Today was an unusual day. While my hatred for my college administration keeps on magnifying every single day along with my hatred for the whole concept of doing engineering and getting placed through campus placements, I have had a respite since a few days.
There were no more placement tests, no more pressure of ‘getting placed’ and no more stress. Life was so cool. And today was one of those cool days. At least, it was supposed to be one of them. But then my cell phone couldn’t really bear my happiness. So, it rang.
And there it was a teacher who was seriously very pissed off with me, probably because she had to do more work of calling the absentees for the interview. So, there she was, asking me about why I was absent for today’s interview. I didn’t have any idea about the fact that I was supposed to appear for a direct interview round today at my college. I did confirm it day before and my name wasn’t there in the list. But then it is my college. Anything can happen over there.
So, I had to run. I needed to get ready in 5 minutes (seriously) and reach my college within half an hour. Now, those of you who would continue to read this article would ask me why I was appearing for the interview when I didn’t want the job. Well, internals. That’s the only reason why any engineering student studying through PTU respects ones professors these days. I happen to be one of them now.
I reached the college on time and then I was supposed to wait in the waiting room for my turn for the interview. This made me go on with my usual ritual that has helped me bear those long waiting hours before interviews – reading books. So, I was reading a book on entrepreneurship and was totally enjoying it.
Yes, I love those curious and jealous eyes on me. When every single person in the room is so tensed while waiting for their turn for the interview, I had always been like this. Cool. Either I watched American T.V. series on my friend’s iPad or I read books. And almost everyone couldn’t gulp this little activity I did. This time it was the same. As an add-on, there were people from other colleges who were totally new to this little ritual of mine. So, I really enjoyed the scene. In fact, this time I managed to get those jealous and peculiar eyes from the company’s HR officials too but yep, I didn’t care at all.
In September 2014, I had to sit for my first ever job interview. I desperately wanted a job. And I literally did many efforts for that. Come on! I didn’t really enjoy my college life because I was trying to make myself ‘employable’. And then this was the time to take the test. And I feared failure. I feared rejection, like almost everyone does.
And that’s exactly what I got. I got rejected in a couple of interviews in some really good companies for number of different reasons (which I would share with you if you want). But then came the final blow.
So, after passing two tough written tests and the H.R. round with flying colours, I was there for the technical interview round of the XYZ company. While sitting in the waiting room, I did pick some talks which informed me that company people are getting a bit late for they needed to catch the train after 2 hours (Note- distance between railway station and interview venue was about one and half hour).
I entered the interview room and he asked for my introduction and two very simple questions and then asked me to leave. If you have read or listened to quite a lot of interview stories, you would have been very sure that that was a ‘selected’ case. But it wasn’t and I knew that. The result came out and I was rejected. And if you read the last paragraph carefully, you would know why I was rejected.
The next day I had a little bit of tension between my college’s placement head and I complained him of what happened the last day with my interview. And all I heard was, “Manpreet, you know it is a fact. The moment you enter the room, the decision is made. So, those two-minutes were more than enough.”
I am no good writer but let me try to express what I felt at that time. This guy was the person who knew me since two years and he had been so impressed with what I was doing as extracurricular activities in college. This guy knew I was one of the toppers of my college and also, I was not that nerd kind of person. I had interests in various fields and I used to make sure that I excelled in each of them. And here he was telling me that I couldn’t enter that room confidently enough to get selected. I was disgusted. I felt disgust for my own self at that point of time.
I longed for retaliation. But after being rejected and taunted so miserably, I had no hope. Things do change. And so does the attitude of people.
Today, a friend was so amazed to listen to what I said to him. “I don’t want to do a job.” He couldn’t believe it for this was coming from a girl who was too desperate to get a job two months before. That transformation came when I had that experience with the placement officer. That day I changed. It was a different Manpreet who sat for another interview the very next day after getting rejected in a ‘two-minute’ interview. And since then, no one could reject Manpreet.
Now, at the time of writing this article, I have got 5 placements and do note I did everything to ‘not’ get selected in them. And today was the interview of the fifth company that I got placed in. And guess how long my interview was, 2 minutes.
So, here I am, looking at myself and comparing those two times; comparing those two two-minute interviews I sat through. In one, I got rejected and in other, I got selected. The person was the same, the skill set was the same, the job requirement was the same. Everything was same except one. Do you know what changed?
It was the attitude. It was the confidence, or I should say over-confidence. Earlier I undermined myself. I told myself I wasn’t that good but still, I was trying to impress those people. I had to try to show them my skills and my talent. Basically, earlier in September 2014, I almost begged to people for a job.
But after going through that experience of humiliation and rejection, my attitude towards the entire campus placements things changed. In the next interview, I walked inside the interview room with an air of confidence. I didn’t care about being selected or rejecte. Of course, that came out because of the anger I had inside me. But that worked.
The first time I tried not to impress those people, I actually managed to impress them. The first time I tried not to clear the interview, I cleared it.
CONFIDENCE and BELIEF IN MY OWN SELF worked for me. And not just once, for 5 times. And you know what, this would work for everyone. Confidence is the key to crack every interview you sit through. Try it!
Tip to Boost your confidence – Tell yourself that these people are not even good enough to talk to you. If you’re reading this, you are obviously hundred times better than those techies who come to interview you. And next time, show this to those people (politely and in a humble way). And they would know. And you would be SELECTED in the two-minute interview.
Hi Manpreet,
Your story is an inspiration for struggling students (in fact anybody in any field). It’s an eyeopener for those who get rejected in interviews due to lack of inner courage (confidence).
One curious question – Have you joined those dumb company? Because, it will be the end of a talented entrepreneur in the world of entrepreneurship.
Wish you all the best 🙂
Hello Akash,
I haven’t joined any of them yet. What you said.. I have the same reason. But then… I don’t really have full confidence on my entrepreneurial skills. That’s something I need to discover in next 6 months. If I would be successful.. I would be known as an entrepreneur.. if I fail.. I would be just another engineer.
There’s nothing like failure in life. Some people are just more successful than other. If you fail ever don’t think you are a failure you just din’t reach to the top and you are not at the zero level either. When it comes to entrepreneur skills it’s more about self learning, it’s about exploring things with your own perspective. Seeing simple things with a different angle. Analysing, thinking and trying to make this world a better place. That is all about being an entrepreneur. Don’t try too hard on something you just need to be consistent on your effort and keep patience, believe in hard work and you will get everything in life. Hardwork is the only answer of success. By hardwork I mean work intelligent. You’ll not fail as a blogger.
Wow! that’s a great piece of advice. And that thing about you’re not at zero level either.. That completely goes by my work psychology. Failure is just a sign that you’re walking towards the path of success.
Thank you 🙂
Hi Manpreet,
Here is a great collection of books for aspiring entrepreneurs. Entertaining, educating & inspiring…
(The Top 10 Books of 2014 for Entrepreneurs!)
Just do a Google search for – YourStory.com top 10 books entrepreneurs
Best Of Luck 🙂
Hello Akash,
Thanks a lot. I really needed more suggestions about books. Books are never enough for me. 🙂
Hey you know I am in Final year information Technology. Are you in Final year or pass out ? The thing is, I have no confidence of getting selected because I don’t know what they will ask me. Does only confidence matter or knowledge about the subject ? Give me some tips to get placed apart form confidence. And what to do if you don’t get placement in collage. And One more question so now are you going to do the job? or just blogging 😀 I think you used to tell you don’t want job because you were frustrated of being rejected. 😀 And now you have 5 companies. Which one are you going to join xyz or pqr :D.. see yu.
Hello Anurag, I am in my final year.
I was also very low in confidence earlier because of the same reason. I didn’t know what they will ask me. Whatever I used to learn, they asked everything except that. So, basically what I did was quickly covered up the basic subjects and the important questions. It took me 3 days to cover everything. That boosted my confidence to some extent.
But this thing didn’t really help in my case. Only confidence worked for me. I was seriously not asked much technical questions because I was so confident about my knowledge. In one of the interviews, the guy was being very tough on technical part but the moment I answered the first question, the difficulty level dropped. Seriously! He had actually made people cry for he was so strict and so particular about technical part and that’s why I went to that panel. But then he pissed me off with a taunt and when I am angry, I am rather over confident. No one can beat me, at least not in talks. 😀
Moral of the story, find the thing that makes you feel confident. Thorough knowledge, self appreciation, anger – it can be anything. You need to try it and find it.
And if you don’t get placement in college, consider yourself lucky. I know how college people present the scenario in front of us – you won’t get job off campus and blah blah! this is a crap. There are better job opportunities out of campus. You just need to have the skills.
Well, truthfully speaking, I don’t want to do a job. There are 6 months left before my degree actually gets completed and I would make the decision then. 90% I would be blogging or doing some content creation kind of job. I don’t want to be an engineer though I am one but still 😛
So, I am not going to join any of them. Three of them are already out of picture for I didn’t accept their LOI. Rest two, let’s see. 🙂
I hope my suggestions would be of some use to you. In case, you have any more queries.. feel free to ask me. 🙂
😀 I wasn’t expecting such a nice answer from you. Thanks. and one more thing I used to think that you are a pretty women haha, I mean I was thinking about you like “This is Manpreet Mam who is older than me”. I mean wtf you are same semester I am. The first post i read on your blog was about prematial sex, then wtf I commented on your post I don’t know 😀 considering you a women. Pardon me, I also don’t want job I want to become CEO 😀 but for time being I’ll job. Blogging is a good choice for girls. Go ahead jab mood kiya job karna otherwise apna blog to hai hi” and tomarrow is my exam and I found your blog so interesting that it’s better to read your blog than those books.
hahah.. that’s a great compliment that you find my articles so good. Though I know that when you have to prepare for exams, everything else seems too good to resist, still I would accept the compliment. Thank you. 🙂
Good luck for your exams and I don’t want to say this but still You should better study for the exam. this is going to be there for a long time.. so do the important task first. Study :)Best of luck.