The Hindu Business Line : Destined for success

Great people in history often started with just a dream. And from this dream was born their vision for the future – the light bulb, the aeroplane, the telephone — were once all a dream. But perseverance, passion and a belief changed those dreams into reality.

Vinay Isaac was 22 years old when he first walked into Global Services Inc. as a temporary pantry boy. He was assigned to the corporate floor and that’s where he started to dream. His dream was to somehow become a regular employee in the company by the time he was 24. He drew out a personal roadmap to make his dream come true.

Vinay enrolled in an evening college for a bachelor’s degree in Economics. In between serving coffee and tea, Vinay would settle in the pantry with his reference books and work diligently on his assignments. While in his second year of college, Vinay managed to become a temp Office Assistant with Global Services and trained in administrative work like scanning and file retrieval. He graduated in 2005 and moved into the Documents Management Team – but still only as a temporary resource. But soon his hard work and commitment paid-off and in April 2006 Vinay’s dream became a reality. He became a permanent employee of the company and he was given a role in the Organisational Learning Team. Today, his team coordinates learning requirements for nearly 70,000 staff spanning 80 nationalities across more than 60 countries of the globe — a responsibility that Vinay is legitimately very proud of.

“I believe you can achieve anything you want if you put your mind to it,” says Vinay. I have seen the phenomenal rise of some colleagues first-hand. Vinay relentlessly pursued his ambitions and successfully achieved every milestone he set for himself -including his dream of becoming a permanent employee of Global Services Inc. at 24. He started his career in the pantry earning Rs 700 a month. Today, he earns several times that. His fondest memory is that of purchasing a refrigerator for his family with his first bonus from the company.

I met Rajesh Chandrasekhar for the first time when he brought me some letters from the mailroom. He was a temporary mail room employee of Global Services Inc. This was June 2005 and Rajesh was studying in an evening college, struggling to acquire a degree in the midst of several health problems. In August 2005, he was assigned as a temporary resource to the HR team to provide administrative help. Even while working as a temp resource, Rajesh was in awe of the international work culture of the company. He was touched by the responsiveness, team spirit and helping attitude of the HR team. He quickly learned the skills of working in a multinational organisation — corporate etiquette, time management, and oral and written communication. He drew different strengths from different people and he also got through his exams and earned a degree. With brimming confidence he applied for a permanent position and in June 2006, Rajesh became a permanent employee of the company.

There are others like Vinay and Rajesh. People who are testimony to the fact that it is not always a person with a degree from a leading B-school or one with a string of degrees that makes it in the corporate world. You need a will to succeed and you have to truly believe you can achieve anything you put your mind to. You have to believe in yourself and be hungry to learn from people around you. Today’s companies provide innovative and creative learning and development opportunities. Reaching for the stars has never been this easy.

(The author is Head – Corporate Affairs, Scope International, Chennai, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, UK.)