My Connections Helped Me Chart My Path

I often wonder about the connections in our life. Back in 1995, during the final year of IHM Pusa, I was attending multiple interviews as a part of our campus interviews. One company was especially attractive as it was coming to India for the first time, and their 2-year training would be done in Kathmandu. This was international for many of us, and no surprise, a top priority for many after OCLD. I got through as a Management Trainee focused on Front Office operations, and I stopped all further interviews. I had got what I wanted, hence why spoil the chances of others. I continued to participate in the process as the coordinator. For those who are new to this – a coordinator is the person who manages the entire interview process, hence gets to be on a first-name basis with the interview panel and possesses considerable clout in terms of prioritization and sequencing.

A few months later, as the campus interviews were coming to an end, I received the unfortunate news that the international hotel chain was cancelling the management training program for that year, which basically meant 14 of us had to look elsewhere. With all the big names having completed the process, we were left with the smaller ones. I got 2 offers, one from Hyatt for a Butler, and the other from Ambassador Sky Chef in airline catering. Staying in hotels was the best thing to do, and I joined Hyatt, but quit within a week due to an abusive manager. Distraught and feeling helpless, I shared my situation with a college friend Vandy, who was quick to speak to her boss in Usha Shriram, and here is where the various patterns start.

->Vandana Rao – The bosses in Usha Shriram remembered me from the “interview coordinator” role that I played, and Vandy came as an angel in my life at the right time. I was hired by Usha Shriram as a Management Trainee.

->Anoo Oberoi and Sudhir Bali- A year later, I decided to move out from the resort-type hotels and try my hand with 5-star hotels, as that would eventually build my career. I spoke to one of my seniors, Anoo, who got me an interview at the New Delhi Hilton for a Trainee Lobby Manager, and the rest is history. I credit Anoo for making the introduction, and here I met my Front Office Manager, Sudhir. I stayed at Hilton until Sudhir Bali moved to Le Meridien, taking me with him.

->Kunal Bhatt and Rama Chawla – My next stop was at KLM Cargo thanks to Kunal Bhatt, who got me an interview with the company. Kunal was my batchmate from IHM. I worked at KLM for 3 years learning the art of handling cargo and flights. Here I met Rama Chawla, who was a Sales Manager handling valuable shipments. We did not have much interaction on a day-to-day basis, however, 3 years later when she left KLM to join Convergys, she offered me a job. Post interviews, etc., I joined Convergys, thanks to her, and she became my senior manager in a new industry.

->Maria Balangue– In 2005, I joined Microsoft. Maria my line manager was actually my vendor manager for the MSN account in 2003-04, a program that I was handling at Convergys. I joined Microsoft thanks to her reference, and while she was my reporting manager, my career was short-lived as MSN changed its strategy and started shutting the India centers.

->Sunita Sood & Tarun Singhal – With no clarity around a role in Microsoft, Priyanka (my wife) helped me reach out to a common friend Sunita, whose family friend Amit was a CEO at WNS. A meeting to head the Napster account resulted in a job at WNS (2007), again a very short one as the Napster account did not materialize, leaving me to handle ad-hoc projects. One of the projects was setting up the Millward Brown business for Kantar, where I met Sharon, the company CEO for Kantar Operations. (remember this name as it will come back many years later). The ad-hoc projects and bench visits kept me unstable, till my wife referred my name to Tarun, a Director in Xansa who got me an interview in the company. I joined them as an AVP and stayed with them for 5 years rising to the position of a Sr. VP.

->Sharon Potter- In 2011, Kantar came up with a position of Director heading their single unit GDC in Hyderabad. The vacancy was being handled by a reputed head-hunting brand, and someone in Kantar posted this role on the web due to the slow movement of the position. I reached out to the Kantar HR head Sue, reminding them of my work at WNS in setting up the MB account. Sue shared my email with Sharon, who incidentally remembered me from those days (5 years ago), and I got invited to the interviews. I got the job and stayed with them for 7 years.

My next role with ACS Solutions (now called Innova) was not due to any person but is an example of being in the right place at the right time. I had applied for the role after they posted this position on Glassdoor (of all the portals). Vimal called me to set up a meeting with the CEO who was visiting India – a few interviews, and then it went quiet. I was parallelly interviewing with Airbnb and Reputation. I reached the final round at Airbnb, and had to fly down to SFO for the final round. I used this opportunity to also visit the Reputation office in SFO and my sister in Boston. While in Boston, I received a call from Vimal asking me if I was available to fly down to Duluth for a few meetings with key stakeholders. I flew from Boston to Duluth, completed a full day of marathon meetings and flew back to India the same night. While I did not get the Airbnb role, I got the ACS role and stayed with the company for 3 years.

As you would have probably noticed, people and connections make a lot of difference in one’s life, and if you are not an effective worker or a good human being, people will never refer you or support you. There is also an added angle of destiny and being in the right place at the right time, but I believe a beautiful story awaits everyone. Simply clicking the apply button on a portal is not enough; you need to find out more about the hiring manager, the company and the role, and make additional efforts to connect with people. You need to find a way to stand out among the thousands of people who apply for a role.

Your connections matter.