An interview on Satyam

The skies were bluish with bags of fluffy clouds scattered everywhere and a cool breeze drifted through the city; Riding a bike in such a pleasant environment is a great feeling. I parked my red Honda bike under the big peepul tree (it is still in all its glory today in the parking lot on the right side of the unforgettable Tessar Towers), took an elevator, and made it to the fifth floor landing. I signed up for the interview log, mentioned that check-in time was 10am. M. And I asked at the reception for Pavan Bommaraju, the guy from the HR department that I’m supposed to meet.

Minutes later, a glass door swung around and a jovially young person came out, whom I reckoned as Pavan. I had a good feeling about him: just looking at him coming towards me with a cheerful smile on his pleasant face. Dressed in a manly combination of a white cotton shirt and matching dark gray pants, he filled the entrance hall with the warmth and brilliance of a professional who works hard and never forgot to smile. I immediately reached out my hand to his and shook it confidently.

“Hello, are you Arindam?” Pavan asked, the smile still in place.

“Yes, I am,” I replied.

“I’m Pavan. How are you, Arindam?” Pavan said.

“Hi Pavan. I’m fine. How are you?” I said.

“I’m fine, thank you,” he said and added “Arindam, could you be kind enough to wait a bit? It won’t be long before I get back.”

“Ah! No problem, Pavan. At your convenience. Please take your time. I can wait,” I said.

I waited a little over 15 minutes before it reappeared. I could see that he interviewed several people before me and almost all of them, on average, spent 7-8 minutes in the process with him before being asked to leave, apparently. Only one of them spent a full 20 minutes in the booth with Pavan and he struck me as a brilliant candidate, probably suitable for another job. There were still 2 more left when they finally called me inside.

A lovely person

However, it is a fact that typically one HR guy keeps the interviewee engaged and enthusiastic by asking a few related questions, which quickly “opens up” the interviewee in question for a valuable conversation to take off from a balance of tradeoffs. take association. You take, I give. You give, I take. The feeling is mutual.

In my personal opinion, an HR officer should in all circumstances be calm and formal in the interview process because the goal of any interview is to talk and not just turn it into a boring question and answer session. You must be trained to know precisely what you want from the interviewees. As far as you know, some HR folks, professionals agreed, end up being self-opinionated Jills and Jills, looking only for ready answers for their inexperienced minds to tune in to listen. Most of the time, because they are critically inert on their part, they mistakenly end up “unhappy” and “discouraged” with the interviewers. My point here is not to deliver any kitschy gyaan, but to try to make a valid point or two. Young HR executives seem easily prone to making instantaneous and inconclusive decisions regarding candidates who might have been wrong for some undeniable reason, but that doesn’t mean they should be ditched. I sat in my chair thinking. Half-hearted ideas like these were taking shape in my stressed mind even when I wanted to stay calm and collected, but it wasn’t entirely possible.

But Pavan Bommaraju seemed thorough, right on point, and was known for his innate professionalism, I found out later at Satyam. He chose his candidates wisely for his interviews and took pleasure in interviewing them; taking meticulous care at the same time not to disappoint his senior managers when it came to interviewing the candidates selected by him. He was undoubtedly conscientious, precise and diligent and, of course, he never forgot to smile that sociable and kind smile that naturally played on his bright face.

“Arindam, now we come to the last question. I am sure you are aware of Iridium. We could also talk about Iridium. So can you tell me something about the new sensation that has broken into the world of mobile satellite connection? And just Tell me why does it sound so BIG when Iridium is on the mobile roaming stage? Why is there so much talk these days? What’s so interesting about Iridium? “asked Pavan, the cheerful HR professional at Satyam Computer. Services Ltd.

My eyes flickered a bit more as I came across the name ‘Iridium’ which at the same time sounded intriguingly familiar to me. I instantly knew that answering this particular question required me to go through the preferred details that I had previously read about somewhere. He was too prepared to answer the best he could. I also found Pavan too eager to hear it. Then, without forgetting to put a striking smile on my face, I slowly began with a small description of the potential of such a business in the following terms: “assault the world with new forms of satellite communication and revolutionize the way we know that communication is that, in my opinion, it is still in its infancy state. Without a doubt, it is going to change forever the communication dynamics of the world, the world as we know it. “

Our overall conversation bordered on a strong dash of convincing humor and pleasant but persuasive commonalities that we shared. Feeling luckier than usual that day, I exploded at full throttle to “impress” and “conquer” him to maximum effect with my responses. Fortunately, everything worked out for me and he smiled approvingly.

Pavan Bommaraju seemed visibly impressed and my hopes rose a bit more. He then immediately joined me for a “ technical round ” of discussion with a burly man and his youngest member of staff who were currently sitting inside a distant, important-looking cabin, conveniently paneled with wood and clear glass, in the far right corner of the spacious room.

He said excitedly, “I think you should meet GG. Please come over.”

“Sure. Thanks,” I said.

“Welcome!” Pavan said. And we walked to the cabin of the person he called ‘GG’, with me in tow.

I still remember this: Pavan exhaled in satisfaction after he finished interviewing me and was visibly relieved; as if a great weight had been lifted from his chest. In terms of my own thoughts, they were more like my desire to succeed and make a good impression, and now I have moved on to the next step in the interview process. Taking Pavan’s relief as a sign, I became a little more confident and was ready to accept another round of questions. As we walked to the Chief’s hut, I thought that Pavan’s expectations for my potential as a suitable candidate complemented each other and that is the first half of the battle won. And that was a positive sign.

As I followed Pavan to the cabin where the next “technical round” was supposed to take place, my pragmatic sense of observation took a new level at that moment. Obviously, I observed a gang of girls, Praise heaven! All handsome, with fervently insightful looks on their optimistic and glowing faces in stylish attire, pasted over their individual computer screens, were at work. I estimated that almost all of them were human resources personnel. Good luck Pavan!

One of them, somewhat thin and well made, rose urgently from his seat, sat on the desk of his female neighbor, and began a sensibly silent discussion with her. I instantly recognized the lady in block-patterned, custom-stitched Salwar patiala, as I knew her well from my college days. She is called Neetu Scootywali; an elegant girl from the residential area most famous for her rejection of distancing herself from everything that matters, maintaining any social contact or friendly association with friends or acquaintances who come from the same town or city in which they lived. I’ll explain later. Besides, it won’t do any good to see his face twist into: What is he doing here? Without further ado, I looked ahead and went on my way cursing myself with: not to my liking.

I’m not someone given to easy distractions, even when there was so much well-groomed grand slam beauty to marvel at and be proud that you belong on planet Earth. my mind focused on the business I had come to attend to. The ‘Day of Judgment’ is near the good neighbor!