This put strain on companies to hire people from colleges. Reduction of projects in a company leads to reduction of fund investment. Reduction of contract period with clients reduces forecasting of business and contrary reduces hiring volume. Demand of skilled resource from client keeping view of high productivity and zero failure leads the companies to utilize skilled resource.
This attitude of clients leads the company to reduce or stop hiring freshers.
I agree to Sushi's point that 'Cancel ling the job offers' is not going to put any impact on Brand image of Infosys .

2. I do not agree with Infosys's spokes person's statement .They should take any preventive steps .If company already issued offer letter to the fresher’s, then company reacts to above situation as per the company’s business as follows
Big Size IT Service Company: They will analyze their business and decide when to take the fresher’s to their system accordingly they will inform to the candidates.
Middle Size IT Service Company: they will take actions as above.
If they do not have business visibility then can do 2 things
a.They can ask the fresher’s to take the training and work in project without pay. This helps the candidates to get the technical exposure though they are not getting any money.
b.They will clearly send sorry mail and saying they are the people to get the chance as and when company gets the business.
Small Size IT Service Company: They should send sorry mail to candidates without keeping them on hold.
If company is Product IT company then Company looks its market penetration during recession. Assess the business and returns, accordingly communicate the candidates.
Do not over estimate and give false promise to the candidates. Which will lead to firing of candidate’s later point when company realizes the dryness of business.

3.As a placement coordinator ,I would like to adapt the effective methods of training to make people ready to face any kind of interview.And moreover, I would have concentrated more upon the student and employer's capability .As in the current situation , industry people want smart,hard working , dynamic persons for working in the company forefront.
4.I have a same kind of scenario. I got offers from 2 ITES companies , KPIT CUMINS and DELL INTERNATIONAL in 2006 . BUT KPIT, made delay and asked the result to be on hold, and took one month with a negative answer. I was lucky enough working with Dell.

1. Based on the global market slowdown companies are following different stratergies to sustain in the market. One of the stratergy is "Cancelling Job Offers". In my view this stratergy addopted at IIT-Mombai will not afftect the brand image of Infosys or reduce the competitive advantage in any way. The reason is that the economic slow down hit the entire world and its the time to take the precautionary steps to sustain in this conditions. The companies were going on recruiting to fulfill the expected future business. The Economic slowdown was a surprise to the market and it will change the whole scenarion all of a sudden. It was not certain upto what extent it will go and where it will stop. So companies need to take some steps to sustain. So whatever steps Infosys took is the correct decission at that moment and it wont affect the image of Infosys.

2. I am agree to the Infosys's spokesperson's statement the Infosys had not really cancelled the Job Offer as they had given the students the "Intent of Offers" not the "Offers". Its fully distinguish that there is some terms and condition behind it. As Infosys is a highly rated organisation in IT industry, it maintain its stratergy clear before producing any documents. So the "Intent of Offers" always includes the global market conditions and economic slow down. Infosys maintained the transparency in using the name as "Intent of Offers" not the "Offer".

3. If i were the Placement officer at IIT Mumbai I would have informed the students to have patience. Make them understand to the current market situation. Made them to do some more exercise and to utilise the time to enhance the knowledge, because the economic slowdown is not forever. Again the Blue Moon will come and they need to make themselves ready to enjoy the blue moon. In the mean while i could have contacted differnet companies and also uses different networks to accomodate in different organisations.

4. One of my friend faced this situation. She got the intent of offer from a consultancy. She left her old job and prepared for the next offer. In the mean while the economic slowdown hit the market. Now the consultancy was not ready to pay that amount of money and the salary become 1/4th of what was decided. She spent 2 days and took the decission to join the company with a condition that once the market is ok the salary will be the same as decided earlier. She took a written proof for that and continued with the company til now.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer -An epitome of corporate HR practice

1. In my view, by denouncing the 'intent of offer' Infosys's image as 'the best Employer' does not get tarnished nor the company would lose its competitive advantage any way because the organization adheres to the rules and regulations perfectly and as many of our friends have already put forward their perspective, it is not ' offer' but just the 'intent of offer' which clearly means that there is some cushion of time for the hiring decision. Again it is the candidate's responsibility to be well aware of the general practice and to be clarified if there is any confusion.
2. The Placement coordinator has a bigger role to play in an institute where all are freshers and there could be error on the part of the candidate.However, such mistakes could be associated with quite costly consequences like the one mentioned in the case.Therefore, the placement coordinator has to take a step beyond being just a silent spectator.He has to assess and ascertain every individual case, should carefully co-ordinate with the corporate house about the specific decision that they are going to take, whether there is any hidden meaning in the communication and get it clarified,guide the candidates about the so called corporate jargons and provide alternative choices to the dicey cases.
3. It is an epitome of present day corporate HR practice where one has to be very very alert and cannot take any thing for granted because the communication is made so diplomatically that knowingly it contains expressions/words to protect the interest of the employers always and at the same time adheres to all legally valid norms.The case has undoubtedly created scope for more careful understanding of delicate yet important HR issues both from an employee's as well as employer's perspective and made the subject more interesting.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

1) Cancelling the Job offers at IIT Mumbai would not affect the best employer brand image of big companies like Infosys.If I talk about the IIT Mumbai Campus, yes it would hamper the reputation of the institution as regards of its campus placements, which in turn will get them lot of dissatisfied parents and students.Moreover the company's offer is does not compel it to employement of the candidates,its just an "intent of offer" and not an Appointment Order or a Job Contract and the Company holds all the right to cancel the same.

2) I do Agree with the statement which has been given by the Infosys Spokesperson that Infosys has not really cancelled any job since it was just an intent of Offer,which is well within the reach of the organisation to cancel the same.

3)If I were the placement coordinator at IIT,Mumbai, then I could have handled the situation in a different way. I would have educated my existing resource i.e. the students that the Offer is not an Appointment letter and they should always have 3-4 Job Offers ready with them.I would then come to the employer coming to the campus with a much better selection process and a agreement has to be signed with party about their intention of this Interview so as to have a clear picture about the selection.

4) Actually, this question reminds me of 5th Jan 2005 when i got an Offer Letter from American Express ,I was very much delighted seeing the Offer,as usual a typical Indian Mentality, I told to every possible human being whom i knew on this Earth,but to my surprise I got another letter dated 21st Jan2005,wherein there was an appology letter from American Express,stating that they have put the current opening on Hold and I was one of the Lucky Ones.Thank God, that I had AVIVA Life Offer as well as appointment letter with me.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

I don’t think cancelling the job offers at IIT-Mumbai will affect the brand image of employers or it’ll reduce the competitive advantage of employers like Infosys,Tata Infotech etc. The reason being this was a temporary phenomenon on the recruiting company’s front. The company’s were forced to cancel the job offers keeping in view the uncertainty in external business environment. The economic slow down has hit the entire world economy. When the company’s visited IIT campus to recruit people they have their future business plans in their mind and that’s why they were recruiting people to meet their future business demand. But nobody would ever thought that the economic slow down will hit the world economy and whole business scenario will change. Looking at their past records these company’s has never done anything similar. They are forced to do so due to some factor which was beyond their control. During the economic slow down period everything was uncertain nobody was sure about what’ll happen in future, since how long it’ll continue. The need of the hour then was to survive till the time situation improves. So during that period the steps taken by Company’s like Infosys etc. in cancelling the job offers made was appropriate and need of the hour. I’m sure this will never affect the competitive advantage of Infosys nor it’ll cause any damage to the best employer image of Infosys.

But I’m not agree with Infosys spokesperson’s statement .Infosys being a such highly rated organization among job seekers they should have made it clear to the students of IIT how the changing business environment has forced them to take such harsh step rather it seems Infosys was trying to defend itself by saying they had given students only “Intent of offer”. Infosys should have been more transparent with the students and every body was aware about economic slow down and people will understand the criticality of the situation.

If I would have been the placement coordinator I would have tried to spoken to various companies’s to accommodate our students. I would have utilized my connection or network to accommodate our students even in small quantity. Also I would have spoken to the students make them understood about the criticality of the situation and would have told the students to have patience and wait for the situations to improve, they have their entire career lying ahead. They should not take any step immediately which will affect their career in future. In the mean time I would have utilized my resources to accommodate maximum students in various organizations.

Fortunately none of my friends has gone through this situation.

1. Best employer image of these organisations was developed over the years & on account of the best practices adopted by them. Recession has affected IT industry most badly because of the economic slow down in the countries they are doing business with. Hence decision of not employing the new people goes with the current business scenario & will not affect either the company image or the competitive advantage these organisations have. (This fact was underlined by the huge response these organisations receive whenever they announce any job vacancies.) World wide economic slowdown was known to most of the people in India as well, hence by solely depending on the jobs in these industries students themselves are to be blamed for not keeping the backup plan ready & in some cases blowing up the same (by shelving the plans of further studies).
2. Since it was intent of offer & not the offer letter for the job Infosys has clearly escaped from the situation which might have been foreseen by their HR. Yes, legally they are not bound to accommodate the new people whom they have issued intent of offer letter but the act will certainly disappoint the prospective good candidates.
3. It was difficult to control the policies of the organisation coming to your campus for selecting the students. As a placement co-ordinator I am suggesting following measures A.) Guidelines for the students to help them in making the right decision. B.) Delaying the process of campus recruitment as suggested in the article will give less time to the respective organisations for rethinking the decision made by them. C.) Inviting more & more organisations to campus & categorising them in different groups (A,B,C etc) based on the market status, salary offered, no of jobs offered by them etc. D.) Students to be allowed to accept one job per group & maximum of 3 jobs so as to accommodate all students of the batch. This way student will have jobs in best & moderate companies but it will at least ensure them the job.
4. Yes, one of my friend has faced similar situation but instead of getting disappointed by it he decided to continue with the further studies. After completing his MBA from the reputed institute he was able to secure a better job than what he was offered before. Here I must agree that unless you have strong financial background it is not possible to continue with the further studies, which was not in some the cases of the students mentioned in the article.