curious case of s - part 1

Here is an example of how your priorities change as you grow up. In this television program (I think Dance +), we have Katrina Kaif as the celebrity guest. We also have a young host; and Remo as the judge. At different points in the program, these two gentlemen will get to dance with Katrina. The host shows his acrobatic moves while Remo does Salsa. One tries to impress and other focuses on having a good time with a beautiful woman. I think both have made right choices.

How does one go about making choices, you ask?

Here is an interesting case of S (which is short form for an ass, I think).

In Early May,  3 months before his annual appraisal, S gets an offer to work for another company. The offer is not very lucrative in the beginning and S decides to decline it. Once he declines it, he has to face the wrath of career consultants R and S1 and they blame S of being very unprofessional. They want S to not decline but negotiate his salary. S knows that it could be a trap and seeks some time to make up his mind.

There are few factors that tend to drive S's decisions. First of all, S has an inherent urge to say yes to everything that is offered to him. Secondly, he thinks that work is valueless (not good or bad) so he is not very selective of the kind of work that he wants to do. Thirdly, he understands importance of timing of job hopping - if he changes to the new job right after his revised salary, that would be perfect.

In his last choice of career opportunity, S had not consulted many people and this time around he wants to seek advice from those he trusts. 

A is categorical in his suggestion of not joining this firm. He says that you don't want to join a service based organization that goes through pressures of meeting client expectations - he quotes multiple examples of how there has never been anyone who joins a service company so ahead in his career. Even within delivery focused organization, the concerned organization is not a well reputed brand and it will most likely dilute S's brand. Also growth of this organization has been stagnant for last couple of years. A asks S what will be his reasons for joining this organization and S struggles to list any good ones - "I really liked the interview," he said. He really did.

S also spoke to R. He stressed the point that S needed a change. S has inertia towards change but change is necessary. Change is not good or bad; it is different. "In a leadership position, you would have the scope of making things, as you would want them to and if you don't like it, you can always change." He suggests that S ask for a fat salary and then take it from there.

S also discusses this with his manager P and regrets it later deeply. Never, do that.

S somehow realizes that he would not get a major salary revision if he leaves before his appraisal. So he finally chooses to not take it forward and gives this as the very reason for rejection. S talks to the HR of the concerned organization and she is very understanding of the situation. A nice contrast from the consultants. A good cop!

After three months, on one fine day, S gets his appraisal letter with a decent hike and also a call from the same consultant about the same opportunity.

In part 2 of the series, we see what happens then. There will be blood.. not really.