I have always been this highly ambitious little guy. I know it’s a bit of a misfit now, but I was a lot like that back in early 6th sem upto end of 8th sem.
There was this company called Hexaware that came to my college for campus recruitment. That was the first company that came for my batch. Naturally I was excited that I was eligible to attend the recruitment process. I was very excited about the fact of getting placed whilst in third year.
I think it was February 1st 2007. About 160-165 people wrote the preliminary test. I did very badly. I had no touch with placement tests before and hence I thought one had to attempt as many questions as possible. I failed to do just that. I attempted only those that I knew properly. Surprisingly I made it through to the Group Discussion round. Again there, I thought I did pretty badly. I got through. The moderator was a person named Mr. Raghavan. I still suspect brahmin affinity in me clearing the GD. But, let’s leave that for now.
Then came the final round. I was interviewed by a person named Mr. Visvehswaraiyah. He was in his mid 70s. You heard me right! Apparently, he’s a popular placement consultant. He asked me to write 2 programs. I wrote one out of the two well. For the other, there was a more optimal way of doing it, he said. Finally, he concluded the interview saying “You’ve done well, ma. We’ll get back to you“.
Remember his last sentence. That has caught onto my life till today. Every meeting that ends with that sentence is a failure. No exceptions, no ifs, no buts. Literally, ALL the meetings that end with that line never end up with me as the beneficiary!
It didn’t strike me for long. Arun tells me it’s a typical HR way of saying “Better Luck Next Time!“. Srinath, however, tells me it’s the HR way of saying “Keep Your Fingers Crossed!“.
To all the HR Managers and their multi-meaning sentences, this is my kind request.
“Please don’t speak with a positive tone and give a negative decision. You never know how it hurts the candidate to have hope and get disappointed on-the-face!“
At-least for entry-level recruitment!
Yours Skeptically,
uleadin
P.S. I can understand those HR managers who never show a reaction and say “Thank you for giving the interview. See you later” kind of things. I hate it when people frame sentences in such a way as to give hope to the candidate and then pull his/her legs by not hiring/allowing him/her. Be it a Job Interview or Acads Admission!
P.P.S Few other sentences like “We’ll work something out surely” and “You’re pretty impressive” are also unlucky w.r.t my meetings. Dammit!
