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Case Study: How this dude hustled his way from a miserable IT stint into his dream advertising job

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A few of my friends (not you) crib in front of me all the time, about how they hate their current 9-5. I always ask them what would they rather be doing. They mostly reply with something to do with the creative side or somewhere they think they can make a change. While I do appreciate the thoughts, I always follow up with my favorite question. “So, how many people have you actually met in this domain or industry that you say you want to work in?” Mostly, well 95% of the time, I get a zero response, which is perfect, for then I can use my vindictive laughter to humiliate them. (Yes, I’m an evil weirdo.)

So, when my buddy from High School told me the same thing around 6 months ago, I asked him my stock question. Expecting the same stock answer, I was ready to take him up on his bullshit. Not to be. I had found my match.

ME (with a smirk on my face): “So, how many people have you actually met in this Marketing/Advertising industry that you say you want to work in?”
My buddy (poker faced): 6 or 7

That's him. Yes, you can already see the rebellious streak...

That’s him. Yes, you can already see the rebellious streak…

Blown away already, I decided to find out his story and tracked his progress over the next 4 months, while he kept hacking his way in. Read on, if you want to know the hustling steps that Madumay Sinha (Maddy, we call him) took to make an *almost* seamless transition from his miserable IT job into Advertising.

Without any prior experience in Advertising/Marketing domain
Without an MBA
Without any previous contacts in Advertising, whatsoever
Without having a degree from ABC institute of Communication

Have a look at why worrying about the above is one of the biggest career mistakes people make.

Find my notes and comments against AB in the brackets.

Enter Maddy

——————————————————————————————————————————————
It was a 2-year long journey with IT. I still do not know how to format a computer! Worse, I never wanted to know.
(AB: How many of you can relate to that?)

Life in IT was tough. MBA in marketing/advertising was at the back of my mind. It remained there. I knew it wouldn’t move, so long as people believed primary mathematics and ‘some numbers out of hundred you scored 5-7 years back’ have got everything to do with your marketing/advertising/creative skills. Well, I’m just a senseless layman to question the judges who are officially entitled to do my job (make no sense).
(AB: I’d generally mark that as a limiting thought, but unfortunately, that is a sad but true scenario in India.)

November 8: Manager raped me in front of 10 people who ‘mattered’. In IT, verbal rape doesn’t quite qualify for ‘HR issues’. So, I put down my papers that evening and walked away. Went home, got belted, came back and withdrew my resignation.
(AB: That’s a pretty ‘noob’ move, right there. I don’t recommend walking away ‘one fine day’. Thankfully, Maddy understood this before the damage was done. Point proven here is, he’s no rare exception, for I know many of you skeptics are already going in your heads, “Yeah, that guy must be extra special or something.” No, he’s almost like you and me; only smarter when it comes to hustling.)

I set a target. Earn an offer and THEN walk out the haunted doors by Feb 28.
(AB: Always set a target date. Give yourself ample time. It helps, if you are working towards a goal.)

What did I do in those three months? I connected. I connected shamelessly. I talked to people in volvos, bus-stands, pubs and once also in a toilet. (Sorry, twice.)
(AB: Love it.)

Also, I inboxed a common ‘beg-note’ to about 45 people on FB. I learnt ‘I’ll get back to you’ means everything but ‘I’ll get back to you’. 10 out of those 45 replied. The 11th and the 12th helped!
(AB: While I believe most people are happy to help, one must realize that no one cares as much, or at all, about your career as you do.)

11th guy: A friend’s room-mate’s friend (let’s ignore grammar *AB: I did.*), who I met in Toit (AB: A brew pub synonymous with Bangalore’s pub culture) and noted his contact in my diary. I then fixed my interview with the Director of his ad agency. It was to be a 2-4 months long internship, unpaid. If I fared well, they would fix me up for the job which would pay INR 15k a month. That was half of what I was making then.

It was a good 45-minute conversation. He looked convinced and asked me to write to him with the reason why he should’ve hired me and mail him the same by end of the day, that day. I mailed him that night. He had promised to reply within 24 hours. He offered me the internship.

12th: An acquaintance in my theaters told me on Nov-15th that someone from his office would call me the next day. And this next day was February 11th. Of course, I didn’t sit back on the couch like a Joey in a pouch! Fortunately, I forgot to ‘just wait’ for this call, thanks to the naturally ravaged memory.

Okay, February 11th it was. I was working. (Oh yes!) I got a call from OnMobile. 1st round for them was to know ‘Why OnMobile’. Next, they mailed me a scripting assignment 3 minutes after I hung up. I was supposed to do it within 2 hours. They forgot I was still working in an office.

I was to receive some KT (AB: IT term for Knowledge Transfer) on a new functionality, which by now I knew, I would never stay long enough to use. Since my senior had a big heart, he decided to start 30 minutes late. So I used those 30 and went to the washroom to take out another 15 minutes. I replied to that mail 15 minutes ahead of time.
(AB: There is no margin for excuses. One has to be able to ‘Get Things Done’ and act fast.)

Another assignment came the next day. I did that too, ahead of time. I had two consecutive telephonic interviews the next two days.
(AB: How do you differentiate yourself from the crowd, is completely up to you. Being ahead of time with your work is a sure-shot way to impress.)

On the night of February 15th, I got the offer letter. The very next minute, I refused the existing internship offer in the most polite way possible. The director replied impolitely. I replied impolitely.

Luckily (AB: Of course, if you want to be humble, Maddy. There’s no luck, only what we make of it.), I managed 2 offers at hand and walked out on 15th Feb. I joined OnMobile as a Script writer on 18th February.
18th February : I was born again, this time without my dad’s help. This was something that gave me a good feeling.
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Few afterthoughts and suggestions:

You can connect with anyone, anywhere and at odd times, too.

You can use these email hacks and strategies to connect with ‘people who matter’.

Subscribe for more of these blog posts.

Also, Madhumay is a brilliant writer. Read some of his work and connect with him, if you want to.

Get in touch with me, if you have a similar story and would like to guest post here.


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