The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.
– Steve Jobs
Hello once again, after 3 long months! Well, I couldn’t keep up with my promise to write every month just like most of my 2020 resolutions, but from what I’ve realized, the tougher you are on yourself, it’s just going to make you feel worse about yourself than getting motivated. Of course, you need to push yourself but not to an extent where you feel the stress of doing “yet another thing” as a task rather than something you like. That’s exactly how I did not want to feel about my job.
Let me start out with my first ever (and only job) up until in India at Deloitte US. I started off as a Business Technology Analyst intern, transitioning up to a full time employee up until at a Senior Consultant level at Deloitte in 5 years. I loved that being a technology consultant, I had an opportunity to learn new technologies, new tools, new industries and new processes with every project and the most important, hone on my interpersonal, communication and client facing skills by meeting fabulous people through every new project.
I did consider moving back to Deloitte India as I’d been with Deloitte for all my career life (literally), was in my comfort zone up until now, and had no doubts about the firm, but in 2019 when I had just started thinking of moving back to India, I reassessed my career goals and my interests. Through this process, I learnt that I loved working with people, I still had a vested interest in analytics and wanted to make sure going forward I focussed on a certain technology and product and become an expert in it, and I have to say this, the most important part was I didn’t have to worry anymore about my visa transitions, green card process etc based on my career preferences.
Tip #1: Revisit your career goals
It could be as easy as thinking about what do you like about your job, what do you not like about your job, what aren’t you doing in your job right now that you want to do. I would also recommend doing this during the time you’d be contemplating on your move to India which is before you actually start the process of moving back, as this definitely plays a huge factor in your move. I moved back to India in 2020, but had already started thinking or rather preparing for it in early 2019.
Now that I knew my preferences for my next job, my next criteria was on the location or rather a priority on the location where I wanted to be. My husband, Pratik had been relocated to Pune for work, so I thought I’d prioritize companies in Pune as I didn’t want to be in long distance anymore. So, all I did was read and research about product companies preferably related to analytics in Pune. I started looking at Glassdoor reviews for those companies, looked them up on LinkedIn, read about the work they’d been doing and then finally connect with people on LinkedIn from the companies or job profiles I was interested in. So here comes my next tip.
Tip #2: Based on your preferences, start looking for companies that align to your interest
This could be in India or any specific location in India you’re interested in. Reach out to your connections who work in those companies or job profiles you would be interested to work in, connect with people from companies you’ve researched at a managerial position or above whose team you’d be interested in learning more about. If you already haven’t experienced this, LinkedIn is a VERY STRONG connecting tool, and you’d be amazed at how many people would actually help you and guide you via LinkedIn. Pratik also suggested looking for job listings on www.iimjobs.com where he found a lot of positions which aligned to his interest and expertise on moving back.
This is exactly how I landed up with my current job right now as a Technical Customer Success Manager at Entytle. I connected with one of my now co-workers: Amay, who is the VP of Products at Entytle who internally referred me to the firm. When I connected with Amay and spoke to him, I was leaning towards being a Product Manager but towards the end of my conversation with him, I realized I was better aligned to be a Customer Solution Manager (A year later, when I actually joined the firm, my title changed due to the change in the job requirements) and there was an open position at Entytle back then as a CSM as well. I must admit though, post the interview process I had accepted my job offer in February 2020, but I actually started working in September 2020 because I had started reassessing my move from the US in March this year while I was in the US, and then the unfortunate pandemic happened, and I was stuck in the USA for quite some months. The people who I interacted from Entytle with were great including Vivek, the CEO of Entytle who made sure I liked the product by coordinating a product demo for me, introducing me to future colleagues and, I kept in touch with them throughout my re-assessing phase, they reconsidered me 7 months later when I finally told them I’d be coming back. Since Entytle isn’t yet as big as a firm as Deloitte, I knew this would be a place where I’d learn a lot. So I kept leaning towards the company even more. Of course, there are more details on the job profile that I liked and the interviewing process, and I’d happy to share details about it with anyone who is indeed interested in it. 🙂
Did I not consider or apply for other positions? I did. I went through some interview rounds at Amazon, spoke to recruiters and had a few other interviews lined up for the other firms I had applied to on LinkedIn and Glassdoor, and of course I had Deloitte USI (US-India) I could start working at but eventually I ended up joining Entytle.
One important question, that I’ve gotten is, how much should my salary be? Will it be as good as I have earned in the US? How should I plan around it? Hence,
Tip #3: Do not expect your salary to be equal to what you were earning in the US.
It’s similar to how you shouldn’t convert everything you buy in the US from $ to Rs. and say how expensive it is compared to India. Of course, I wouldn’t say settle for less than you deserve. Calculate your expected salary based on your expenses you’d need here: Rental, household help, grocery, other miscellaneous charges and most important “savings”. Talk to one of your friends who work in India on how much they spend on these categories or at least a ballpark figure on the same. Once you have your salary estimation, compare what a similar job profile earns in India via Glassdoor. This should be a good way for you to estimate your salary in India.
And the most important thing to remember is:
“You are no longer tied down to any visa.”
You have complete freedom to choose your career path moving forward! So rejoice this process and don’t get bogged down by it.
That’s all folks! As always, feel free to reach out to me if you need any additional information, or you need any help through your transition.
If you like my post, please hit the like button below! <3 I would also love to hear your experiences or any suggestions on my blog through your comments!
