vatsal nahata -- Disrupt Yourself

[sreeeeeeee]

 

[sreeeeeeee]

The story of how I got my World Bank job:

[I shudder everytime I recall this]

It was March of 2020 and I was about to graduate from Yale in 2 months.

COVID-19 had just been declared a pandemic and companies were on a spree to fire employees. Every company was preparing for the worst, and it made no sense to hire. A historic recession seemed looming.

Also, Donald Trump was President. I would reach the final rounds of several companies only to be told that they could not sponsor my visa. Trump's stance on immigration made it very uncertain for companies to navigate and predict US immigration policy. Everybody wanted to play it safe and hire US citizens.

I did not have a job at hand and I was going to graduate in 2 months. And I was a student at "Yale".

I thought to myself: what was the point of coming to Yale when I can't even secure a job here. It became harder to sound strong to my parents when they called and asked me how I was doing.

But I was determined that returning to India was not an option, and that my first paycheck would only be in Dollars.

I went all out on networking, and took the risk of completely avoiding job application forms or job portals:

In those 2 months, I sent over 1500 connection requests, wrote 600 cold-emails, got on 80 odd cold-calls with all types of people (I was clocking close to 2 cold-calls per day) and faced the highest number of rejections I've ever gone through. I developed thick-skin by necessity. And I was getting nowhere.

You could wake me up at 4 am in the morning and I could smoothly network and sell my skills to the most seasoned American executive, all while knowing that this call is probably going nowhere. Things became so desperate that I would often cold-call people in my dreams.

The Gentle Hum of Anxiety became my most played song on YouTube.

Ultimately, I had knocked on so many doors that my strategy paid off! I ended up with 4 job offers by the first week of May and chose the World Bank. They were willing to sponsor my Visa after my OPT and my manager offered me co-authorship on a Machine Learning paper with the World Bank's current Director of Research (something unheard of for a 23 year old).

This whole journey taught me a few things:
1. It showed me the true power of networking, and it became my second nature.
2. It gave me the confidence that I could survive in any situation and figure out my way as an immigrant in the United States
3. My Ivy League degree could only take me so far
4. Times of crisis (COVID-19 and Trump's immigration policies) were ideal grounds to metamorphose into a more evolved person.

If you're going through something similar where the world seems to be collapsing on you: carry on - do not go gentle into that good night!

Better days will come if you're learning from your mistakes and if you knock on enough doors.

#jobs #career #worldbank #USA #networking #Yale #linkedinforcreators

[sreeeeeeee]

 

[sreeeeeeee]

Some take aways or learnings for everyone

[JollyReddy]

sreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[MiryalgudaMaruthiRao]

sreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[summer27]

1 hour ago, sreeeeeeee said:

But I was determined that returning to India was not an option, and that my first paycheck would only be in Dollars.
 

 

[Thokkalee]

Thokkalee… ma cousin kuda World bank lo job chestunnadu.. through TCS join ayyadu, later converted to Full time.. vadu Engineering fail ayyaadu, next year backlog clear chesi pass ayyadu 😀