Are You a Fit or a Misfit?

By manishankar on Mon, 04 August 2014 at 01:47 IST

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By Manishankar Chakraborty

SAMPLE these instances, Radhu joined a company as accounts manager solely on the basis of his major in finance, only to feel suffocated after a period of time. He finally switches over to the corporate communication department as his minor was marketing and communications. Hariya opted for a leader in the IT sector as he wanted to be a part of highly rewarding IT industry only to switch over to the manufacturing sector leveraging his degree in mechanical engineering. Sanghu joined a leading FMCG giant as a territory manager only to walk out and go a career in journalism on the basis of his instincts and interests. What all these instances have in common? Yes, these are ideal cases of opting for a wrong career option on the basis of whims, fancies and superficial, cosmetic study of a branch of study. Sangita Sadwai, a career counselor and psychologist from Mumbai agrees to the fact that most of her counselee joins a bandwagon or blindly follow the footsteps of their seniors or college idols, only to be disappointed at a later date. She further cites the reason for such wrong decision is to understand professional nuances to a nicety before taking a plunge. Quite often aspirants are drawn towards a professional be seeing the brighter side of the picture, however, for a holistic understanding the career aspirant need to analyze both the pros and cons and subsequently link those traits with his own personality profile to know whether he would be a fit or a misfit. Blindly following bandwagon leads to career chopping and changing ultimately culminating in frustration. More importantly one lose out on precious time and experience if one keeps on altering their career path like they change their toothpaste and soaps. Easier said than done, how does one know whether he fits into a specific assignment or not?

By Chance or by Choice

Two decades back when the public sector offered a galaxy of opportunities, job sector, sans the professionals like doctors, engineers or advocates. A plain graduate in science, arts or commerce could have opted for any and every department for technical assignments, the employer trained the nontechnical employees to fit into the working environment. The motto though was different; government donned the role of infrastructure builder and job creator, which finally led to the creation of PSU behemoths. Times have changed and even the role of public and private sector has undergone a transformation. The former is happy to don the role of a facilitator and the later the role of creator. It has also altered the employment as expectations from the employer have also undergone a tremendous metamorphosis. Although creating and providing jobs to the populace still remains the commonality, their approach toward the task is significantly different. PSU era recruited people in hordes having the minimum credentials and then trained them to make them a organizational fit. Private sector on the other hand would prefer to go for horses for the courses as super specialized manpower are available today. Training though remains a high priority item, the concept of training from scratch has been substituted to the up gradation of skill sets, which necessarily calls for employees who knows the basics of their assignment and their role in the enterprise. Opines Prof. Lalit Khullar, Director, TIME, Nagpur, 'the needs for employees who are natural fits are more than the created ones'. This also differentiates the objectives of the erstwhile government sector from that of their modern day private sector peer. It's therefore always advisable not to join an assignment by chance, rather it should be choice. A profession by choice has many advantages like one is always driven by passion, which acts as the best motivator, unlike a profession where sops, pay packet, incentives, promotion are stimulators which are generally short term. In spite of the fact that companies today are trying to handpick each and every employee so that they can put in the right person at the right job, still there are lot of complaints emanating where instances of mas exodus is reported.

In fact, a true analysis and observation would reveal more startling facts like the recruitment drive and the process could not separate the ones who are joining a profession by choice from the ones who are joining by chance. The challenge posed by high employee turn over in sectors like IT of ITeS can by resolved to an extent if such parameters are put in place, where one can tangibly identify the ones who are opting for an assignment solely on the basis of economic or other cosmetic benefits rather than choosing the profession solely on the flair and passion. Roma decided to join a BPO after her graduation only to earn some hot bucks before she can join any of the business school for pursuing an MBA. She was clear in her mind that charting out a career in the BPO sector was not her priority; it was more of a transitory phase where you learn something about working in a corporate environment accompanied by hot bucks.

People joining a profession without proper analysis and understanding of the role often complains about aspects like lack of job satisfaction. On further probing they would even come out with flimsy reasons like monotonous tasks, no major change in sops or pay packets, which makes it amply clear they are unsatisfied not because of these fringe factors (as major factors are not only monetary benefits), in stead they are having personality clash with that o their assignment.

Author is Faculty-Management at Tirpude Institute of Management Education. TIME Nagpur.
He can be reached at [email protected]

I am a versatile management trainer with hands on experience in Men and Resource Management, Training and Training related administration. I have more than 290 published articles, business case studies, research papers to my credit.You can avail those by mailing me.I am also a professional management consultant and management trainer with 135 hours of management training till date to industry and corporate bodies and government departments.I am also a professional Columnist for leading print and electronic media houses.