50 jobs in 50 weeks: US man's economic odyssey

>This article has been taken from Economic times dated 23rd March 2009.
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It's tough enough to find or even keep work in today's frazzled US economy, but one man has drawn inspiration from the biting recession and landed not one, but 50 jobs, across the country.
After failing 40 interviews in a row, University of Southern California college graduate Daniel Seddiqui, 26, got creative and launched a mission to cross all 50 states in 50 weeks, rolling up his sleeves in each one with some kind of employment. "I went through hell almost. I invested so much time and effort in my university, and yet I did not get anything. It was pretty frustrating. Then I was persistent enough to land 50 jobs in 50 states," he said. "It's kind of helping me decide what I want to do with my life." The economics graduate applied for any post he could, no matter how seemingly irrelevant or far removed from his first choice of career in the finance industry. "Persistence pays off," he insisted, shrugging off the 2,000 rejections he got. Seddiqui, from Los Altos, California, was surprised by how many employers supported his experiment, even though he only stayed for a week and had little on-the-job experience to offer. "Dan is probably one of the most adaptable people I've ever met," said Randy Cruse, business manager at the Boilermakers Local 83 union in Kansas City, Missouri. "He was quick, smart ... He's enjoyed it and the guys enjoyed having him," he said after Seddiqui trained with them in January. Cruse said the young boilermaker apprentice "said right up front" when he first contacted the union that he would only be working for a week. The union paid him 710 dollars as well as hotel accommodation, travel and food. "I am glad that he's going around the country and getting the message out that there are jobs out there," Cruse told AFP. "Everyone's concerned we are heading for another depression like 1928, but with people having good experiences, people are hopefully starting to understand that we can work our way out of this." More people are losing their jobs every day in the United States as the country faces its worst crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But Seddiqui has been undeterred, even though he has yet to settle on one profession.
"I'm showing people that if you take a chance and try new things, there are jobs out there," he said, after government data revealed 651,000 jobs
were lost in February, propelling the unemployment rate to a 25-year high of 8.1 per cent. Seddiqui has already worked as a logger in Medford, Oregon, a border patrol agent in Tucson, Arizona and an archeologist in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Most employers have paid him or offered to hire him full-time. Halfway through his mission on week 25, he was working as an auto mechanic in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the Big Three US automakers Ford, Chrysler and General Motors
. "This is my 25th state, I'm halfway there and I've seen a lot of different things," he said, describing how one man had pulled out a gun in the auto repair shop just outside Detroit, considered America's most murderous city. Seddiqui launched his driving tour in September 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he worked at a Mormon humanitarian center. He then headed to Colorado, where he took on a hydrologist job, before donning cowboy gear to be a rodeo announcer in South Dakota. He wanted each job to have a link to its state. "When you think of Texas, you think of oil and gas, so I was a petroleum engineer. This week in Detroit, I am working in the auto industry, because it's huge here. Last week, I was working for the train in Chicago because if you are there, you can't avoid the train," he explained. Seddiqui set up most of the jobs in advance and found places to stay on the road, most often with his employer or a co-worker. "I've stayed with all kinds of people, from cowboys to Indians to Arabs to rednecks to just about everybody," he said. Seddiqui, who said he wants to make a documentary and write a book about his journey, had a sound piece of advice for students struggling to launch their careers. "I recommend to network and travel. Be willing to try anything. Nowadays, you can't be too picky, especially if you are a new grad," he said. "It's going to be hard, you are not going to get your dream job on the first day. Step out of your comfort zone."

Tunde Kebab and Lucknow

>Association TEST

Word : Lucknow

Answers: Nawab, pehle aap/pehle aap, Tunde kebab and IIM

IIML Noida campus may give a misguided perception of one being deprived of word L (Lucknow). I blog today to dispel this belief.

Let's start with tunde Kebab: We (a group dozen) savored on "tunde kebab" around campus Noida Campus. Probably we even traveled lesser distance in relative assessment of Sitapur-tunde kebab centre than IIMLNC - Tunde kebab centre. The mouth melting kebabs (with and without rumali rotis) were ...........(short of words) !

Second comes IIM : The other group (another set of total batch) spent whole day at Samvit'09 at Lucknow campus with leaders like Ms Kalpana Morparia, Mr Pramod Bhasin. The delight of sharing your call (on future) of the markets with such leaders is as exhilarating as tunde kebabs.

Penultimate: Another set of batch were present today at Noida Stadium for WALK with Ms Kiran Bedi (in Nawab style) for the noble cause of awareness on breast cancer. We thank to Fortis for allowing to associate with the event.

Ultimate (pehle aap/pehle aap): Some people are aggressively preparing for the Delhi Marathon next week. The participation from IIMLNC is to promote the cause. Going by our pehle aap/pehle aap, we might be among the few to end the event (at finish line), but ...(yes, but) the cause must be supported.

IIML Noida Campus might be away from Lucknow but in no way compromise for a true Lucknow experience.

I invite all to spend time with us at NOIDA campus to evaluate and experience this satellite experience rather than to believe some third persons' words.

Leaders Interaction Series 2009 - Snapshots

IIML - IPMX invites Corporate leaders from various industries under its Leaders Interaction Series programme, on a regular basis. Leaders Interaction Series 2009 is aimed at building a strong industry academia relationship and provide a platform for interaction between the Industry Leaders and students. The interaction program allows students to discuss Market Innovations, New Management Concepts and issues relevant to the industry in the current scenario.

Ms Charu Sehgal from Deloitte Consulting

Dr Praneet Kumar from Fortis Healthcare

Mr Shubhinder Singh from Reebok

Mr S Udupa from PWC

Mr S Mitra from Maruti Suzuki

Mr Benjamin from MART

Half Truth and Half Truth...Dil Se

>

A renowned strategist spoke to the attention of an engrossed audience (yours truly IPMX2). He had them spellbound while he put to swords all established principles / jargons / processes of conventional management. And then the masterstroke - "whatever I speak is just the half-truth; the other half that I am so confidently bashing is also the truth".

Yeah I know - there are no untruths; whatever is untrue for one is true for other.

as they say "There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees, which are falsehoods on the other."

Irrespective, I am here today to speak dil se...truth or the lack of it be damned.

My boss once explained to all what a blog means (blog was still in the process of taking birth) - "Bakwaas, that's what it is. Room pe baith ke karo tou bakar, internet pe karo tou Blog".

I am fascinated by the unconventional names I have recently come across. I'll pick up few - any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.

PagalGuy was where I came across this possibly NRI / second generation Indian: Mukes Seth, a la Vikram Seth. Location set to USA, I had no doubt this dude was some Harvard / Wharton aspirant. Out here on IIM admission forums to advise the lesser privileged. I would picture this gal as some bomb (mukes - nukes) in absence of any profile photo. One fine day, however, his status changed to Mirzapur and his posts clearly conveyed that he was HE. That's when it stuck me that Ms Nukes may probably be Mr Mukes (w/o an "h").

Sample my friend's name: Kumar Achal Bharti. 'What's your first name?', asked our strict ManAcc Prof. 'All of them, Sir.', replied KAB.

Then I have a friend (family friend) whom Uncle-Auntie named Ashay भारतीय (indian), a la Chandrashekhar AZAD. I wonder how many of us realize we denigrate the whole of our motherland everytime we shout भारतीया or भारती; I'm sure he himself does not recall the patriotic fervor with which his parents named him.

Now if you have a perfectly harmless conventional name like मयंक Gaekwad with no strings attached, you'll still find a half-lost intellectual calling him "मैनक" {Mayank ==> Maynak} everytime he calls out for attendance. Finally, some of us with names that everyone loves (Koresh Chopra) insist that they be called "KC", or else...

So you now sure understand why I included my ex-Boss' definition of BLOG.

All righty, time to wrap up this internet bakwaas, have some tea and re-resolve to start preparing for the OM quiz later in the day.

...Marishka Hargitay...

IVF

>Guess from the title of this post what I'm gonna talk about = exactly correct guess places you alongside Einstein on the IQ prowess; incorrect / no guess place you with me :-)

I was tired of de-signification of the word "I" in the corporate world I left behind on 1-Apr-09. Sample the alternatives and pick up the one you like:
[1] Together everyone achieves more (kyon bhai, doosra dekh raha hota hai tou you start working).
[2] Whole is greater than sum of parts (kewal Ram-Lakhan mein).
[3] It's a win-win: you win, I win, all win (court marshal for the losers, yeah?)
[4] It's a team game: you look after my back and I look after yours (because I have not anything better to do).
[5] A job worth doing is worth doing together (for sure that's true of 1 activity, kar lo guess).
[6] None of us is as smart as all of us (kyonki smart tou hum sab paida hee huye thhey).


More senior you climbed in the mgmt ladder, more often you are expected to preach all of the above; by that virtue I must confess I had to say all this with a poker face. Wonder why not "we" get promoted or "we" get a fabulous raise or "we" get an award!
For God's sake, why do we forget the normal "I"s, as in 'eye' / 'aai' (shapath) / 'aayee' (tu chal, mai aayee) / aai-yoh (jab chot lagti hai)....so on so forth.

Before I tell you my tryst with the "I" that has currently enamored me, lemme expand the post-title: It's about "I" and "We" factor :-)

The new "I" is the Ipmx; for once this "I" lives upto its reputation. "International" is the name of this program thereby making sure that all courses imparted necessarily have that flavour:
[1] Law course has to be Legal Environment in INTERNATIONAL business.
[2] Finance has to include full blown credit course on INTERNATIONAL finance (taught by INTERNATIONAL faculty).
[3] The HRM / OB kind of subjects have to focus on INTERNATIONAL culture.
[4] Marketing and Operations need not be INTERNATIONALized explicitly because all authors n cases are so much INTERNATIONALly inclined that you are suddenly translocated in the western world.
[5] Economics without INTERNATIONAL perspective is 'baniagiri', won't it?
[6] Ahh! even the communication course is INTERNATIONAL business communication.

Lest you start dreaming of an INTERNATIONAL jetsetting lifestyle, lemme emphasize the basic "I" of the course = INDIAN. You are being groomed to be an INDIAN manager with INTERNATIONAL perspective (you knew that, didn't you?).

I did miss out the key ingredient of the program- INTERNATIONAL immersion.
However, I do not miss out on INTERNATIONAL cuisine which they do not serve here because I love all varieties of Indian food.

Till we meet again, why don't you decode my "bye / take care" phrase w/o googling?

Marishka Hargitay...anurag

PS
I came across this site (spam mail); I love the name: oktatabyebye.com

Goodies galore- what's the best?

>My first blog...dont know why so late although I love blogging...and for a natural blogger, the topic + the blog content come naturally...right now I just roamed around the campus and it stuck me that I love everything out here...so why not share...but share which aspect...let's blog :)

It started with a walk around the campus with a stopover for roadside tea. I suddenly realized I was so much at peace with myself, so much in love with the life@campus and so have taken it so much for granted as if "ghar ki murgi daal barabar" was coined for me.
So the dilemma- should I reflect on everything (generestically) or should I pick up just one facet? Let me start with one and see where I end up: I'll pick up "food" probably because I am so looking forward to a sumptuous breakfast!

I love good food and eating as many times a day as it is provided to me. Breakfast at 8 am is a tad late for me. Why me, it would be late for anybody if you get to eat different stuff every day. Y'day I had 4 parathas enamored with butter + chana subzi + toast with jam & butter followed by a cup of tea & a cup of coffee. I do not like porridge and I missed boiled eggs (which I was told had been deliberately pulled off menu for egg-curry preparation later in the day). Day before I enjoyed Masala Dosa filled with as much masala as butter + cereals + eggs + toast-jam; coffee after breakfast is of course customary. I do not think I have had Chhole-Bhature this week == I just hope I get to eat that today (and that 1 day I missed breakfast was not the C-B day).

Coming back to the missing eggs. I do not recall what other 2 preparations I passed off during yday's lunch because I just stuffed my plate(s) with roti-chaawal-egg curry-daal-dahi-papad-soup-achaar-salad finally topping off with papita. I sometimes used to wonder why some people crib about food when they consume equally, if not more. And I discovered my answer during y'day lunch === if you keep eating the way I do four times a day without any breaks, your stomach is bound to give up; and as with everything else, you'll blame everything / everybody but self :)
Post lunch we had classes (yes, on Sunday also). Three sessions peppered with 2 rounds of biscuit-tea followed by evening snacks. The item I like the least - some call it pakore, other bhajji. And so I did what I find amusing - crib. "Why pakorey, why pakorey" karte karte I ended up consuming multiple plates and still did not gave up my cup of coffee although my stomach advised otherwise.
2 hours of break brought me back to normal good times - the dinner. On a whim, I just juggled the eating order and started with garam-garam halwa. All laced with dry fruits (kaaju and kishmish only) and dripping in fat - why blame me if I overate. But then I had to have my dinner (mummy ne bola hai ki khaana kabhi skip nahi karna). So back to normal course: start with soup, move on to roti-daal-sabzi-dahi-papad-achaar and for once do not have the sweet dish :(

Hello, that's it for all the eating y'day - we are extremely disciplined and do not officially eat at odd hours. Now that was an account of our mess facilities on supposedly-least-delicious-food day of the week (Sunday). I look forward to the mutton n chicken n paneer n samosa n of course chhole-bhaturey days...boiled egg / omelet I anyway eat daily.

Oh so did I not tell you anything about the vast green campus which gets perennially beautified? Some other time maybe except for a line of caution: You'll get addicted to the greenery and the vast tract of open space around you - even a sworn non-exerciser like me roams around the campus (gimme some credit for morning walk, will you).

Anything else? Yes but maybe for next time - I need to go get my clothes from the washing machine and then perhaps head for breakfast (still not 8 am).

...I'm loving it...

RICH - Russia, India and CHina

>

RICH - a word that rings the moment

• a common educated person thinks of (some) MBA student
• I try to explain any thing Indian
• an alibi to defining complexity
• prospects of Russia, India and CHina.

A nice perspective, not mine, but of a Russian professor in a Canadian university, educated in US shared while teaching the Indian bunch of I(nternational)PMX.

We just - almost - concluded our electives selection. That was too much of planning in advance given my past two terms scheduling of important work only when it gets urgent. On second thoughts, how often have we followed schedule in past few months - not always. But why - we always discovered new, better and more acceptable way of doing things. Something like the search for optimum, when defining externalities are highly dynamic. The result - the good is getting better in quest of alluring best (MBA - which gets most people RICH !).

The changes have been for better. The rains in last few days seem to quell (among some) the thought of a dry monsoon affecting the Indian economy. Some colleagues said over coffee (and samosa) today that they tasted better with rains – not because of lower temperature or pleasant weather post-rains – but due to increasing chances of a higher GDP growth. The thoughts well encompassed the RICH Indian – style connection between rains, coffee, GDP and (MBA - which gets most people RICH!)

Some other well informed opposed the view stating that things – monsoon included - have to be at right place at right time. The monsoons had missed the right opportune to affect the GDP. I feigned to have understood most of this logic but still some RICH (c0mplexity) remained outbound like the rain and perfect optimality.

The elite other (left of previous) cited of CHina having successfully de-coupled itself from recessionary globalized economy. And as per same parameters, India have equally well (if not better) managed to insulate itself and its matter of time before economists accepted.

And in result have gobbled up more of the coffee and samosa ! Reviewing what all I crapped till now – BEWARE, some RICH makes you feel LOST ! -

International Immersion..and a vacation

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The 3 weeks that were at McGill University in Montreal were as exhilarating as it was educating. It was a welcome break for all of us who would otherwise be buried in our books at the hostel @ Noida Campus. Our batch covered two courses Managing Innovations (Strategy) and Global Capital Markets (Finance) during our stint at the McGill, not to forget the non-credit courses that were offered to us such as Sustained Development Model, Global Economics, Corporate Governance etc which were quite enlightening since these are niche areas right now in the business world.

The courses were handled by the some of the finest faculty members of the Desautels School of Business with resumes worth killing for.. The pedagogy was a mix of class discussions and case studies with more emphasis on the former. In between our schedule Prof Gregory Vit who handled 'Managing Innovations' surprised us by managing to get the famous 'Dr Henry Mintzberg' to give us a lecture on entire gamut of topics from Org structure, Intuitive Decision Making etc etc. Dr Henry Mentzberg has authored over 60 books, some of his works were part of our own curriculum and has an illustrious career in the World of Academia that makes him the most sought after person by the corporate world at Desautels.

If I had to pick one course of all that had the maximum impact on my learning was Global Economics handled by Dr Francesca at Desautels. This course introduced me to the world of Economics teaching everything from the role of central banks, world trade to current problems that are plaguing the world Economy. I was convinced that if I ever studied further I would do a Phd in Economics. Now that is quite an impact in just 4 sessions of Economics. :)

Now coming to how we spent our time when we weren't studying, we had an absolutely terrific time in Montreal. The classic Victorian buildings,old basilica of Notredam remind us of how old Montreal was in a pre-industrialized era. And then there is the other half of the city that buzzes with activity all through day and night that beckons you to party hard. Summer in Montreal plays host to a whole suite of activities, sports, carnivals, music concerts. There is always something going on every day of Summer. I could not believe I got a chance to watch the finals of the ATP Masters tourney at Rogers Cup,Montreal.

A truly international experience

The word "international" is often abused nowadays with even the local nursery school/workshop using the term. However the word international in the name IPMX is worth every letter in it. As if the global cases, lessons, discussions were not enough IIM L went a step further and included a module for the entire batch in another world renowned university.
The experience here at McGill has been enriching and wow from the beginning. The course is as dense as IIM L's and the content the best in category. McGill has a name in Innovation, Global Finance, Thought Leadership and Sustainable development in the world and these were the very topics we enjoyed learning (yes you read it right... enjoyed!!). The content and the discussion is refreshing in the way that there were no absolutes, but a view of the opposite side, the side that we shun and call illogical, intuitive or un MBA. The faculty is world known with the likes of Henry Mintzberg, Sergei Sarkissian, Gregory Vit and Sandra Cha to name a few, taking the sessions. The learning has been tremendous and the experience enriching.

As a city too Montreal is fun with its French influence and university setting. Our weekends were more packed than the week with projects and citi exploration packed in to them.
Chetan

IPMX students meet members from Indo-Canadian Chamber of commerce

29th July, 2009 became one of the special days in my life when we, the IPMX students, were invited by the Indo-Canadian chamber of commerce for a meet with the some of the leading business man and senior management from corporate world. These included professionals from Rintinto-Alcan, Canadian centre architecture, Balcorp, Deloitte Canada, ICICI Canada, legal firms, infrastructure firms, government officials and professors from Mcgill university.

Although I have attended many corporate events before this but this one was special. This was one of my first event where I felt myself as being a part of business delegation who was in Montreal to build business relationships. It was clearly a different feeling altogether since most of my past events normally had people from same business background i.e IT services. So most of the discussions focussed around new technologies and emerging market trends in IT industry. But here was my chance of meeting people from different industries, different cultural background and people who truly meant business.

The session started with IPMX students talking about growth opportunities in retail, shipping and insurance industry in India. This was followed by an address by some business people from Canada like Dr. Sunny Handa, a partner at Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP, Mr. Alexis Cornin from Canadian centre architecture and others.

Other than speeches and the cocktail, the most interesting part of the event was the networking opportunity that everybody got by meeting people from the Canadian industry. It actually helped us in perceiving the opportunities that lie ahead in terms of fruitful Indo-Canadian business relationships and understanding the Canadian perception of work aspects when doing business in India.

Above all, I believe it was one of the most memorable event on our trip to Canada.

Unconventional..............

>Unconventional (here in after referred as U) - the word I came across several times today

The latest tryst was while skimming through some dailies of Montreal. I had picked up this yellow paper to wile away sometime between two sessions on Strategies for Sustainable Development. The other trysts were in the class, where every other perspective in discussion talked about being U. This all started with narration by each class member's experience in their past roles with sustainable solutions. And ideas ranged from ships ballast water handling to green buildings to Lufthansa efficiency project.....covering water, land and air.

On reflecting back on past four months experience in IPMX, I collate below some more conspicuous Us.

The IPMX course started, in its very first session, in a U set-up of classroom. The classroom where we started our course was a big open hall with no furnishings inside. The next 2 hours brought my first tee-a-tee with outside classroom learning touted by most B-school. We started with an unconventional approach and tempo stands till date.

The delivery of most course are U and conspicuously different than most of other places I have compared with. There have been courses on integrating Indus civilisation with present day globalisation issues, Satyam fiasco with typical entrepreneurial organisation structure, CAT's back-hoe market challenges to APM and many more.

A course on legal environment was unconventional in its entire delivery based on day-to-day examples from Bollywood to Pharmaceuticals. The class discussions regularly picked up latest news from newspaper to analyse on possible business solution within legal constraints.

We had a discussion session with Sir Henry Mintzberg yesterday at McGill University on his unconventional approach to management practices. And today we are looking forward to a session with a leading legal firms CEO on his recent entry experience into Asian markets.

And here comes the unconventional abrupt end.

Off to canada for II

>less than 24 hours remaining.. and we all will be flying to Canada for the international immersion program at McGill university (http://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/academic/). going by the experience shared by our previous batch, this should be a unique experience full of fun. and yes, not to forget that we are going to complete two credit courses on managing innovations and international finance while we are there in Montreal.

if i look back now over the last three months which we have spent in the campus, a mix bag of feelings is waiting to be opened.. we all joined this course with hopes n dreams in our eyes, trying to sideline that ever compelling feeling of anxiety because of the bad state of the global economy and its impact on Indian b-schools and their placements..

a glance at the class of 2010 and we can proudly say that we have people from diverse backgrounds like army, merchant navy, bureaucrats, public sectors, merchandising and... and how can we forget the most common species found in the b-schools all over the world.. IIM(Indian IT Male)

we finished two gruelling terms.. got a solid dose of 4P's to betas, motivational theories to euro dollars, hypothesis tests to npv, capacity plannings to spanish n french... gosh never ever before in my life have i been bombarded with so many drastically diverse things at one go.. and guess what. we already wrote two term exams in three months after digesting all the above fundas...

we had opportunity to hear some of the industry leaders in the leadership talk series.. list includes the likes of Mr. Mukesh Aghi(ceo of steria), Mr Shubhinder Singh(md of reebok), Dr. Praneet Kumar(md of fortis), Mr. S. Udupa(hr head of pwc), Mr. S. Maitra(ed of maruti). we have several other leadership talks lined up once we are back from Canada...