HR Guru Mayank Rautela offers practical advice.
Dear reader, are you just starting out in your career and want to know the right steps you need to take?
Not sure how to prepare for your first interview? Or your first online interview?
Struggling with office politics? Or with working from home?
Have a bad boss? Or a colleague who is undermining you?
Nobody seems to listen to you at meetings?
Have you hit a dead-end at work and see no way out?
Please send in your concerns to our HR guru Mayank Rautela at getahead@rediff.co.in. (Subject: Mayank, can you help?).
Dear Mayank,
Please guide me as to what I should do.
I'm working as an HR officer (offrole). I am 30 years old. My salary is below the minimum wage rate. I have been working here since 1.9 years but still have got no increment.
I'm a career oriented person. I want to move to the next position. When I was offered this job, it was mentioned I would be taken onroll after 1.5 yr to 2 years. But still there is nothing being done.
New people that are being hired on same profile as me are hired on onroll (FTC) with salary higher than mine. Moreover, some HR interns have also been hired and once they are absorbed in the company, they will be on the company’s payroll.
An HR intern whom I have trained from A to Z and is a fresher is being offered a regional HR position. This is a position that is higher than mine. I cannot understand why someone like me who has 1.9 years of experience in the company is not even considered.
I have got an offer from a pharmaceutical company and I have resigned from my current job. But I'm still confused about whether I should leave this company or not.
Please guide me about what to do so that I can grow on my career. In the current company, there is a lot of politics and I'm not able to deal with it. I'm losing my confidence.
I want to keep this anonymous.
Thank you.
You must discuss these concerns you have regarding your career not growing in the same manner as your colleagues with your manager or HR.
If it can be resolved, then continue on your current role.
Else, you can consider the new job after you have done due diligence about the new company and its management.
Hi Mayank,
I would like to keep my question anonymous.
I have been working in an energy solutions-based company. It is a multinational engineering consultancy company. Our main line of business is engineering of oil and gas based refineries and related petrochemical plants.
I joined this Mumbai-based company in 2015 as a trainee.
I am happy with the work but my financial growth is very slow as compared to my friends working in similar companies.
I haven't switched companies as on now.
I am looking for a job switch both in India or abroad (Dubai/ Singapore).
I have been trying hard to find a company for a job switch but I am not getting response from anyone.
I mainly try through LinkedIn and Naukri.
My questions to you are:
1. Could you please advise what is the best way to find jobs abroad (because I'm tired of applying via LinkedIn). Should I take any professional help? If yes, please suggest the name of a good company you know.
2. What is the best way to switch a job in India, considering the lack of response from employers through LinkedIn or Naukri?
I'll be very happy to have answers to this.
Thanks and regards,
Anonymous
Hi. As you work in a niche segment, your job search also needs to be focused.
Make a list of the companies where your skills are the most appropriate. Then connect with people who work in those companies through LinkedIn. Approach them for a suitable role as all good companies have internal employee referral programmes.
Also, please understand that you should not look for a job only because of a low salary.
If your management is supportive and is willing to gradually increase your salary, then you can consider continuing here.
Hi.
Myself SS.
I am 25, working in a CA firm in Assam.
I am not a graduate. I have studied three years in BCom but couldn’t pass and now that it has been two years, I don’t feel like completing it.
My teachers and everyone in that institution said I won’t be able to find a job because I am not a graduate, even though I have worked in three companies. But the stipend was not good enough.
I think my experience and skills are enough for me to find a job and I feel I should make a fake degree or photoshop just to add on my CV.
I am very tense regarding my career as I am not from a good financial family.
I wanted to do something else but because of money problems I couldn’t. That made me angry and I wasted my three years of BCom.
Please suggest what I should do.
Thank you.
You should definitely complete your graduation as that is the basic requirement for any decent job in a good company.
Also, do not forge any documents as, these days, all good organisations do reference checks and you would be caught. Something like this would lead to the loss of your current and future jobs.
Hi Mayank.
I am from Kolkata.
I resigned from my job in January 2021 and hence am on my own.
However, I am yet to get better opportunities from academic institutions.
I have upskilled myself during pandemic too and I am optimistic but, in this pandemic, jobs are yet to come by.
I came back to India from Malaysia in 2018 and am yet to get a coveted job.
I am a late bloomer and believe that age is just a number.
I feel a little jaded and look forward to your thoughts.
My family, wife and son are in Malaysia and I think I also must join them there for greener pastures.
Please advise Sir.
Thanks and due regards.
If you have a good opportunity, you must plan to go back to Malaysia and live with your family.
You have not revealed what kind of profession you are in but, unless you have a stable career, it would not be wise to stay in India or any foreign country.
Remain positive.
Dear Sir,
I read about mentors in your column.
I did not know about this.
Can you please explain who is a mentor and how they can help your career?
Does every job need a mentor?
Thank you,
Gurvinder
A mentor is someone who guides us and helps us navigate through our career.
A mentor is a senior who you respect and can share your thoughts and concerns with.
It is not mandatory to have a mentor but having a mentor is always a good support system.
- You can read all of Mayank Rautela's columns here.
Mayank Rautela is the chief human resources officer at Care Hospitals.
He is a management graduate from the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies and holds a master's degree in labour laws from Pune University.
He has over two decades of experience in the field of general management, strategic human resources, global mergers and integrations and change management.
He has held various leadership positions across marquee companies, including the Piramal Group, the Tata Group and multinational healthcare organisations like CR Bard and Becton & Dickinson.
Please send in your workplace concerns to Mayank Rautela at getahead@rediff.co.in. (Subject: Mayank, can you help?), along with your name, age, where you work (eg, Mumbai, Lucknow, Agartala) and job profile. Do let us know if you wish to keep your question anonymous.
Please Note: This is not a recruitment service. This column is an advisory.
