Monthly Archives: February 2010

Day Two

Just staring at the roof…. that’s what I was doing since morning.  Well, I went through a few papers; files given to me were empty. Few folders contained some random communications, weren’t useful.

 What I need to be doing – gathering information and the  people I  need to be interacting with are all at the factory. So ideally my work will start only on visiting the factory and spending some time there.

 The CEO was out of office practically the whole day. Around 3 pm, I was told that he reached office. No Lap Top yet. What’s the CEO waiting for ? Christmas? I am looking forward to my next interaction with him, albeit im not sure it’s going to be useful. But the journey has to begin somewhere.

 My predecessor seems to have been very distracted, atleast that’s what the papers suggest. While his theoretical plans ( as presented in the paper) give a view of him as an intelligent person, but I guess he must have struggled to implement his plans. Although the CEO once mentioned that the predecessor was asked to go. I still wonder why. This morning I was having a conversation with a colleague in logistics who mentioned that the predecessor went on his own accord. The predecessor seemed to have tried to take the company on a new track – Fresh Fruits and vegetables. My presumption is that he might not have got much support from the Higher-ups. Whatever it is, the fact is that at present I do not have any updates on various opportunities he was pursuing then.

 In the afternoon, I had a meeting with one of the colleagues who works in the financial department. He was also reiterating that all sales related communications are happening from the factory. On day two, I am beginning to digest this reality wherein all existing clients will be handled by a colleague in the factory and I shall be toiling to add all new clients to the existing basket. I am always destined to create new customers only and not previleged to handle the existing ones. In all my previous organisation too, this has been the case.  (Welcome Aboard! Says my mind)

 The current year seems to be a year of Uncertainty for me. Since January this year, I am on a roller-coaster drive – starting from choosing which job opportunity to pursue to whether I would be retained or relieved by the previous organization…..now, what to expect from the new position. New age gurus tell us that there is wisdom in experiencing uncertainty. Let me find out soon if this is true!

Day One

The Prologue

Kalyana Raman is in his mid-forties. He is ambitious but is idealistic. So his career path becomes turbulent at times. He has changed many jobs. While a recruiter will feel shaky on seeing his CV, but on closer scrutiny it will be noticed that with every job change Kalyanam (his short name) has grown and learnt so much. He finds it a struggle to attend interviews of established companies, because his CV does not show glamorous management degrees and consists only of experiences in SMEs. Interestingly, he had a few stints abroad. That explains his healthy pay packet. He has moved again recently. A medium sized food company, essentially export driven (which is why he is there!), but badly managed.

Now, over to him…….

Day One

I was feeling tense in the morning when I left home for the new office. The anxiety was inexplicable. Logically, there is no reason to be tensed. Was it because I do not know what to expect from the organization that I would be working with? I have changed jobs many times before but never have I felt the nerves like today.

Mala (Kalyanam’s wife) was mentioning that in all the previous job shifts I had walked into a new organization through a known person (already working there). Looking back, that’s not true. I can recollect 4 occasions when I joined a company without knowing anybody. In all those occasions, I think my apprehension may have been covered up by the excitement factor. The excitement arises because there are expectations. In this particular shift, I have no excitement. I have no particular expectation.

As the day progressed, I shifted my frame of mind from being a participant to that of an observer. This brightened me up a bit.

I have a big cabin now, with 4 different visitor chairs, long desk with a lot of space. The junior colleagues enter only after taking the permission. It gives me good amount of privacy which I guess should relax me, as I have never had such perks before.

They have a canteen in the office where all the employees take lunch. Now Mala need not pack lunch for me daily. This will save her a lot of time in the morning hours.

My work station is not fully ready yet, as I am waiting for the laptop and mobile phone.

I had a short meeting with CEO and Vice president Operations in the afternoon. Factory and operations’ heads seem to be more in command within this company. Many key overseas clients are being liaisoned by a person who is based in the factory. This I found very strange initially, but on closer scrutiny, it is not that I have not seen this before. In most of the processing companies the factory heads calls the shots, not the sales / marketing guys. The only difference here is that the production guys themselves interact with the customers directly.

All is well…. I shall survive and prosper here, God willing.