Class of 2020, Please watch Sunset : Blog # 350

Class of 2020, Please watch Sunset.

This one goes out to a community I hold very close to my heart – the graduating class / university students. Maybe it is because I began my career in the University hiring space. Maybe it is because it continues to be a part of my work which I am so passionate about.

My colleagues in HR would agree to this - When you go to a university and interact with a class full of bright, young students, it gets you charged up. That positive energy gets you going for quite a while. I have seen many senior leaders experiencing this.

Add to this, having the good fortune of being able to handover the very first offer letter of many a student’s long, fulfilling career. These are reasons too, for me to be close to this group of people.

The class of 2020 is in a difficult situation. Covid19 is wreaking havoc around the world. There isn’t even one business sector which is not adversely impacted due to the health concerns around corona virus. This in turn impacts the job prospect of students who are graduating from universities by the summer of 2020. They are worried if the organizations will honor the offer that have been rolled out as part of campus placement process. Those who are yet to be placed are wondering if they will ever find a job.

Now, I am not saying that everything is fine. No, it is not. However, not everything is lost too. From your perspective, it will seem like there is nothing to be hopeful of. It is perfectly normal to feel so. But very many people have been in your shoes many times earlier. There was the dot com bubble, subprime crisis, September 11, multiple corporate scandals, civil and global wars and so on. In all those situations, those you underwent those very difficult situations felt exactly like how you are feeling now. Also, many large organizations have already announced that they will honor all the offers they have made in the campuses. This will make other smaller organizations also to try and follow suit.

Those who emerged successful from those quagmires did a couple of things right.

They accepted the situation they were in and wrapped their mind and thoughts around that difficulty. They allowed themselves to grieve and thus get over it.

They kept looking for opportunities. Many a time, they did not find the opportunities they wanted. But they took up the ones that came their way and put in the best of their efforts and they kept looking.

They told themselves that if they could handle something like this at the very beginning of their career, nothing could break them in future, and they were right.

Hang in there, make good use of your time. Educate yourself, hone your skills and keep looking.

I urge you to do this. One evening, find out when the sun set is. Be at a place where you can get a good look of the sun. Keep your phone and all other distractions away. Be with the sun as it dissolves into the horizon. See how the mighty star is going down shedding all its glory. Watch carefully how darkness spreads all around.

The next day, when you wake up, look out and see the bright light outside. The mighty star is back. Look up and watch how the sky is lit up in blue serenity. The darkness has disappeared.

Such is Life too. It is a bit muddled now. But it will all clear up, just fine.

Arun Babu