Since my childhood, I have been an introvert and I faced issues in making conversations with strangers or anyone outside my close friend's circle. This realisation set in deep when I came to college for my under graduation.
Even though I have always had the knowledge to back my arguments, I never really had the confidence or the ability to articulate my thoughts properly. I was elected as Publicity Manager in the third year of college and I was required to pitch for our college ‘s annual fest in order get on board companies who sponsor the event. I was then introduced to professionalism in the real sense for the first time in my life. I didn’t want to mess with this opportunity due to my lack of self- confidence. My elder brother suggested me to change my dressing style as many a time our outfit has a lot to do with our body language. As soon as he mentioned formals, I thought of Van Heusen. I went to the store and looked for something that would fit my requirements. To my surprise, I was faced with a range of options. I wasn’t a working professional then but I still had to look professional while retaining the character of a student. Van Heusen’s products fit just right for the occasion. The outfit helped me flush out my issues with self-confidence as I no longer had to worry about how I appeared or how my body language was. Van Heusen helped me boost my confidence as a result of which I could pitch fearlessly in front of the CXOs of the biggest companies.
I got four of the PSUs on board as our main sponsors for the event. This event was a very important experience in my life and the biggest part of it was played by Van Heusen.
How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far.
Coming from a middle-income class family, I was always oriented towards academics and wanted to excel in it. I took up chemical engineering as my stream. Initially, I was not sure if I liked the subject but towards the end of the second year of B.Tech, I started developing an affinity towards it. After my internship at the R&D department of IOCL, I became certain that I wanted to pursue my profession in this stream. I started researching more about the subject beyond the purview of our prescribed academics.
When the campus recruitment started I was at a high point in my game but it all came crashing down as I got rejected by most of the good companies due to my colour blindness. It was difficult in the beginning for me to accept reality and choose retreat. I thought that I lost my only chance of making my parents happy and proud. Little did I know that this was just the beginning and what laid ahead was filled with even more ambiguity.
After months of sulking and disappointment, I collected myself up and started looking for a fresh perspective. I didn’t apply to any other company in any other stream. I utilised that time to reflect better on myself and focus on my strengths. I knew for a fact that I liked numbers and liked reading the newspaper. With some guidance from my father, I started preparing for the competitive exams. Leveraging my strengths was the best option available for me at that point in time. I worked hard and prepared for CAT. On the D-day, I was sure of scoring a decent percentile. I didn’t get calls from most of the colleges that were in my first list. Taking a leaf from the recent past events, I brushed off the setbacks and started focussing on converting the interview calls that I had in hand. I stayed updated with the current affairs and faced each interview in the best way possible. During this time, I also worked on enhancing my personality. As fate would have it, I cracked XIMB along with 5 other B-schools in the top-15. The key learning from the highs and lows I witnessed in the past 18 months was to make the best out of what I have.
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