Dedicated to the Batch of 2020

Congratulations to those who have received a full-time offer after completing their summer internship and to those who have joined their new companies as FTE’s. To those of you who couldn’t convert their internship into a full-time opportunity and have had their offers revoked don’t lose heart. “The journey has just begun”.

Do you believe that hard work helps you achieve your destiny? If you don't the following story might change your mind. Microsoft had always been my dream company and I undoubtedly wanted to be a part of this organization from the very beginning. I was in awe with anyone who worked at MS and a tiny bit of me was envious of them. It was November 2015 and I was actively searching for a new opportunity. I received a call from a hiring consultant asking me if I would be interested to interview for a Talent Sourcer position with Microsoft. My reaction to that call was shock followed by excitement. I decided to give it a go and landed up in the Microsoft office in Hyderabad. I was scared to see so many people lined up for the interview. I gathered all my courage went inside the room to find the hiring manager waiting to interview me. While I had put in a lot of effort into preparing for the interview, I realized that the job was not in line with what I truly wanted to do. I decided to let her know that I would not be interested to take up this opportunity. To my astonishment and utter disbelief, she was sweet, kind, and accepting of my decision. She even told me to drop her a note on LinkedIn in case I changed my mind. Over the weekend I thought through and weighed the pros and cons. While I knew I would be the biggest fool to let go of this opportunity, in my heart I knew that I was not going to do justice to that role. I decided to send out a message to the hiring manager, letting her know that I will not be taking up the job.

Fast forward to April 2017, I joined the University Recruiting team and was overjoyed at finally making it to my dream company. While I was busy showing off my new accomplishment on social media, there was a new manager who was going to take over the team. The team gathered in anticipation to meet our new manager and to my extreme surprise (SHOCK) our new manager happened to be the same hiring manager I had interviewed with two years back. All I could pray was for a cloak of invisibility. The saving grace was that she didn't recognize me (THANK GOD) and I decided to withhold this information until the right time. After spending a significant amount of time (18months) and doing some “Good Work” under her leadership I finally decided to share this incident with her. She smiled, hugged me, and showed me the very same message that I had sent her 4 years back and said "I knew I was destined to be your manager from the very beginning ".

There is no moral to this story, but I do want to share that it is important to not give up. It has been a tough year for many, with the pandemic creating havoc everywhere. Many job offers have been revoked, rolled back, or pushed to a later date. Students are worried about paying back their student loans, parents are anguished about their children’s future. The future doesn’t look so promising. But trust me there is light at the end of the tunnel. If you have failed, it doesn’t mean you are a failure. It simply means that you’ve been given more time to hone your skills further. The moment you want to quit is the moment when you need to keep pushing. Pick yourself up and join the race again.

Picture of me with the hiring manager of 2015 and current boss. ??