Praveen is working in the purchasing department of a first tier manufacturer as a graduate engineer trainee. His company supplies plastic components to a leading automobile OEM. Many people in the plant including the plant-head know Praveen personally. He has been there in the organization for hardly two months and it makes one wonder the reason for his popularity. He narrated the story to us and we had every reason to believe that the boy has a strong conviction to build his career.
Knowledge base: It so happened that the person responsible for making fixtures was on leave and the production department needed a fixture urgently. Seeing the commotion in the tool room, Praveen went there and enquired about the matter. He quickly assessed the requirement and offered his services to do the job. The in-charge asked him about his capability to run the milling and lathe machines and was taken aback when he said yes. Soon Praveen was working on the fixture and the people around could see his skills. In no time, the news reached the plant-head, who came down personally and interacted with Praveen. He asked him a few questions and was convinced about Praveen’s technical know-how. Praveen became a well-known name in the organization on his 20th day in the plant. How people make a difference in your career growth is well understood by him.
The skill-set: The event leaves one wondering as to how Dwivedi acquired the skills? He hails from a relatively less known engineering college BSITM in the Delhi NCR. Like every other engineering college, it also had a semester of industrial training in the final year. Almost 75 per cent of the engineering students waste this opportunity, but not Praveen. He did this training at a tool room set up which was run by one of his distant relatives. He mastered three things here: costing, purchase of material, and manufacturing of fixtures. He ran the machines himself, broke tools, and damaged the work pieces, but he learned the techniques. He has a very strong self-belief and leaves no stone unturned to achieve his goal.
Utilize the gap: Praveen understood the importance of campus placements very well. Unfortunately, most of the companies that came to his college were from the IT space and none of them offered mechanical engineering jobs. All through his engineering curriculum, Praveen pursued his hobby of teaching other students younger to him. He even ran an institute in his free time in the evening and also earned some pocket money. Dwivedi was undeterred by the fact that he would not get a campus placement. So, he thought, what to do if he could not make it through campus placements? Without wasting any time he took up a teaching job at a premier institution in the NCR, by making use of his developed skills.
Making use of referrals: The next task on the agenda of Dwivedi was “how to get a job within two months?” He made effective use of referrals to secure an interview call. Based on his teaching and industrial experience he was able to answer most of the questions and easily secured the job. He today spends most of his time learning the skills of purchasing by sharing most of the responsibility of his boss. He loves to spend almost 12 hours at the job every day so that he can maximize his learning.
A different approach: You can easily see that Praveen Dwivedi makes use of a different approach as the measure of a successful career. He has plans to fill the gap in his acquired tool room skills by taking up a part-time fixture design course in the near future. He believes that a skill set is a necessary stepping stone to career advancement. But the buck does not stop here. Dwivedi’s long-term goal is to be an entrepreneur. Five years down the line he has plans for setting up his own business. We at job-mentor believe that career perceptions are changing fast. We wish Praveen all the success in his future ventures.
The success story is so much interesting.
I’ve been loiknog for a post like this for an age
The story is amusing.
I particularly like the conviction with which Praveen has pursued the start of his career. The way he is going indicates that he will have a good career growth. The story is definitely very inspiring.
Must salute the guy’s self belief. Very strong contender for career growth. He will definitely go a long way. I enjoyed reading the success story.
Our company offers many training programs for the employees. Some of them really help us in day to day activities. I am utilizing these to skill up and strengthen my career. I hope I am on the right track.
Sure! You can supplement the skill up program by going in for a certificate course online (evenings or weekend). This certificate can be proudly displayed in your profile and will help you in annual reviews and while switching jobs.
I have seen many young graduates taking up a teaching job till they are able to find a regular employment for themselves. It is a good way of keeping yourself going till you find something worthwhile.
I had experiences similar to Praveen in my organization, but It has given me relatively less leverage as compared to him because my company is very big. I could make the right impact on my HOD because of my good work but the news did not reach the CEO. However I believe that if I keep up the ante, the news will reach him sooner or later.
I must salute Praveen in the way he is progressing with his career. he is not letting go of any opportunity and continuously adding to his skills. Most of us take our initial years lightly and loose the advantage to others. It is guys like Praveen who have successful careers today. Thanks for the relevant article.
To do something big in a new organization, when everyone is watching you closely requires a lot of self confidence. This is only possible if you have the right skill to that job. The tool room job was done successfully by Praveen and ensured that he get the right recognition for it in the company. This is absolutely the right way to grow your career. I must appreciate the author for putting it out so well to the readers.
Praveen has really amassed quite varied skills that include teaching, tool room working and handling purchase activity. There is some linkage with his engineering skills but the skill set is certainly diverse. This is going to be added upon in the future and will ensure that the people like Praveen will grow their careers by leaps and bounds.
I have come across a number of success and failure stories. Each case is different. But in most cases I found that the success or failure spun around the skill set of the individual. Those who had improved their skills and added more in due course were on the way up in the career. Thanks to the author for reaffirming my analysis.
Very rarely you come across people like Praveen. Even in large organizations, out of the 30 odd engineering and management trainees who join every year you are lucky if you find one Praveen. In percentage terms I will put the figure at 2%.