Tech Sunday !

Before the D-day, we have a Sunday full of sessions... !

It started with an engaging talk with John P who gave a brief perspective of how ages have evolved. Currently, it is the Age of Individual in which ppl want to reinvent themselves. Age of new economy preceeded it and age of diversity preceeded even before it with boomers. Abilities, Interests intersect to form an avocation. Interests, Markets intersect to make a Dream. Abilities and Markets make a job. The AIM is to get the Target which lies at the intersection of Abilities, Interests, and Markets!

Now, that's insightful!

AdvanceMe Associates lady mentioned about how to make the best first impression. The Berkin Stocks case she mentioned about the guy wearing blue shirt and dressing conservatively dressing causing him to lose the job made me think about the employers I plan to apply to.

boy, I gotta get a new wardrobe. Also, Bee aint gonna help me with that :( So, it's all me ... to go and shop for my wardrobe and accessories.

In the last session, Jerome Laday, Director of HR-L'Oreal, mentioned about mentioning experiences in the format of STAR:
Situation
Task
Action
Result

Ernst & Young's national recruiter Wendy Wildt guided me for doing an internship after graduation if I want to do a career switch! She was really nice in listening at the pain I had at my previous employer.

"Territorial" was the word she used for describing some top ppl in an organization who do not let employees go. Deepak Padaki, our Engagement Manager at Infosys was one such fellow. His justification was that if I have invested in you for couple of years training you to become a Telecom consultant then why should I allow your transfer to some other vertical? My rationale was ..I was in AT&T account - but I was doing Real Estate....not Telecom ! Also, my skills will be far more relevant for BCMD (Banking and Capital Markets) vertical of Infosys than CSPD (communications service providers), duh !

An interesting question was put by a student about citizenship being a hurdle with some recruiters (such as Accenture). We had a senior manager from Accenture, Christopher Pesci. He addressed this question saying that in the past he had referred an Indian to Mumbai manager friend of his because Accenture does not sponsor H1 B visas.

I was shocked to know the hiring practices these companies will have in order to get talent cheap. I call this practice itself as being "cheap." They are not truly globalizing and applying Prof Dalton's principles from International Business Management course, unless Accenture becomes truly global they will still be qualified as "MNC." Extending Thomas Friedman's logic from "The World is Flat" this company will have trouble in Globalization 2.0 itself.

That's interesting. Finally CMU's associate Dean cautioned the CMU students to be modest but brag at the same time....now, that's ironical!