An interesting Interview! The Code of “Con”-“Duct”

Being a decision maker is not easy at all. Trust me, its really hard to decide at times – what to do and what not – how to react and how not to – What to say and what not. There are countless such things which Decision makers go through. Though some are gifted, but those who are not definitely face a lot of troubles.

I am a Libra by Zodiac sign and mostly Librans are not quick and pro-active decision makers. At places I have to take many decisions, which are neither planned nor easier for me.

Recently I conducted interviews for the content writers for my “Earn Online 4 Pakistan” venture. I definitely needed some fresh writers and even few experienced ones. I flooded different platforms with messages and ads. I received great response, better than I ever expected. I was really surprised to receive 86 CVs in just 24 hours’ time. I was like “WOW – there is a lot of talent in this country, who is definitely getting wasted by doing nothing”. May Almighty save them all from the Freedom (of Vacancy).

After taking a gap of 2 days, I scheduled their interviews and planned my activities accordingly. Seriously I was amazed by 80% of them all. We have the crudest talent trust me. Most of the Individuals who have applied for the jobs used “Slangs” and short-hands in the interview session. Most of them were either enrolled in the Masters’ Program or have completed their Masters from some big and reputed names of our country. But none of them were able to write a single paragraph free from errors. Many guys and girls gave some amazing excuses, which I simply loved – being the Interviewer and Feed Back Provider on their master pieces. Excuses Included;

1.      Hey bro I wrote really fast couldn’t check em all.
2.         Sorry I am New to this
3.         It was my first time, please sorry me.
4.         Oh that’s my mistake – please avoid that, read next line.

I am sure these answers are worth reading, when you are conducting a serious interview and hiring individuals to make them earn 15,000 – 28,000/- PKR (initially). What I don’t get is that how have such students passed their exams? Even a student from Matriculation would have failed on such usage of language. Plus, don’t they have classes or orientations for “How to appear in interviews”? What language to use, no matter how informal the interviewer is, the candidate is supposed to be in his/her limits and show his/her best conduct. Or it might be a fact that I am old fashioned and prefer individuals with better conduct and ethics of communication.

I am still surprised about the fact that an MBA these days says that “I am new to writing Essays”. I don’t think our institutions are passing the talent out. People really lack in writing skills. After thinking about it, for like many days and even nights, the only thing which I came to realize is

•          “BULLET CULTURE” –
•          “To the Point answers” and finally
•          “MCQ based Question Papers”.

These Three elements throw students away from writing the content. And when it comes to writing a decent content they terribly fail to use good words, proper grammar and appropriate sentence structuring.

I am sure every student makes reports in almost every semester, but how many of them are there who do not use the term “COPY/PASTE” while making those lengthy reports and get “A’s” from their instructors.

Where are we Standing fellows? We need a wake-up call!

We Need Guides Today – Not Imposers

It is really a matter of luck to meet someone who is blessed with the experience, expertise and great knowledge from different phases of life, along with the different sectors exposed. In today’s life when on the one hand it is commonly said by almost all the Gurus that “it is good to share experiences” whereas on the contrary it has been observed that people are so busy to spare time for their families and friends – who could ever think for the exchange of thoughts and experiences? Any ways I still feel myself lucky to meet someone who was and still is a worth meeting person.

Last week I happened to meet this great person, who is a combination of repute, regard, jovial charms and very accurate in finding the Lacuna in the society as well as in the mind set of our corporate cultures. While we were sitting together, we discussed many things from cultures to trends and from codes of army to civil trends and life styles. He shared his vast experiences with me – I am thankful to him for his precious time and knowledge which he imparted with me. We then discussed about the current scenario of our countries’ employment policies. I agreed to all his approaches, he had an absolute spot analysis on the subject.

In our corporate culture, we often come across to a similar statement that is “For the jobs, only those can apply who are either IBA graduates or LUMS graduates – rest please don’t bother to drop your CVs” – Well to be honest I, in fact We, do not have any grudges against the mentioned universities but just a thought crosses our minds. “Does All the Talent Belong To Only Top Notch Universities?” What about those countless girls and guys who are striving hard to achieve their education and working simultaneously to accomplish their dreams of becoming SOMEONE from NO-ONE? Give a thought!

We are not of the view that every Tom, Dick and Harry is included in this but those who are hard working, dedicated and focused in life; they do need a chance to prove themselves. In today’s world we even do not care to look at the résumés of those candidates who do not belong to top 3 Universities. Does it mean that rest of the institutions are not producing any talent or the students of the rest of the universities are not capable to face the challenges in the life? – We need to have a Reality Check.

As per our discussion, we also concluded that, in this age we lack people with vision. We may have highly qualified people around us, but we are not sure whether they are EDUCATED or not. Qualification and Education are two different streams; we usually count them as ONE. Today we need Guides who can provide pure guidance rather than those individuals who impose their thoughts and observations on budding talents – without knowing their capabilities. Everyone wants to be considered as the most knowledgeable and accurate person – and that is why he thinks that whatever decision which he has made does not need any alternative verification or opinion. That is what mostly happens to the youth when they are forced by their seniors, teachers, parents and colleagues etc to select any particular profession or subjects – without providing them a vision but a “quick brisk walk” towards the goal, without analyzing whether they will be able to make it up to the end or exhaust themselves before reaching to the target.

It is high time to think LOGICALLY rather than so called “practically”. I would definitely like to thank Mr. M. Baseer Khan to broadening my visions and giving me his precious time – He had been associated with the Pakistan Army and over a decade he has also been exposed to the corporate sector. There were certain other topics which were shared and discussed, which soon I will be sharing with my readers.

Hope it would have knocked the minds of my readers – for once at least.
Keep thinking before implementing!