Mohit
Chandra, who is a partner with KPMG, considers himself to be the
guardian angel of Indian recruiters and has written a gem of an open letter to
Indian Graduates and would be Graduates, which in turn, was duly published
under the India Ink section of the New York Times.
gap
Although, some of the points, raised by Mr. Mohit Chandra, are
valid, but his chosen style of expression reeks of "Oh! I am holier
than thou!" attitude. Plus, the article lacks intellectual depth and
is like all and sundry rants that we get to hear from the “phoren returned”
crop, who, it seems know everything about India and Indians. While it might
apply to the entire sample size that author had access to, although, I would
doubt that too, it is sheer slander of the population with the good skills,
mindset and ethics too. His is not a balanced evaluation of the ground
realities, and even he fails to do anything but preach. In the scope of the
entire article, he has not, for even once, tried to show a way out of the
perceived problem areas and shortcomings. But then, Chandra’s way is the
fashionable path these days!
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Below, I
have tried to respond to each of the points, as has been mentioned by Chandra
in his article. I would suggest that before further reading this piece, everybody
should read the piece written by Chandra, the URL for which has been provided
at the start of this post.
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It’s true
that there's an urgent need for improving the communication skills, especially
among the freshly minted graduates, who had studied in the vernacular medium up
to the 10th standard. But, and it’s a big b-u-t, English is a
foreign language and we, the Indians cannot be expected to have native level
proficiency over the language.
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What
does one mean by a cliché like “out of the box thinking”? Can Mr.
Chandra coin a better term than "out of the box thinking" to
represent the essence of "out of the box thinking" in a better manner?
On one hand, Indian employers expect the employees to be "process
driven" and would not tolerate "any deviation from the set
processes" and on the other, they expect them to "think out of the
box"! Is that a joke, Mr. Chandra? Am I supposed to laugh on this? Sorry
to say that it did not induce the intended laughter.
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I really
would like to know the number of question that Chandra would have asked during
his stint in the Hindu College. Ask questions? And, who will shield the fresh
graduate from the snide remarks? In most Indian businesses, if someone
questions the hierarchy, s/he will have to look for another job, the very next
week itself. That’s how the average Indian business operates. I have been lucky
to have worked in very different atmospheres, but not everyone is that much
lucky.
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Taking
responsibility for our career is normally what we do. By the way, can Mr.
Chandra kindly specify the working hours and number of working days per week
for the new employees, who were supposed to be trained? What needs to be known
is whether they had enough time, stamina and enthusiasm left, after slogging it
out in the office, for taking up the e-Learning training programs.
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I had
almost burst out laughing when Chandra mentioned the terms “Professionalism”
and “ethics”. If he had broached the subject in front of the “kuttis”
of Dacca, they would have told him, “Sir, please be quiet. If my horses
hear that, they will also burst out laughing”. Does it make any sense, if
someone talks about professionalism and ethics, when he has worked all his life
in the companies, which have brought down the entire world’s economy through
their unethical and corrupt trade practices? Add to that the tax frauds, the
insider trading, the unpaid salaries, fake offer letters, this and that
deduction at the time of leaving a job etc. etc. My question to Mohit Chandra, “Why
don't you behave first and set a precedent for the employees to follow? When
you ask for loyalty from the employees, why don't you show some loyalty to them
in the first place?”
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If I
have to summarize and rate the content of the article by Mr. Mohit Chandra, ridiculous
would be an understatement.
