DARK SIDE OF THE INDIAN JOB MARKET – FROM AN HR’s PERSPECTIVE

First thing’s first, an HR’s only job is not to make rangolis. An HR performs many other duties. Most of them are indeed monotonous and boring, but not unimportant. Now that this is out of the way, there is one thing that I need to shed some light on.

If at any point in your life during an interview, you’ve resorted to the statement, “I am a people person.” as the answer to the question, “Why did you choose HRM as your major?” then you need to read ahead.

All those, including myself, who have claimed to believe in the forbidden line mentioned above have sooner or later fallen into the trap of a monotonous journey which is called an HR job profile (more about it in some future article). Don’t get me wrong, I am, in no way, bashing out on the industry or the workforce it employs. This happens to be my thoughts over something which I believe to be the unspoken truth of the current job market, which nobody talks about, with special reference to human resource management. As a student, there are several theoretical concepts that you have to study in order to grasp somewhat of an understanding of the human resource industry. Most of them make their way into real-life one way or another. Of course, the integration of theory with the real-life tasks one needs to carry out is often not apparent. Nonetheless, everyone tries to implement their theoretical knowledge over to their practical tasks. Those who are lucky enough to easily go through this transition of theory to practice, quickly adjust to their new reality and lower their expectations. Unfortunately, this is not a trend that’s prevalent in the industry. Most of the jobs that are targeted toward HR freshers or freshers from any other industry are within the realm of D-HRM. Now you might ask what D-HRM is. Does D stand for “Dynamic?” or “Diverse?” or everybody’s favourite, “Digital?” some of the creative ones will surely make out the connection between the title and the content and will say that “D” stands for Dark. Well, even to your dismay, the “D” is none of the above. The D stands for Disguised. And this is just the start of the “dark side.” Disguised HRM refers to such job profiles which are termed to be under the HR realm but in reality are something else (I am sure that ‘D’ job profiles are prevalent in other industries as well). I fell for this trap on the first-ever job of mine. It was my second day at the office and I had been interviewed for the profile of HR Executive. Upon coming face to face with the work that I was allotted, I immediately went to my hiring manager and confronted him with what was happening. A snippet of what bizarre conversation followed is below;

Me: Sir, I was interviewed for the profile of HR Executive but I have been put in the sales team.

Manager: Well, what are you doing in the sales team?

Me: That is why I am here.

Manager: Haha… I know this can be confusing. But trust me, this is the HR Executive profile for which we hired you.

Me: I honestly don’t think that it is the profile for which I was hired. I am an HR major. I don’t think that this is one of the duties an HR personnel needs to perform.

Manager: You mean that HR sales don’t form a part of the job description of an HR Executive?

Me: HR sales?

Manager: You are selling HR solutions to our clients.

Me: I am selling.

Manager: HR solutions.

Me: Selling!

Manager: HR solutions.

I resigned within the next ten minutes.

Unfortunately, this is a trend in the job market which tries to make a fool out of fresh candidates and hire them for a job profile that may not even be considered experience in the career path that candidates have envisioned for themselves. Also, this 'D' can be put before any other job profile. You can also refer to it as the D of the Devil (Yes I know how it sounds. Get over it!) The Devil will lure you by offering something but, you'll be doing his bidding which shall be something else entirely.

How to be safe from such a scenario?

Do not apply for jobs blindly. Read the job descriptions carefully. Ask questions from the interviewer as well. Do a background search of the prospective company and go through the reviews. Teach yourself to distinguish between actual and fake job offers/interviews. Be a well-informed candidate.

 

Another unfortunate trend within the job market is the usage or should I say, the over usage of the term CTC. This trap of CTC is enough to catch the attention of fresh candidates who are naïve enough to actually believe in it. If I have said it once I have said a thousand times, “Your Cost To Company is not your salary.” This might look so obvious to someone who has some experience but you’ll be surprised how many people actually believe their CTC to be their in-hand salary when they start working for the first time. This is something that HR’s also need to stop doing in order to make offers look more lucrative. Transparency is the key in such situations and a new candidate should be given a genuine breakup of his/her salary so that confusion and conflicts can be avoided. I have also applied for jobs where I was getting 12 lakhs per annum without any experience whatsoever. But, I did this out of sheer curiosity to talk to the people on the other side and ask them questions that they don’t want to answer. I am a constant job seeker and have given so many interviews that once or twice I found myself in such a situation where the offered CTC was about 2.5 to even 3 times than that of the base salary. Luckily, I haven’t been a victim of this thing till now.

How to be safe from such a scenario?

Be aware of the fact that a CTC includes fringe benefits, allowances, perks, and all those expenses which a company spends on its employees. It is not your net salary.

 

Part time HR’s who ask for you to register yourself on their shady portals for a nominal fee is another trend that plagues our current job market. Believe it or not, this is really common and I have been a victim of this fraud. I went for an interview after looking at a profile that actually looked legit and upon walking inside the company, I instantly regretted it. I was asked to give them a one-time fee that was essential for me to be included in their portal and start working as a part-time Talent Acquisition Executive for them. I asked them about their target market and was told that I need to hire people like myself and I will be a millionaire in no time because the earning potential is that much. I just need to pay them the platform fee and I’ll be solid. Thank God I was accompanied by a friend of mine and we got out from there safe and sound. That friend of mine started a business and stopped going for interviews after this. This might be the only thing that’s actually good about this whole scenario. It ignited the flame of entrepreneurship.

How to be safe from such a scenario?

Don’t go alone.

 

One of the final things that I have experienced in my quest for an ideal job role is unsolicited job interviews. Those random messages/emails that I am sure everyone must have received at least once and they all go something like this,

“Your Amazon/Microsoft interview is scheduled for tomorrow… yada yada yada… carry a copy of your CV and two passport-sized photographs. HR Madhu/Khushi/Anuj/Prem etc.”

Beware of such messages especially if you haven’t applied for anything related.

How to be safe from such a scenario?

Ignore such messages. Amazon/Microsoft is not going to hire candidates through an unheard company based at Lakshmi/Moti/Tilak Nagar.

By no means am I claiming that the Indian job market is like this from the surface to the core. These are just some extreme examples of situations that I have found myself dangling in. All of these situations can be avoided by the candidates if they pay attention to the listings and educate themselves on some fundamental concepts. But, the question is about the honesty and integrity of individuals. Some situations that were mentioned in the end do ask for accountability. Being underpaid or doing things outside of your expertise is something that can easily be taken care of but, taking advantage of someone’s innocence must be penalized. So, long story short, don’t give in to the dark side by becoming a Sith, be a well-informed and progressive job seeker and do your due diligence to stay on the light side of the force.

A Note for HR Freshers:-

You guys need to stop using the above mentioned line. I forbid it. Being a people person is not why someone should choose HR as their career. As a matter of fact, most of the HR people I know are the sheer opposite of "people person" persona. Stop spamming your interviewers with this myth. This doesn't work. Trust me. Be yourself and own it. I worked at a fantastic office by admitting it in the interview that I am a very boring person and that is why I chose HR as my major because HR is also boring... So, it were two boring things that compliment each other. And this was way better of an answer as compared to that "people person" crap. Again, be yourself and you're gonna ace it.

P.S. - All these views are with reference to the private sector because, to be honest, who gets a job in Govt. Sector these days? 😖

[Thank you for reading this article. Check out other articles as well. Subscribe to my Podcast and my YouTube channel.]

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