I love job hopping

In the 17 years since I graduated from college, I’ve held seven jobs—a fact which technically makes me a job hopper. It also expanded my network and made me a little bit richer compared to my other friends.

“Job hopper” is a term often synonymous with professionals who are dynamic and aggressive in career.  Although it's a debatable topic if job hopping is required or if it is needed after certain amount of time. If companies are not loyal to employees, why should employees be. In this ever-changing business environment and culture, each party (employee or employer) believes in profit. So, it's up to you if a job hoping is required at certain moments or not.

My first job tenure in a mid-size company was of around 5+ years. I learned a lot there and felt the need of changing the company because of salary issues. I got 40% salary hike at my first move. This trend continues (almost) in each job switch. It was not about money but other factors also which directs me to switch. 

So, I hopped. But job hopping didn’t just help me find interesting work. It also sharpened different skills and significantly increased my income. Negotiating with a new employer often yields better results than hoping for significant bumps at your current position.

Another advantage of job hopping - Career advancement opportunities which we can’t always get by staying with one company.

But one thing which I feel in last 5 years is that job hopping becomes difficult and tedious job when you have a progressive experience of more than 12 years. You must settle down in an organization (after initial job hopping) where you can spend time with your dear ones besides office hours. Work Life Balance, a new term coined in the market, plays a role here.

-Sanat Sharma

Job Hunt - My experience with truth

Six months back, when I was searching for job in USA with all my efforts, contacts and relations, I was not sure what would be the outcome of that effort. It was really a nightmare for me as I was struggling a lot. I got couple of offers in Feb 2017 but they were not like what I was looking for. But that tenure experienced me a lot.

When anybody is hunting for a job, there are three factors based on which the employer is looking the  candidates - Skill, Experience and Achievements.

Skills -
Almost 40 to 50. % of technology companies (including my current employer - Microsoft) are technology agnostic in their hiring. Almost all the companies that I faced in past 10 months during my interview, asked primarily about my technical and managerial skills. Primarily focused on technical aspects, the interviewer was less focussed on managerial side of my professional career. One have to weave a story of how your past experience leads into this future opportunity. I did the same and succeeded.

Experience -
If you have a zero management experience and your goal is to become a manager at a new job, it's more challenging. So stick to your profile what you have done in the past and bridge that to your future opportunity. During the interviews, it's important to showcase your potential experience and status as your responsibilities. You can demand a loftier title when you switch to a smaller company or startup. The smaller company appreciates your big company experience, maturity, expertise and skill set. But this is something really difficult to handle when you switch from a smaller company to biggest technology giants. I faced that.

Achievements -
Your past achievements would be your future pillars of growth. Showcasing your achievements play a vital role during interviews. A list of convincing achievements makes an impression about yourself and increases your chances.


Final words - Be a self-aware software engineer with strong communication skills and good technical chops. Be confident and believe in yourself. Maintain a positive attitude. Remember it's your attitude, not aptitude, that decides your altitude.

- Sanat Sharma

Changing the World

PASSION + PURPOSE + PLATFORM = Changing the World

How to get things done?

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richard_phone_writing_pen_letter.jpWrite1. 

1. Capture to-dos as they occur to you. Use your phone to record a quick message or ask Cortana to  remind you.

2. Group similar tasks, like calls or purchase you need to make. You will be able to prioritize them more easily or decide which one you can accomplish in the time you have right now.

3. When you make a note to make a call, add the number or other information you need. You will be able to make calls when you are waiting for an appointment, because it will take only one step.

4. If something will take less than five minutes, do it now. Your to-do list won't become cluttered with small tasks that can add up to big chunks of time or provide an excuse to procrastinate.

The Iceberg of Ignorance

Only 4% of an organization’s front line problems are known by top management, 9% are known by middle management, 74% by supervisors and 100% by employees…”. 

The perfect example of what I have seen in last 18 months in my professional career. Root level problems are not known to executives and team managers are doing nothing but just looking for end of the month so that salaries can be credited to their bank account. 

We could have done better if above image would have been turned wrong.

Working for Startup or for larger organization

The choice between working for a startup and working for a larger company is not always simple. I worked at one of a startup company as well as couple of masssive tech companies. I switched 6 companies in my 16+ years of professional experience. When deciding among job offers, I sometimess got confused on where to join? There are so many factors (that now I can think off) helpful in making the right and long term decision.

1. You will get more exposure in startup on almost all the areas of the business. You need to measure the breadth of the business even if you join as a Software Engineer. In large organization, one can go in depth of the technology and become a specialized resource of that one.

2. You can switch your bad manager and join other group in any big organization. But this issue is really hard to tackle when you are in a startup organization.

3. Startups will give more opportunity in terms of moving up in the management hierarchy. The big companies have their timelines along with your manager's growth path, responsible for your growth.

4. Startups will give you less time for your life, family and personal goals. One need to spend a good amount of time to meet the goals and achieve the required goals set by the company. On the other hand, one might can have work-life balance and personal goals fulfillment.

The startup that I worked with (although it was for less than a year) was owned by one of the best professional individual I have ever seen in my life. It was really a nice experience working with him. But still I left him and joined the biggest telecom company. It was a choice by situation.

Sanat Sharma

Put your values to work

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a nearly 5800 word open letter in Feb this year. This is the longest single post he had ever shared on his Facebook timeline. One of the highlighted line I like most in that is - I know a lot of us are thinking about how we can make the most positive impact in the world right now.

Mark posed a broader question for the society - Are we building the world we all want?  Five years ago, he posted what he called a "founder's letter" that spelled out the company's philosophy for prospective investors. "We don't wake up in the morning with the primary goal of making money",Zuckerberg wrote. Instead Facebook was built to accomplish a social mission - to make the world more open and connected". In the letter he said - we expect everyone at Facebook to focus every day on how to build real value for the world.

This applies to leaders as well as workforce also. When people are engaged, they bring their full attention, energy, and effort to their jobs. They perform better, and so do their companies. There are three factors that shape the sense of pride in the company.

1. Believing in the company's future

2. Believing in the company's vision

3. Believing that the company is a force for social good

What defines a business is not the words that a CEO or HR department trot out, but rather the way an organization actually behaves. Business has long been ruled by the short term demand of investors: quarterly earning results, a rising share price. But when you think about it, that's really a taker's attitude. And we need to start this change. Business have social responsibilities and values. The one who adheres to them will be stamped as a "True Leader". 

Sanat Sharma

Corporate Directors and Gender balance

Getting corporate boards of directors to achieve gender balance was an issue addressed and that too a generation ago. NO, it's actually wrong.

But the pendulum may finally be swinging in favor of adequate representation of women and their diverse perspectives, values and ideas on corporate boards.

With five women on its 11 person board, Alaska Air Group recently won the WomenCorporateDirectors Foundation's WCD Visionary Award for Leadership and Governance of a Public Company.

Women account for nearly half the American workforce but still too far to achieve half mark in Corporate board of Directors in different sectors and arena. Fortune magazine recently reported that, as of 2016, 24 Fortune 500 companies had no women on their boards.

In my past 16 years of corporate experience, I myself have seen rare scenario with women as a board of directors. Hardly one or two cases. But one thing for sure that one of the woman Directors I have seen in my very first organization was too dynamic and goal oriented lady. I used to be super charged whenever I had a talk with her.

The products a company sells are most likely being purchased by women also. The global income of women is predicted to reach $18 trillion by 2018, according to one survey. Women hold nearly half of all management positions. Approximately 10 million firms are owned by women, employing more than 13 million people and generating more than $1.9 trillion in sales. If that is the women power across the globe, then why the not Women Directors in the companies. The trend started now and will shape up in favor of women down the line.

Sanat Sharma

Social Media Marketing and Privacy

A recent report from statista.com estimates that by the year 2019, social media marketing spending in the US will reach $17.34 billion compared to $7.52 billion in 2016. Social media content manager reported that while social media marketing on Instagram continues to increases, Facebook will be the major cake eating shareholder in that.

It looks good from business perspective but is definitely going to raise eyebrows for privacy and security experts. Social media is the prime culprit of privacy breach. In fact privacy data breach and selling the customers data has a market of around 40 billion dollars. This is huge and a good appetite for social media companies.

Privacy is going to be an eternal negotiation. The biggest branded companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook are playing safe in customers privacy arena.

Irrespective of such an strict rules already exist across the globe with respect to Privacy, we can hear privacy breaches everywhere converting to law suites.

Technology challenges privacy. So it would be really interesting to see how Privacy grows with the time.  Will it be a total privacy loss for the customers or it would be a win-win situation for both the parties across the table.

Sanat Sharma 

Hiring - Don't make it complicated

It's a real challenge to get new hire adjusted to their new position. I myself have faced this challenge, as a hiring manager or as a new hire. But a positive and a organized first day on the job can give new employees a head start on productivity.

Make every new hire's first day the best they have ever had. Automate HR process and documents and leverage e-signing capabilities to keep everyone efficient and documents digital. Imagine your digitally transformed first day at a new job. Email is live, laptop is setup, and HR benefit and tax documents are complete. Now it's time to have fun and get to work.

I still remember my first day when I joined one of the biggest telecom company of US. It was around 10 years back. The very first day experience was awesome. This type of welcome always boosts energy in the employee which converts into productivity down the line.

"First impression is the last impression". So always work to make the very first day of the employee as awesome and impressive as you can. This tip is for HR and hiring team.

Sanat Sharma

Mission statement - write that works

Microsoft mission statement - To empower every person and every organization on this planet to achieve more. This is one of the most EXCELLENT AND GREATEST mission statement I have every gone through in my life.

Before you pen a mission statement, you should consider why your company exists. It's not only about what it does. A company can make electrical parts. It might not sound great for the company. But those electrical parts are in Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge. So it's a clear mission of the company - We help build and sustain American icons through quality American manufacturing.

One should keep the mission statement short and precise. This statement is the most one should ever have. A lot of words and paragraph is impossible to be remember by the target audience and customers.

I saw one more excellent mission statement by Pepsi - " Beat Coke". People would come to work thinking, 'How do I beat Coke today?
'
And lastly, if you can't do it right now, don't do it. Take your time. Don't trust on any marketing firm or so called consultancy firms to make a mission statement for you. It would be meaningless and have no relation with what your company wants to achieve. A bad mission statement can hurt you, your company image and growth path. Even customers will also be not able to connect with what you want to do and achieve. If the mission statement says one thing and people see the company doing something different, it creates doubt in employees and customers minds. It would be better to continue without any mission statement rather than having a rogue one. A mission statement crafted carefully can be a powerful sales tool.

So be cautious and make it effective.

SS