Sometimes you look back and realise that the future you had envisioned is where you are right now. I’d written about this a few weeks back.
But when you look back, it’s difficult to ensure that only the positive memories get thrown up. Its a bit like Google Search, my memory- even if there’s some remote link to the search query, the result will be shown. And when it’s my own life I’m searching in and about, it’s difficult to stop at Page 1, though I may have got the result. 🙂
Besides, its only natural (when looking for the future I’d envisioned in the past) that I tend to look at a particular time in my life, when the first professional dreams were getting made – around the time that I finished my PG. The summer of 2002, a scenario, quite similar to what the world is facing now. This was the placement season right after the dotcom bust.
I read a few reports recently on how many companies are refusing to honor the offer letters made to students, or delaying the joining date till everything stabilises. I feel very bad for these kids, there are very few things that could’ve prepared them for this. Everything happened in quite a bit of a hurry. And suddenly the dreams of a secure future, the list of purchases to be made from the first salary, all seem like a sick joke that fate played on them. Its difficult to put into words the frustration, the anger and the sorrow that they’d feel. When their confirmed employer suddenly keeps them waiting, then gives them very mixed signals, when they wake up every day and realise that they have finished their education but are yet to start the next step – employment, when relatives see a prey and sweep in to casually ask what their plans are now, when they have to push an entire day knowing that tomorrow would not be any better, when they agonise at home/college wondering why all this is happening to them, when they see their classmates join organisations whose offer they’d rejected, when they start looking for other options only to realise that in such choppy weather, no one is willing to give them even a straw to clutch at, it can shatter their confidence, and more importantly their faith in the force that holds it all together.
But yes, as the old saying goes, whatever doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger. I should know, since I was one of them for a nerve wracking 2 months. This post is a thank you note to the higher power , and loved ones for pulling me through. This post is also a prayer for those poor souls who will hopefully look back at all this, and will still be able to smile.
until next time, dream
very true manu. i finished pg when the financial crisis was in full swing – actually the upswing had just started. a great many of my seniors in fact switched out of finance because of the no-job scene. history repeats itself i guess.
🙂 I am sure they will have something to smile about. It never pays to give up.
yeah, it was really a rude shock for the freshers. And the news of companies cutting down on existing employees are not helping them at all 🙁
in a recent train journey I happened to overhear that the joining dates of some companies have been postponed by 2-3 years! just another way of saying, “No” 🙁
It was a positive thing for me in 2001…my mind was made up for me to start my PG instead of taking up a Job right after engg…so works both ways I guess!
As someone who is facing placements and an unstable job market, i appreciate ur viewpoint and ur posting ur experience.
posts like these go a long way in soothing frayed nerves during unstable times…thanx! 🙂
These are tough times for everybody. I wonder why the moon is provided when the times are good, and deep pits are laid out in bad times. Balance counts. At all times.
But what we see is reality. And we better be prepared for it..
Nice to see this kind of information keep up the good work.
hmmm…can totally relate to this.
I wandered around for 2.5 months after finishing PG to get the first job.
amen!! same goes here… and uncannily been thinkin something of the same essence… for sometime!
cynic: yeah..2001-2 was a really bad scene… but i figure there are more options these days?
TCWB: yep, it doesnt 🙂
anoop: true
epiphany: depends on what stage you are.. if you’ve finished your PG, the options are few
zingaro: that was the idea…all the best 🙂
kavi: perhaps the job market also has some ‘survival of the fittest’ processes 🙂
tina: thanks 🙂
stone: 2002?
kunal: that happened in our batch too!!
neers: nice to see you back 🙂
Just need to lie low.. and one will see the end of the tunnel.. time and patience..
Tough.
of course, I’ve often cribbed what salaries were like when we passed out…
The hiring freeze is really sad. One way to counteract it would be to encourage small businesses in the country. If it was easy to start a business, didn’t take that much money, then more jobs would be generated, and they would not be as susceptible to other countries’ financial ups and downs.
sucks doesn’t it. but you can’t give up – you just fight harder – and look at alternative options … and eventually something has to go right .. it just has to! (so she says)