1st job blues

Fresh out of a b-school, I had ideas of organizational culture, business strategies, corporate environment etc in my mind, and that was wht i was expecting to get atmy first job. (tada….time for reality check) I found myself standing,neatly dressed in formals (including a tie), outside d gates of an old looking building. i guess it was nt yet time 4 d office to open nd dere wz no calling bell outside d gate either, so there was no way I could have made them aware of my arrival. Anyways, after waiting dere 4 around 15 mins a man in khakis, came from inside the building and said, sahab branch ka timing sadhe das baje se hai.

By now you should have guessed that i was about to be a part of an industry which stood firm against the tornado of recession, that made huge organizations come down like house of cards. I am talking about the Indian Banking industry, run by people most of whom are as old as independent India (not literally). Like every generation, this generation of people also have their own unique attitude, the over conservative attitude. This attitude, which is considered as a speed breaker in the path of prosperity by our generation, turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the fight of survival against the economic slowdown(my theory).

Anyways taking my story forward told Gaikwad (the man in Khaki) about my job offer in the bank. The gates were finally opened for me, and i was told to meet Anurag Sahab upstairs. I was expecting him to be an old man in his late 50’s who would be least bothered about people joining or leaving the organization. To my surprise when I finally found my way to the 1st floor, I got to see three young faces. It might not sound very amazing to you, but for my company I guess it was the first time in its 75 year history, that four young managers were standing under the same roof.

So my 1st day in office started with making history. After the introductions were done, I was finally feeling a bit relieved to be among people of my own age group. After some time other senior officers arrived at the office, I was introduced to them by Anurag. There was another thing that I cant forget from my 1st day of office i.e. the look given by one of the my senior after knowing I was directly recruited as an officer in the middle management grade (he himself was on the same grade after 20 years of service). If I were to interpret that look in words, then it would be something like, “what the hell! God please tell me it’s not true.”

Jokes apart, I was actually amazed to see all the officers arriving before time which clearly destroyed the myth that I had heard about sarkari babus. But there is always a dirty fish in d pond and that day, that fish turned out to be my boss. He finally put his charan-kamals inside the office at least 1 hour after the office timing, and I was actually very fortunate to get darshan of his charan-kamals (he was wearing chappals :O). It really made me look like an idiot and that was the 1st and the last time I was seen wearing a tie in the office.

I think I have spoken enough of my 1st day at office and its time for me to talk of other experiences that I had during the last six months of my job. But is it natural, that I am finding it hard to recollect many such ought-to-be-mentioned kind of experiences? This is really encouraging me to ask all of you a question that, “when you are in a job, are your 1st and your last day in office the only significant moments and the rest of the days you are an insignificant person doing insignificant work which otherwise would have done by someone other than you, if you were not there in the 1st place?” Well, it might not be true, but I had this thought for a brief moment.

Ok, fine! Lets not deviate from the topic (haha…best line to use in a GD, ma mba friends can relate to it better). So my 1st day was not the only day when I was forced to correct some perceptions that I had of “sarkari sansthas”. Another myth, that was proven to be wrong during my last six months in office, is that, “promotions are really slow in Public sector units”. Take my case for example, during the first couple of months I worked as a data entry operator, then I was promoted to the job of relationship manager (glorified version of receptionist.” no offence meant”) now finally after 5 months I am gaining exposure of project financing(which is something I was recruited for , in the 1st place :P). Just temme how many private companies promote a data entry operator to a project manager within a period of five months :D?

This again is prompting me to discuss something that is outside the topic of this blog,” Why does the public sector always fall behind the private sector?” Some of the reasons that I can relate with my case are, lack of proper planning and inefficient use of resources. Why would a company hire a MBA to feed data into the system? This is not something very specific to my organization, this is something that happens with most freshly recruited people, who are over qualified and over paid for the kind of job that they are made to do. This is a small observation that I had from my experience with a public sector bank, though am not as nearly as qualified to judge the strategic and planning issues of organizations which despite all odds have withstood the test of time and even proliferated.

Every industry has its pros and cons, the same is the case with this sector. The best thing about an otherwise unprofessional sector like this, is the very fact that it’s not professional. It has its own unique marketing strategies, its own unique organizational culture and its own unique environment. Though I can’t promise that I will continue to be a part of this sector for a long time, but there is no way I can deny the fact that so far I have really enjoyed my time here. We all have our own priorities, and right now my priority doesn’t go very well together with this industry. Gosavi Sir(my senior, not the one who gave me that unforgettable look) once told me if you really want to “LEARN” from your work, you should stay with this organization. I do agree with him and I do want to “lEARN”, provided the “L” is silent. :D

Its time for me to give my fingers some rest, waise bhi I am not used to of working this much in office. (ya!!! Another history in the making in my office, my 1st blog is written at my workplace).