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Job Wise - My first job experience

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In my first job and later on, I had the opportunity to work with some of the best minds in their respective sectors  (View Comments)

Anju Maskeri

Posted On Monday, October 26, 2009 at 05:00:48 PM

Sarvesh Naik, Director and Head, Corporate Marketing and Communications, Geometric Ltd. shares his first job experience

First job experience...After my MBA, I joined Tata Motors as an EA (SCM / Logistics) to the Head of Sales. Later, I moved through a diverse set of functions from Channel and Depot management to Planning, Distribution and Logistics and worked on quite a few challenging assignments. These gave me exposure across the spectrum, in a short span of time. When India’s first indigenous car (Indica) was launched, I was part of the team that was instrumental in setting up the Planning, Distribution and Logistics function for the Passenger Cars business.

A few nerve wracking moments...While pursuing my MBA from Sydenham Institute of Management, I did my summer internship with Tata Motors. I got an assignment, which was ‘passed over’ by other candidates. At the start of my internship, my project guide, a company manager, insisted that I brief the Head of Sales about my assignment.

To my chagrin, when I went to meet him, I was unceremoniously asked out of his office and was told that his managers were competent to deal with me. It was a very humiliating experience. This entire period was a difficult one for me, as just nothing seemed to go right. But I was determined to make it and get people to sit up and take notice, which I did. After I completed my assignment, I was reporting directly to the Head of Sales and was put on a number of more assignments, well after summers were over. Later, I landed my first job with the same company. I learned later that my assignment was to be the foundation for one of the focus areas identified by the then management.

Lessons learnt...In my first job and later on, I had the opportunity to work with some of the best minds in their respective sectors. I have been exposed to a host of areas which I had only dreamt about working on, as a B-School student.

Handling complexity, scale, delivering under pressure and turning adverse situations around, are some of the lessons I have learnt from my early years.  Learning is the most important criteria that I have used for choosing companies, roles and assignments over the years. Attending training programs by various industry associations and management / executive education programs by B-Schools such as IIM (Ahmedabad) and Kellogg School of Management (Illinois, US), have further enhanced the learning. I believe it is important to focus on learning on the job as well as externally, as this helps expand one’s horizons continuously. In my experience, a focus on learning is a means of grooming oneself to take on more responsibilities.

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