Asking the tough questions!

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The toughest questions are not the ones asked by the hiring managers. The tough questions are the ones that you should be asking of yourself before you take up a new job in a new company.

And I have noticed that very often, most people don't ask these questions. In fact, many times, they don't want to ask the questions that will rock the boat and jeopardise the process they are sailing through.

So you are being wooed by a company that you've always been fascinated about and have met with executives in the company who are reputed leaders in the industry. And the process has reached a stage where you have to now take a call on making the move.

All the critical check-boxes seem to be ticked :

• Good company; great brand
• Role and title adequately reflects your experience and is a step-up from your current role
• Great team of leaders and peers that you would be working with
• A good compensation package
• Your family is not going to get uprooted and they are also excited about this opportunity

But you still haven't asked some very important questions :

1. How is the new role going to be a step-up from your current one and how does it fit in with your overall career plan? Will there be a dilution in your growth as a professional?
2. How much head-room is available for growth in the new role and the new organisation? Do you have an opportunity to make an impact in the new role? Does the role challenge you adequately? Are the challenges the kind you are looking forward to?
3. And the most important questions : Is the culture of the new organisation something you are prepared for? Is it the kind of environment you can thrive in, and succeed? Will you be comfortable with the ethos and value system of the people and the place?

These questions and their answers can make all the difference between your being happy or miserable in the new role.

And there are innumerable examples of people who find the answers too late : soon after joining the company. And they realise that they cannot continue in this environment and then exit within 6-12 months of joining.

So, no matter how uncomfortable they make you, ask yourself these questions. You'll thank yourself for doing so.

(And how do you get the answers to these questions? We'll try answer this question in the next post.)

Shipwrecked and lost at sea!

This is one of the worst possible things that can happen to you in your career.

Imagine the scenario...

You have had a fairly stable and successful career. You have been in a leadership position for several years now, and you still have another decade or so to look forward to in your career.


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You recently came across a great job opportunity which scored on all fronts : company credentials, scope of the role, designation, growth prospects, learning opportunity, compensation, etc. The leadership team is a great set of professionals who you vibe very well with; and your chemistry with the manager, you would be reporting into, has also been great.

After discussing the opportunity with the important people in your life and after some serious introspection, you decide to take up the offer and move into the new role. You are very excited about the new chapter in your professional life.

And before you know what hit you, you are out of a job!!!

Within a short period of your joining the company (weeks or months), the company is acquired by another organisation (and these days, the acquiring company doesn't necessarily have to be a larger organisation) and in the reorganisation exercise, your role has been eliminated.

So what do you do when you find yourself in such a situation? Here are a few things you could do :

1. First and foremost, try find out as much as possible about the company you are joining, to avoid being caught in such a situation. Reading all about the company through news items on the internet, analysts' reports, etc. would give you some idea about the possibility of the company being a take-over target in the near horizon.

2. As far as possible, ensure that a severance clause is included in your appointment letter/ contract, so that if such a situation were to arise, you would have bought yourself some time (paid for by the company) while you found an alternate job.

3. Go back to your previous employer and have a conversation about the possibility of moving back into your previous role or a related role. This could be the quickest way of getting back into a job. (But the assumption here is that you have not burned bridges and had exited the previous organisation gracefully.)

4. Speak to the manager who hired you in the acquired company to identify possible alternate roles in the acquiring entity. It might make sense to take up a different role, even if it is not the ideal role, since it buys you time to plan your next career move.

5. Work your network to connect with the key leaders in the acquiring company to have informal conversations wherever possible. This would give you some idea into the acquiring company's working style and its plans. At the least, it helps you build some brand equity with the new leadership team, which could count when roles are being defined.

6. Connect with the search consultants you know and let them know about the situation so that they can reach out to you if they are working on any relevant assignments. Also connect with the leaders in the industry, especially the key competitors of the acquiring company, to explore possible roles.

Most importantly, be mentally prepared for a 4 to 6 month horizon before you can come up with relevant options for yourself.

And before long, your career should be back on the fast-track!

Who had the last laugh?

I recently interviewed a senior leader for a client assignment that I was running. I am not sure if the client will hire this individual, but I am definitely going to present this individual as a very good candidate for the role.

This is one person that stands out among many of the people I have met over the last few months. And I asked myself what was it about this person that made him stand out? There were other candidates who had better experience, better pedigree, and various other credentials.

But the one aspect that seemed to make a difference is humour, or rather his sense of humour.

I remember distinctly that this individual had high energy, was not cagey nor over-enthusiastic, was not condescending nor apologetic. He was pleasant, sure of himself and had a crisp and clear way of presenting his responses. And most importantly, he a good sense of humour.

I have had interactions with candidates in the past who come across as cynical and sarcastic. And the sarcasm is directed towards their employers, colleagues or even head-hunters! And it was clear that the cynicism was dragging the individual into a vicious downward spiral.

But, I digress! Coming back to the individual I was talking about.

He clearly used his positivity and his fine sense of humour to great advantage.

Is humour a good idea, especially in formal situations like job interviews? Does it always work?

• Humour works if, and only if, you are able to carry it off well, and it is not a forced effort. If you are not feeling comfortable enough to use humour, any forced effort would only back-fire.
• Humour works if the people you are interacting with, are able to appreciate the humour. The last thing you would want is to give some stiff-upper-lip executives the impression that you find the whole exercise 'a laugh'.
• Humour works once you have established your credibility and have developed a connection/ rapport with the individual(s) you are meeting. Trying to tickle their funny bone too early in the interactions would leave them wondering what you found so funny!

Humour, if it flows naturally, and is well used, could be a great way of engaging with the people across the table and taking the discussion up a few notches. It clearly helps you make a favorable impact and stand out vis-a-vis the competition.

Use humour well, and you could well have the last laugh!

Are you a lifer?

Recently most of you in India would have come across this article about the near zero-attrition among the senior management in companies like ITC and HUL (Zero attrition at senior management since 15 years; remuneration & reward strategy cited as main reasons - bit.ly/xTuQ1a). The article went on to enumerate the reasons for these exceptions in today's corporate environment.



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 Most organisations spend a huge amount of time, money and effort in reducing attrition, especially at leadership levels. High churn at these levels creates instability within the organisation, uncertainty in the ranks and ultimately below-par returns for all stake-holders of the organisation.

But is zero-attrition practical? And more importantly, is it desirable in today's context?

It definitely seems to be a desirable attribute for the organisation, but is it desirable for you and your career?

Senior leaders with relatively stable career graphs are viewed in a positive light by hiring managers or board members of companies. But what about leaders who have spent their entire career lives in a single organisation? Here are a few thoughts :

• If an organisation is able to provide growth, stability and reward to an individual, there is no reason for the person to move. (Remember our parents who spent their entire career in single organisations/government jobs and retired with all the benefits? They couldn't bring themselves to think of moving out of those jobs.)
• But in today's context, you do not come across too many organisations where you can bet your entire career on. You still have the government jobs and some rare companies like ITC & HUL, but these are exceptions.
• Professionals have far more risk-appetite today and are willing to move companies for professional growth. And, unlike in the past, there are various options available out there. And such jumps are no longer viewed negatively.
• What this trend has given rise to is an entirely different perspective of 'lifers', or people who have spent a lifetime in an organisation. (People who have spent 12-15 years or more in an organisation tend to be viewed as lifers by hiring managers!) Lifers actually get looked upon with a pinch of suspicion!!!
• Has this person stayed on in this organisation because she didn't get head-hunted by anyone else?
• Is this person too risk-averse and not willing to move out of her comfort-zone?
• Is this person too used to working in a certain environment? Will she fail if she is put into a different setting?
• This person has not demonstrated the ability to move into a new organisation and deliver in a completely new setting.
• Did this person grow in the organisation by virtue of being the only person left behind? Have all the good people left leaving behind only the average performers?

So zero-attrition and lifers would be great indicators for organisations, but may not necessarily be good for you and your career.

And the worst thing that can happen to a lifer is suddenly finding yourself being let go by your organisation and feeling like a deer staring at the headlights of a speeding truck on the corporate highway!

Don't let this happen to you!