YOUR JANMA KUNDALI...

I haven’t worked anywhere, under anyone, except, maybe, for a year-and-a-half. That’s right at the start of my career… and, that’s all my ‘employment experience’… All put together!

I always wanted to be on my own… and, I chose that path, ever since.

I am happy, I did it!

So, when a young-one comes to me for some tips on how to prepare a smart CV or how to face a job interview, I immediately connect them to some of my friends who have gone up smartly on the ‘employment route’. And, let me tell you, my friends do a fantastic job of guiding the young-ones. 

All that I can do, to the young-ones, is a bit of ‘pep’… 

They say, it helps!

Now, here is the irony. Though, during these three-decades-plus, I did not have to seek jobs in my life, hundreds of my students have given my reference as their ‘teacher/professor’. And, their prospective employers have called me/ written to me to check on the ‘credentials’ of the candidates – yes, my students, their prospective employees…

“In what capacity do you know him/her?”…

“Since when?… For how long?”…

“What is your assessment of him/her?”…

“Was he/she dependable? Committed? Regular? Punctual?...

“What are, in your view, his/her strengths/weaknesses?”

“Would you have employed him/her?”

Finally, “Do you endorse him?”

Well, the questions may not be in the same words, order or manner… But, the objective had been the same: They wanted some ‘respectable person’ to vouch for the candidate. It was so important before they took some, unknown young-one… with the hope that he/she would add value to the organization… change it, transform it! 

‘The third-party reference’… they call it…

It is so important!

This means, if I endorse a ‘good-for-nothing’ fellow, all knowingly… what am I doing?

It happened, sometime back.

A freshly-graduated young-man, one of my students, called me to inform if it was okay to give my reference to his prospective employer. Now, it was a reputed organization seeking fresh graduates. I knew this young-man as a teacher. Incidentally, he was on my FB friend-list for a while… and, I had got him off my list when I had seen the kind of posts he would regularly – almost like a sick-man – send to all and sundry  from dawn to dusk! My advice to one or two, in the past, only had not gone well with them. So, I chose not to get into any preaching with this boy; instead, I quietly got rid of his ‘crap’ from my Timeline.

That’s some months ago.

So, when he called me for the permission for the reference, my conscience did not agree. I politely, yet firmly, refused… Yes, I did cite my fear as the reason.

“I am told, the prospective employers scrutinize the credentials of the candidates through their FB track-record, too,” I told him, “I am afraid, I do not want to get into any controversy in this matter.”

This happened, just because I had seen and read what this young-man was posting on his FB and detested the kind of ‘mindset’ he was openly and unabashedly displaying to the whole world. Had I not gone through this experience, I would have gladly vouched for him, and it would have, even, smoothly gone off…  

But, now, when I knew that he had made himself so ‘public’, and in such a way, my conscience did not allow me to say ‘yes’ to him.

“Such a small thing!”… Am I hearing that?

I don’t know. I really don’t know!

 

The way the young-ones write, these days, 

on their posts – both boys and girls – 

scares me, really!

I have not worked anywhere, as I have told you. But, I seriously think, the young-ones should be discrete and careful about the things they post… It may stand against them when they seek jobs…

Also, I think, the young men and women should be careful on this if they are seeking their partners in life…

Note this: FB can provide to anyone your entire ‘janma kundali’!

Well, I know, all this - 'stone-age' counseling -  may not go very well with our young-ones… 

I only pray, each one of them settles down well in life… finds a fabulous employer and an equally fabulous life-partner…

Yes, maybe, I am too old-fashioned!

Maybe, I am wrong!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Lionel Saldanha