Guest Post: Kunal Chopra

Kunal is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about getting the job you want.

It was 25th April, 2010. I got an email from HCL Technologies (one of the top 5 IT services companies in India) saying, “Hello Kunal, We are happy to announce that you have been selected by HCL Tech. for recruitment under the Graduate Engineer trainee program.” It was my maiden achievement and I was ecstatic beyond limits upon the realization that I have been offered a job through campus. As with most people, my first job was the stepping stone onto my professional ladder. Since then, I have traversed five years on the track of Information Technology and Advisory. If I am to be very outspoken, I never knew about the track I would want to get into. Also, I was never ambitious before I got placed through campus. It was after I entered the ocean of Information Technology that I realized exactly what a career is and what could really fascinate me. It needed a venture of travelling around various cities across the world and experiencing various projects and clients to understand what my further roles and positions could entail.

I think as time passed and I networked with more and more people in the industry I started getting a sense of what my ideal job could be. I use to ask myself, “Am I a good technologist? Am I good at number crunching? Or do I need to explore the consulting arena? If consulting, shall it be management consulting or just technology consulting?” In time, I got an answer: consulting it is!! The search for the right company and position had begun. I started to research various companies for their service lines, their market presence, opportunities/positions available, what their balance sheet looked like, and most importantly how the work culture in the company was. Professional networking websites like Linkedin and Xing are great sources to know what kind of profiles/roles are tagged to the people in the market and what kind of positions are available. These websites are in addition to various job portals that help one get the desired references. Recently, what I thought of as the areas to be researched were totally substantiated by Prof. Chris Labash in his “Professional Speaking” course lecture.

An alumnus of the consulting division of IBM, I introspected and did research to come to the conclusion that I want to work for one of the Big 4 accounting firms in their consulting practices. The names that immediately come to my mind are Deloitte and E&Y. Just before where I am right now, at Carnegie Mellon University pursuing my Master’s in Information Systems Management, I decided to get into a blend of Analytics and Information Security consulting. So companies like Google, McAfee, and Symantec are also in the radar of my career aspirations.

Over approximately the last five years, I have recognized that there are three major aspects which are of utmost importance for getting an interview call: a concise and informative resume reflecting achievements and past experiences, presence of keywords within the resume, and thinking like an employer when applying or getting interviewed for a job. After getting a call the aspects which hold importance for a convert are describing your fit for the role and the organization, explaining your distinguishing qualities, and negotiating in an amicable manner. Another thing worth citing was a major quote by Prof. Labash: “You’ve got to be adaptable” if you are targeting consulting positions. He also cited that your stories and resume should optimally reflect at least three asset points worth highlighting. To learn from experiences one has to do a post mortem of recent interviews. You’ve got to believe in yourself and have a very high level of enthusiasm.

Of late I realize that I am into a rigorous graduate program, but I hope I get plenty of time to read over the books mentioned in the lectures by Prof. Labash.