The First Day in SteelCorp

The long beeping sound of the fax machine is monotonous. Though the machine has become a rare sight in any office now a days, but during the late 90s, any office used to be incomplete without a fax machine. (That reminds me, my present day business card also talks of a fax number; I need to check whether the machine actually exists in the office!!)

So, I was quite used to the beeps after I spent around two hours in the Central Office of Steelcorp Limited, a steel trading company having its corporate office in a busy business street of Kolkata. The office was in a two storied building, on the second floor. Narrow corridors leading to the ‘Central Office’. That was my first interview, a call received with the help of my then would-be brother in law, who forwarded my profile to the Head of Human Resources. The head, Mr. Biswas, instructed me to write an essay on “one hour in an office”, extended some pieces of A4 papers and vanished. I was all alone, in an open cubicle, with variety of murmurs and the nagging beeping sound of the facsimile.

“Are you done with it?” Mr. Biswas came back with an ear-touching smile on his face. I was long done with it and was desperately looking for the rest room, by then.  Two glasses of water and a cup of coffee were doing their jobs inside me. Once I came back from the corner, Mr. Biswas was glancing through my essay, the first line of which was about the beeping sound. It seemed, he was not amused. He told me to write an essay on the office, and I concluded something on the fax machine!!

“You will be having the next discussion with Mr. Sarkar, our Head of Operations”. Before he finished, I was following Mr. Biswas towards the office of Mr. Sarkar. I was not sure, how an operations guy is going to quiz me on HR issues (this is one thing which I realized in my life later that it is operations which question an HR guy more than the HR function itself). “Sarkar Saheb, this is the essay this guy has written on ‘an hour in office’”. Mr. Sarkar, a short gentleman with a sharp pair of eyes, almost snatched the paper from Mr. Biswas and started scanning it. I was eagerly looking at his face, the changing exclamatory line on his forehead. “You have written it?” asked Mr. Sarkar. I nodded, coyly. “What do you know about SWOT analysis of a business?” That was an expected question and I asked “can I use the whiteboard for this?” That seemed to have impressed them! It was followed by some more witty questions and may be, some stupid answers.

But, all those stupid answers might had a cutting edge and after about a month, I received my first offer letter from Steelcorp. The offer was enough for me to cherish my dream of starting a career in Human Resources. Thus it started…and seems there is no end. Last 20 years, so many Mr. Sarkar came in the professional radar. So many Mr. Biswas had to be satisfied in professional life. It’s like the game of Road Rash, the moment you under power one motorist, the second seems to emerge from the horizon. There is no end…