Many in Meghalaya are seeking jobs elsewhere in India but some are falling prey to wrong consultancy, communication gap and hypocrisy on the part of hiring firms, says Rajib Roy
LIKE THEIR counterparts elsewhere in the Northeast, Meghalaya’s youth are increasingly seeking jobs in mainland India. But some are returning with bitter experiences.
Meet Wanskhem Kharbyngar who after graduating from St Anthony’s College went to pursue MBA in a reputed institution in Bangalore. Through campus placement, the institute facilitated for him with a lucrative job in a reputed firm that deals in management of public funds. But a homesick Wanskhem returned to Shillong to be with his family.
In Shillong, he applied in the insurance companies, banks and mobile telephone companies although his experience in the fund management firm did not last more than a year. “An insurance company offered me the job of a sales manager and I was told that I have to lead a team of around 15 people whom I have to guide in sourcing the company’s products to the end customers. But I told the company head that it would not be possible for me to recruit people into the team to which I was told that the team was in place. I made this point clear since I saw many people in Bangalore suffering from such double standards,” said Wanskhem.
But when Wanskhem joined the company he found that there was no team. “When I asked the company head I was told that many of the team members left suddenly and so I have to recruit. I had fallen for the bluff,” said Wanskhem.
Nilesh Sachdev, a graduated in English from St Edmund’s College, had it bad too. His near-flawless accent earned him a job at a reputed call centre in Gurgaon. The human resources (HR) heads of that firm had come down to Shillong to hire him after several rounds of interviews. And Nilesh was elated by the five-figure salary the BPO firm offered him straightaway.
But once he landed in Gurgaon, the HR manager told him his accent was not up to the mark and he could thus not be inducted. Nilesh was also given a single day’s notice to check out from the hotel room the firm had booked for him. “Everything came crashing down after the manager rejected my request for training to improve my accent,” he said, adding he did not expect big-name BPO firms to stoop so low.
Nilesh urged jobseekers to be wary of HR people from reputed companies conducting walk-in interviews in high-end city hotels. “Don’t get taken in by the show they put on,” he said.
Another jobseeker at the receiving end is Lambat Nongkhlaw. After clearing the interview for the job of a sales manager in a reputed insurance company, he was awaiting his offer letter. “I was told by the HR person that I was through and will be given an offer letter within a tentative date,” he said.
But days rolled into weeks and one day he called up the regional head office of the company located in Kolkata and enquired about his case. “I was asked to collect my appointment letter from their branch office in Guwahati where I had the interview for a position based in Shillong. On reaching there I found no such letter would be issued since there were a few more rounds left in the interview process,” he said.
He attributed his harassment to the communication gap between the company’s hierarchy and hiring wings.
Ashutosh Patodia, HR officer of a Gurgaon-based BPO said, “Communication gaps do take place during the process of an interview. I would urge jobseekers to double check the terms and conditions with the company before accepting any offers.”
Urmila Basak an HR officer of a reputed headhunting firm from the region observed that mushrooming of consultancies are also to be blamed for such mess. “Many companies hire the services of headhunting firms since recruitment is a long drawn process. The problem arises when fake placement firms lure jobseekers with jobs in return for a hefty fee. Jobseekers have every right to verify the antecedents of the HR personnel and the company they represent.”