The Half Baked Pizza

This is a story of Grady - from Pizza Mania.

Once upon a time, there was a Country named Pizza Mania(PM), 

People in PM loved pizza's, and the pizza making was a big business!

"Grady" was a boy born in this strange but hugely competitive country. He was a very sincere and hardworking student.

After school, he was sent off the Pizza Making School for Graduation. (Not because he loved to make pizza, but because almost all kids in Pizza Mania went there!)

Majority schools in the country of Pizza Mania, had an excellent curriculum. The students would learn about Various types of pizzas. And would write exams on the recipes to make a pizza. 

As fate had it, Grady passed with a distinction - he had worked extremely hard in his education.

The Jobs in the country of Pizza Mania were ever high - Businesses were blooming and the need for Pizza Makers was great. Grady was sure that his distinction would land him a job.

To his rude surprise - the interviewers asked Grady to make a real Pizza. Now although he had a distinction in Pizza Making - He had never made a pizza in real; every single exam required him to write the recipe down - which he perfectly did! 

When he said, he was not sure how to do it, He was rejected.

So the next time he tried making one in front of the interviewer - barely could he cut the toppings in the right manner, he struggled with grating cheese and more importantly, his pizza was half baked. 

Rejected!

Every single time - Rejected and Dejected. 

He faced Rejection for over a year. Every single company had rejected him. Some of his friends also in similar conditions had taken up - Pizza delivery, Sales and other odd jobs.

Determined to succeed - Grady went to the top Master Chef (Pizza Maker) in the country, to ask him his secret of success. 

When Grady told him his life story - he told about how he was excellent in academics and how he wondered that the master chef would have been still better;

Master Chef, however, burst in laughter! 

The Chef said, "I never went to the 4 years Pizza Making School, nor did I get any good grades." 

Grady was shocked. 

Chef Continued "You don't need a 4 year degree to learn to make a pizza - you just need to be able to make it! 

Grady - in this one year, if instead of banging in every company for job, you could instead have learned how to make pizza right, which would have taken just about a month at maximum!"

The Master Chef had taught himself pizza making in just a month. 

He had now given Grady the Key to Success.

For a month now Grady stopped to relentlessly apply for jobs and get rejected. He focused on improving his pizza making skills. 

Within a month, Grady got his first job - and has now become a Great Chef himself.

His friends still think he got lucky! And a lot of other parents in Pizza Mania still give example of Grady as to how "Good College & Great Grades lands a perfect job to students!" 

Grady however now takes this with his pinch of salt!

Does the story ring bells for you?

Every week I get dozens on emails/calls from students requesting me to find a suitable job for them.

They generally read, 

Sir, I am an "ABC Stream Engineer", Resume attached - looking for a job in core field.

Look forward to hearing from you!

And Six months down the line, out of those who had messaged in the first month I receive emails again, from the same students - Asking for Jobs.

On the other side from my brief Entrepreneurial journey, and a great lot of friends - who look for hiring, I have gone through the extreme anguish of interviewing a dozen "Overqualified (by degrees)" just to say - None of them is Employable!

I have always maintained - We don't have an Employment problem, We have an Employability problem.

I have always been analytical by nature - so every now and then, I follow up to ask the status of jobs for those who requested me. 

One most common answer, that I have always receive is "I have submitted resumes/applied at a lot of places, waiting for their calls!"

This is the same trap Grady fell in. Without key skills, you can only the get odd jobs, not the core ones(Pizza Making ones)

Grades never get you jobs, Skills do!

Don't worry how perfectly you can write down the recipe of a perfect pizza - if you are not able to make one! It's useless. Focus on improving the skills instead!

- Ajinkya Chopade