It has been 10 years in the US staffing industry and what I have observed is, if you are trying to achieve your targets you need to have that hunger for the numbers you have set as your target. I have seen people talking about smart work and a few considering hard work as a key to success but what I have personally felt and experienced is that the person who actually has that hunger for that target and a little maturity combined with common sense, can easily achieve it. Though, as per my experience with many people, this hunger automatically brings the above mentioned two qualities: common sense and maturity. You always see roadblocks when you are going to achieve something special, everybody has had them. Obstacles are not there to stop you, they are there to check your hunger and dedication.
Do you have it in you to cross them and achieve your targets? While observing my team or even my colleagues from different backgrounds — some of them have good knowledge about IT and some of them are from different domains like MBA or BA graduates, what I noticed is that award winners and achievers are those who can’t sit for even a month without getting success. This hunger makes them regular persuaders — with clients in or out of office, they are punctual or sometimes even early and sometimes sit long after office hours. When they have that hunger, they find out a number of ways to achieve their targets, save their deals from getting dropped, ideas come to their mind from all directions — success makes these individuals wait, but not for long.
A few examples of my teammates here (I won’t name them). When I joined this industry in 2008 I saw a person who was from the mechanical engineering domain and had just about managed to complete his degree. He didn’t have any idea about technologies, and his communication skills were not stellar too but his hunger for placements was very strong. The only thing he was an absolute expert was at calling clients. When he became a Team Leader, a Manager and even when he achieved higher designations, the hunger in his eyes, while waiting for placements, was strong. He waited long at times, but when he got them, the numbers were enough to make him a winner every time. I had another teammate from a biotech background and another from a call center background and they too did exceptionally well. I accept the fact that the right direction is always needed to make sure that these people achieve success, but I am a strong believer that if one is honest to themselves and as mentioned before, shows a little maturity, one can easily find the right manager and guidance to put them on the correct course.
Last but not the least I would also like to mention that maturity is needed to keep a balance. Your hunger shouldn’t be overwhelming; it shouldn’t ruin your social life like your friend circle, family and most importantly, you yourself. Success actually means a lot more when you enjoy it, share it and multiply it further by helping others. When one achieves a balance between the hunger and maturity, then one actually becomes an inspiration for others. Your hunger shouldn’t make you selfish or closefisted rather it must make you inspiring and generous. There may be a lot of people whom I don’t know from different domains but who can still relate to this. And I am sure there will be a few or even many who may not agree with this. Everyone has their own way of achieving what they want to, but this is what I have observed and seen about the successful people in this industry where I belong to.
– Praveen Juneja