Are Recruiters Prostitutes?

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With all my patience and maturity level being tested with the toughest invasion of self-respect, I was rendered speechless, today, when one of the business heads of a client I've been associated with for close to a decade, blasted: "I'm paying you for whatever services you're offering, so you must do what I tell you do."

I must thank Robin Sharma - whose book, "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" I'm reading now - for helping me accumulate a huge self-control demonstrating an unusual maturity level of -- laughing insults away!

However, I'm confused now! Did I really show an exceptionally high maturity level by keeping quiet, or my silence was simply a manifestation of the fear that I'd lose a client if I had reacted.

Believe me, I've never experienced such a demoralizing incident during my 15 years of an otherwise fulfilling executive search career, so far.

And, having embraced the job of a recruiter, out of passion and not under compulsion: Like, let's do something until a break in the corporate happens - as I'd already worked with the largest corporate of that time, Bajaj Auto Ltd - I wonder, is there a methodology available for identifying the line of control beyond which self-respect must take over the demonstration of maturity -- independent of the circumstances?

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Is Hiring A Peanut Job, or Something Much Beyond?

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'What's your degree of involvement in talent acquisition for your organization?' Before I could prepare myself for a reply, he, the CEO of a 1000 crore company, shot back, 'deeply, while recruiting for all senior level and critical middle level openings!'

Yes, what he said reflects an increasing awareness among top management: The importance of hiring the right candidates for leadership positions -- both macro and Micro.

Some of these trend setters are successfully breaking away from a century old mindset: Oh, hiring, that's HR's job, and the HR head, seconding boss's idea, pushes it down the hierarchy, finally to a freshers -- with no idea about either its importance, or the right methodology for a successful execution!

Gradually, without realizing the impacts of this negligence, top management continues with recruiting the candidates: Who're either good for nothing, or bad for everything, eventually laying down the foundation of a spacious organizational graveyard big enough to accommodate both the entire top management and also the stake-holders..

When I asked this CEO, 'any specific reason for such a deep involvement in hiring?' He answered, "Abhijit, I'm working hard to grow in my career which is possible only if the organization grows, and that would happen only if I've a team consisting of the right professionals supporting me achieve what I intend to." He added further, "hiring one wrong candidate for a critical position may sabotage my entire effort.Why should I let it happen?" What an explanation, and such a truthful analysis of prevailing business environment.

Let's not live in a fool's paradise: There is a huge talent crunch and sooner the leaders realize better it is, for them. Nothing, but the right talents would dictate the organizations' future in prevailing business environment, and our beloved CEOs, MDs and Lalas ( in India, the owner of a family run company is lovingly called as 'Lala' ) must realize this fact as soon as possible, and act accordingly.

So, the leaders who're of the opinion that hiring is a peanut job and nothing beyond, are not likely to survive, professionally, for long!

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Can You Take Me to the Real World?

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Forgive but Remember -- Do Not Forget!

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How to Keep Your Customers Mesmerized Ensuring an Everlasting Relationship!

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A Cruelly Innovative Retention Policy!

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Today I called up a candidate to find out if he is willing to move out of his comfort zone, I mean open to explore a challenging assignment elsewhere.

It's a regular affairs for me, because most the clients I handle strictly believe in recruiting candidates who're not actively looking out.

A difficult job, but the more you do it, more you love it: Putting your best efforts to convince those candidates that they must look out for better opportunities -- ultimately, help them building a better career.

Okay, let's not get deviated from the theme of this article.

The candidate I was talking to, is working for an organization where management strictly believe none of its employees should ever join a competitor. And to enforce this policy, they would get employees sign a legal document also -- I've strong doubt about its validity though.

When I disclosed to him that the proposed assignment is with one of the competitors, he politely declined to pursue it further saying he is keen to explore challenging options but only with non-competitors -- for the reasons stated above.

All my efforts to convince him about impracticality of that policy came to a grinding halt, when he shared that some of the ex-employees who challenged this peculiar policy - by joining competitors - were subjected to endless harassment including legal proceedings that lingered on for years.

Interestingly, contradicting its own policy, management of that company seem to be too happy to recruit potential candidates from its competitors.

In a nutshell, the company can recruit candidates from competitors but would never allow its employees to join them.

Does it sound funny? Yes it does, but there's a limit to behaving funnily. Isn't it?

Well, I'm not inclined to analyze it further and suggest any corrective action at the moment, but, would like to ask you a simple question: Have you ever heard of or come across such HR policy in your career so far and if so, what's your take on the validity of such cruelly innovative retention policy?

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Image: Flickr

Faith And Leadership !!!

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In current competitive business environment , faith plays a major role in shaping up leadership qualities through spiritual interventions.

Classical definition of Faith is the affirmation of belief, without any practical or logical evidence. The realm of Faith starts, when we venture into the space beyond evidence or logic.

Now ,if you look at religious interpretations:

In Christianity, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

In Hinduism, Faith means unshaken belief and purity of thought and it is recognized as a virtue.

In chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna mentions the three types of faith:

1.Faith rooted in Sattva
Those with sattvic faith are said to worship the GOD.

2.Faith rooted in Rajas
Those with Rajasic faith are said to worship Demons.

3.Faith rooted in Tamas
Those with tamasic faith are said to worship Ghosts and Spirits.

Faith in Buddhism refers to a sense of conviction, regarding setting a goal and the determination to accomplish it, while drawing a sense of joy and also live by what is learnt and accepted, rather than believing something outright.

Faith in Islam is called Iman and it signifies an instinct of the human soul, refined through upbringing into specific religious or spiritual paths.

Even Scientific discovery begins with a scientist's faith that an unknown discovery is possible requiring a passionate commitment. However , this faith is based on a set of assumptions and extrapolation of the fundamental truth towards a predictable conclusion but without any idea about the nature of final outcome.

All these above interpretations are strickingly similar, clearly confirming a decisive role of spirituality in defining the degree conviction and the extent of determination of the Leadership to achieve the ultimate business objective.


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Written a year and half ago

9 Best Inspirational Quotes -- Never Give Up!

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These are the 9 best ‘Never Give Up’ quotes – in my opinion – I have collected over a period of time and sharing with you now.

1. God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless. # Chester W. Nimitz

2. Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world. # Jane Addams

3. The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but he didn’t hear the referee. Never quit or give up….never…..never give up. # H.E. Janson

4. Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. # Satchel Paige

5. Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss. # Doug Williams

6.Never, never, never, never give up. # Winston Churchill

7. Think of the long view of life, not just what’s going to happen today or tomorrow. Don’t give up what you most want in life for something you think you want now. # Elder Richard G. Scot

8. Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never – in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. # Winston Churchill

9. When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. # Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Image: Flickr

Never Say, "Thanks to 'Everyone:'" It Hurts, Silently!

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I was surprised - long ago, while working for a large Indian Corporate - when someone during a course of discussion on relationship management said that our divisional manager would always make it a point to send personalized greeting cards to his contacts -- four separate cards to a family of four members.

But what never surprised us was, his immense popularity at least in his professional circle. Now, I can make out how he achieved that: He always respected and acted - to acknowledge and recognize individualism!

Then came the era of email, sms and now status updates: Real-time communications. However, it still holds good and effective -- personalized communications.

Like or don't like; accept or don't accept: Everybody seeks importance, and when you receive a group message against a personalized communication making you part of the crowd -- you hate it, may not express, though!

Small things in life matter and most of us overlook that, but at what cost? Nothing visible at the moment, though -- they do matter in the long run.

So, please use the name while thanking someone who took out a few minutes to say something good about you, instead of saying: 'Thanks to everyone,' -- unless  it's too big to handle, or you're a celebrity!

Thanks: RedCat, on Flickr

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Can We Learn Re-Invention Lesson From LG Success Story in U.S.

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Amazing: 3 attempts in four years, it took for LG, in 2002, to launch its brand in the US market and today it's the top seller of refrigerators and washing machines with 24 percent market share.

"Today, some 95 per cent of American consumers view LG as a premium foreign consumer electronics brand, lagging only behind Sony in terms of brand recognition, according to a survey commissioned by LG last year. But as recently as the late 1990s, the company had marketed its products under the Goldstar brand, which American consumers viewed as low quality. To establish a premium brand image and achieve a broader penetration of the US market, the company re-launched its products under the LGE brand in 2002."

Can we learn some lessons from LGA's success story -- in terms of re-invention?

16 Tips for Successful Blogging

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Let me come straight to the point:

1.Stop convincing yourself: That, you've floated a Blog just because it's your hobby. Had it been so you would have been reading other blogs and commenting on various issues -- more than sufficient to quench your thirst for creativity.

2.Convince yourself: That, you've started the Blog to enhance your reputation in personal and professional circle and/or earn few extra bucks -- may be some big money in future.

GOD, Do You Have An Answer to My Question?

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A lady in her eighties whom I know well, is struggling hard to clear if off the fence to what I assume, rather convinced, would be much better than what she's been going through right now: Death.

She's completely bid-ridden with hardly any physical movement that she's capable of executing, but her mind is active -- and very much.

She had struggled through-out her life to ensure the best possible education for her sons and married her daughter off to a successful person. Yes, she made their future.

But, in that process, all her children moved away to far off places for a better career and she was left alone with her much older husband.

Today, she's lying helpless in her bed at the mercy of a few medical attendants, and her husband - who's close to ninety but still somewhat active - is coordinating with the Doctors to keep her alive --  fighting a loosing battle, though.

Neither her children can stay indefinitely with her nor they can shift her to their place - a hopeless situation!

Incidentally, I know another lady, who, intentionally or not I don't know but never walked an extra-mile to ensure what the first lady did, and all her sons remained there with her taking up mediocre jobs despite being intelligent enough to build-up a much better career.

And being with all her sons and other family members, she's looked after well -- living a much better life than the first lady.

Being a strong believer of the hypothesis that 'we get what we give,' I'm confused, utterly, because the developments here happen to be just the opposite: She, who did the best, is receiving the worst -- and she, who did nothing, is being rewarded the best.

If there exists a divine power - God or whatever term we may use - may I ask him or her a very simple question: Why do you punish a person who truly deserves a reward?

For the image, thanks to Denis Collette...!!!'s

Time Management - Lesson Learned , Decades Ago

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During my eventful tenure with one of the largest Indian corporate "Bajaj Auto Ltd", I learned one of the most rewarding lessons of my life: Utilization of Time , and such a huge concept was explained in few minutes by  the Boss of my immediate Boss: DVP.

It dates back to late eighties when  ISO 9000 was a new but promising concept. Obviously, it invaded  most of the growing and reputed companies of that time. 

So, a huge "System Awareness" program was initiated  by the Management across the rank and file, and I was selected as coordinator of my dept with the responsibility to formulate the policies and document all activities pertaining to our working.

I was very much Excited, initially , as any it happens with a new venture , but a disproportionate allocation of time  triggered an alarm in the existing system and after an initial round of
discussion my boss recommended a review meeting with his boss, the Divisional Head, to resolve this issue.

The purpose of the meeting was to find out: How I could do justice to my regular job as well as the developmental one like ISO 9000 with proper utilization of available time.

Well, let me share with you what exactly transpired between me and the super boss -- The conversation, that I remember to the best of my memory:

DVP : Hi Abhijit , how are you?

AK   : Fine.Thanks. How are you sir ?

DVP : Excellent, but I have a serious problem!

Anticipating a huge firing, the reputation he enjoyed , I slightly raised my eyebrows with a question mark and he delivered the statement of my life 

"Abhijit, I am really excited to notice that you are running short of time with some additional  assignments in hand. May be you are the right person to suggest me what do I do with so much of free time available. Look at my incoming Tray, its empty. Does it mean , my job is in danger?"

Perplexed, and before I could answer,  his Boss, the Plant Head entered the cabin with a big smile  and started thanking Mr DVP profusely, "how could you complete this project so quickly ? "

"Nothing special sir. I just delegated it to the right persons I have recruited and groomed for these type of assignments. I did nothing sir, they actually did it." Answered DVP.

Well, the Plant Head left after a minutes and our meeting ended with his comment that I shall never forget in my life:

"Abhijit, if you are running short of time, please try to understand there's something terribly wrong with your overall system. Pl, review it asap, and reduce the clutters.

Believe me, I took it as a challenge and with no modern Time Management Tools like GTD etc at my disposal, successfully reduced the clutter with:

1.Making regular notes on priorities and re-evaluating daily schedule periodically. 

I think, maintaining an hourly schedule is too ambitious an objective, and I will simply conclude that it's exaggerated by people suffering from Too Busy Syndrome.  Hence, a daily schedule is more than sufficient.

2.Taking immediate action on every tasks and re-entering incomplete tasks at the bottom of the next schedule, I mean the list of task for the following day. That's it. Doing the same even today, but instead of a dairy  its my blackberry now.

After a month I happened to meet him in a planning meeting. With a confident smile he asked me, ' So Abhijit, hope you have switched over to my party:  Guys with disposable time.

I just smiled back.

Where There is A Will, There is A Way

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An experience, it was: Watching the Hindi movie “My Name is Khan” — and, it was no less than how I felt while connecting with the blockbuster “Avatar.”

Incidentally, my soul went into a perfect sync with this amazing movie - right from the beginning - and through-out the show I was on a different plane with no other thoughts cutting across my mind.

Well, I’m not writing a movie review but highlighting the motivational power of this fascinating story: In which, Khan, the central character, proves beyond doubt, that, if there is a will there is a way.

Fighting against every negativity you can imagine, he maintains an unbreakable positive frame of mind focusing on his primary objective of meeting the President of United State of America -- and finally achieves it.

His concern for an old lady and her son interferes into his priorities, but that doesn’t dilute the importance of his primary objective. And, that’s an important message to all fighting souls: Attending to intermediate objectives is important, but never at the cost of primary. It’s all about balancing between priorities and attending to all of them with sincerity and dedication.

Winning over a demanding psychological disorder – autism – Khan successfully demonstrates the power of positive thinking, flushing out all obstacles from his way – one of the toughest journey, undertaken, ever, by anyone – to a seemingly unreachable destination.

Also, how important is the role of mothers in autism affected children’s life – for improving their language skills by engaging sensitively with them – has been perfectly highlighted in this movie.

Wonderful experience with tons of motivational inputs!

Oh GOD! Pl, Help Me to Help Myself

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We hope, a lot, against all hopes, that everything would be alright -- one day.

And, it starts happening, gradually, may be slowly but certainly, with every indications, until one day the mirage disappears, suddenly, and we realize that we've not really moved ahead at all -- still confined to the same black hole of hopelessness.

So painful, it is, to realize that we've been fooled by destiny, devastatingly and without mercy, that we lose faith in the supreme power -- most of us term it as GOD.

How do we cope up with such situations, is, perhaps, the ultimate question pertaining to our existence ?

And, the answer is pretty simple, in my opinion: Learn to accept that nothing is guaranteed in life, and we must master the techniques of living incrementally -- on daily basis.

Don't igore your past but learn the lesson and forget it; focus on future but be prepared to accept the failures.

I mean, live like a true sportsperson: Accepting both success and failures, gracefully!

Difficult but possible, and is the only solution for living a meaningful life.

Never Run Away from Problems

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“In a day, when you don’t come across any problems, then you
can be sure that you are traveling in the wrong path…”  John F. Kennedy

What is a problem: An obstruction that’s not allowing you to do
something you wish to; a disturbing thought that’s spoiling your
peace of mind; or something you would prefer to ignore but unable to
do so.

In short problem is an act of interference in your life by unwanted persons, or undesirable developments,  or both.

Many a time, I have noticed that our immediate reaction to any
problem is to push it down the priority list – not now, later,
approach – and focus on simpler tasks.

We develop a habit of ignoring the need to act on problems by
delaying our attention as much as we can, until it becomes unavoidable
— perhaps, too late to work-out a practical solution.

Why we run away from problems? In fact, I’ve done it a number of times in my life — and faced the consequences too.

In one such case, I waited for more than a decade for letting things
cool off. When that didn’t happen, I took a stern action and
- surprisingly – it worked!

Good that it worked, but, it could have worked at that time also —
10 years ago. Unfortunately, I never tried just because I was scared
to take action. Perhaps, I assumed that it wouldn’t work.

A wrong assumption kept me running away from that problem for 10
long years — depriving me of a normal life – before, finally, taking it
on with full force — and working out a solution!

But I lost 10 precious years of my life and the sparkles of joy and
happiness that could have been a part of it, had I acted then, in time,
decisively!

So never run away from problems rather attend to it, and identify a workable solution as early as possible. Image Credit

Cross-Posted from Fighting Soul's Blog 

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A Bridge Too Far? Not for All!

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In Business, job and in family matters: your inner-circle members are counting heavily on you for navigating them safely through to a stabler zone -- a continuous and never ending process!

As an entrepreneur you're expected to honor your commitment to self: success; as a leader, you're expected to perform better than the rivals: growth and as head of the family you're expected to be a never-ending source inspiration: both internal and external. Continue reading

Are You Getting the Right Seat on the Right Bus?

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According to management guru and best selling author Jim Collins, the most important question entrepreneurs need to ask themselves is, " who is on the bus?' Bus is the company.

So it's very important for the owners to know if they've got the right people on the bus, and I think this question needs to be extended a bit to, " are you getting those right people in the right seat?"

Some of the organizations I've been dealing with for hiring miss out on this point; they're extremely cautious during interviewing, and somewhat clueless thereafter -- my personal opinion.

And that eventually leads to a stress-full situation for the candidate - struggling to realign according to the needs - failing to meet the expectations of the management for no faults of theirs.

I've witnessed a few incidents in my executive search career when high profile candidates - recruited by me for reputed clients - reverted to me with piled up frustrations.

Several attempts to thrash out the differences were met with a silence; recruiters reach is up to the boarding platform of the bus, and beyond -- no entry. However, candidates neither realize nor accept this argument; ultimately holding recruiters responsible for the mess.

I understand and agree: Assessing why employees are  not up to par is an internal matter of the organization, so is the required corrective action. But what's the harm in getting some opinion from the concerned search firm, which wouldn't be that useless, I believe? 

I think leadership must look into this issue seriously and work-out a result-oriented strategy to ensure perfect synchronization of employees' expertize and organizational expectations, and candidates should do their best to find out details of the proposed offer -- before closing the deal.

Talent hiring is not about getting the best available candidates only, but putting them in the right place - seat - also!

Do you agree with me on this issue ?

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Control Your Mind for Making Miracles Happen in Life

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That our thoughts affect our physical health has been know to us for a long time, and in my personal life also I have seen how strong determination and will power can expedite physical healing process when one my close relative recovered almost fully from a devastating Brain Stroke -- something unusual!

Bedridden for more than a year and all cognitive skills erased from the memory, he practically learned everything again including walking, writing and talking. It was a recreation of childhood learning processes but much faster.

Even the doctors were surprised to notice the degree of improvement, and one them even told me that it was nothing less than a miracle.

But miracles don't happen on their own, in fact nothing. What makes a miracle happen is human will power or mind power and I haven't yet come across a better example in my life, so far. 

I am sure, he made that miracle happen through creative visualization that helps you to
imagine circumstances in your life unfolding exactly as you want –
perfectly.

As the scene plays out in your mind and you feel the
powerful emotions that come with those positive images, the scenario
actually will begin to play out in your life, says Joe Vitale, as quoted in an article by Polly Campbel.

I call it "Rising from the Ashes."

So never feel helpless in a frustrating health situation; establish Mind & Body connection and let your mind heal your body.

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May like to read:

Is Money, the Ultimate Motivator ?

Help Your Children Cope up with Stress in Life

Relationship: Old is Gold but Old Friends are Diamonds

50 Yrs+: Who Says; You are Too Old to Get a Good Job?

Can You be a Better Manager ? Yes, You Can, but How ?

You Have the Ability to Make Big Things Happen in Life

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'Making Things Happen' in life is the core message of this blog. Apart from my my own thoughts and ideas on this concept, I have been regularly highlighting the best available resources: articles, videos, presentations etc.

I strongly believe:

All of you have the ability to lead and inspire, and nothing can prevent you from making things happen in life, if you decide to.

However, it requires a huge preparation and the first step in my opinion is, building an unbreakable self-confidence and believe in self.

Keep telling yourself that you can do it; soon you will notice the rise of huge emotional strengths within and you will start believing in yourself. It may take months, even years, but possible. The moment you start believing you can do it, you have almost done it!

Watch this video, draw your doses of inspiration and promise to yourself that you will never give up!

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May like to read:

Is Money, the Ultimate Motivator ?

Help Your Children Cope up with Stress in Life

Relationship: Old is Gold but Old Friends are Diamonds

50 Yrs+: Who Says; You are Too Old to Get a Good Job?

Can You be a Better Manager ? Yes, You Can, but How ?

Never Spoil Relationship with Colleagues All Through Your Career

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Nothing moves on its own, not even your career, and you need a hell of a push to keep it moving up: both by self and also by others.

But, who are those others and how they influence your career through such 'push-and-pull?'

Your subordinates, peers and superiors -- not only in current organization but also, where you worked earlier.

I once lost out on a promotion deal: one of my ex-colleagues - we both disliked each other and made no secret of it - happened to be in good book of my current boss and his negative feedback cost me the promotion and a good career. 

'Was it right or wrong on the part of my boss?'

Obviously wrong, because he should have verified the facts with a third-party before drawing any conclusion -- which he didn't.

But nobody bothers, because that's how - usually - such issues are being worked out in the Corporates world: recommendations, either way, play a  vital role in deciding the reward!

Similar incident happened with a friend of mine, but in his case it was a new
assignment that was almost finalized by the employer, before retreating suddenly.

Same reason: negative feedback by an ex-colleague.

So never spoil your relationship with anyone, anywhere, all through, because you don't know, who at what point of time - may be a decade later - may pull you back.

I was fortunate that a superior shared the fact, and I learned a lesson.

Take care!!!

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May like to read:

Is Money, the Ultimate Motivator ?

Help Your Children Cope up with Stress in Life

Relationship: Old is Gold but Old Friends are Diamonds

50 Yrs+: Who Says; You are Too Old to Get a Good Job?

Can You be a Better Manager ? Yes, You Can, but How ?