{"id":2897,"date":"2020-09-25T05:21:52","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T05:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.soil.edu.in\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2020-09-25T05:21:52","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T05:21:52","slug":"what-soil-means-to-me-an-alumni-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soil.edu.in\/blog\/what-soil-means-to-me-an-alumni-story\/","title":{"rendered":"What SOIL means to me \u2013 An Alumni Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Life is what happens to you while you\u2019re busy making other plans”
\nWho, why or what was this for \u2013 I couldn\u2019t care less until 2008 when this started unfolding in real life..<\/p>\n

Personal & Professional life as I had imagined and perhaps like many others – was like a linear equation. School > Graduation > Job\/Business > Work hard > Party harder! > Good salary > Job change and the cycle continues. The fun actually begins when the downslope starts and with such speed that breaks work down. What should I do? With whom shall I discuss my issues? Who can guide me? And the most difficult question that one tends to ask, who will support me??! All possible questions, where the mind just doesn\u2019t give the answer one wants.<\/p>\n

This is how it all started for me. I had recently shifted my base from Bengaluru to Delhi \u2013 being \u2018aware\u2019 of my internal calling to become an entrepreneur. Setting up something from scratch was a great feeling \u2013 and with this, I plunged into setting up a venture which seemed to have great potential. Building contacts, working across industries and geographies was like a dream come true. From a two-member team to a 20-member outfit in 6 months felt like a victory lap for me! The entrepreneurial journey had started taking shape, but soon after it all started to change \u2013 one bit at a time. With the advent of the Global financial crisis, many started getting impacted, including me. With no other options in sight, it was time to course-correct but with shrinking opportunities, it was a real uphill task.<\/p>\n

Slowly I started to lose interest in what I was doing. Between shifting to Delhi and post the crisis \u2013 a lot had changed. Despite having a great job at that time, questions like \u2013 am I in the right job? do I like doing this? should I look for \u2018more\u2019 kept plaguing me? Timely skill and knowledge additions play an imminent role in staying relevant and after all, life, in general, is non-linear! This is when SOIL happened to me. I have always held the belief that any form of higher education should be a bridge to a certain destination and it\u2019s non-negotiable to know that destination before pursuing it.<\/p>\n

I read about the institute, tried to collate as much material online as possible to validate my choice, however, it wasn\u2019t going to be easy. I was looking at the First batch, no precedent, ROI? – made this a tricky decision. What\u2019s my stand? What do I want? Is this what I want to pursue \u2013 all these questions needed only my answers! And so I decided \u2013 SOIL it is!<\/p>\n

Finally, the day came & I got selected at SOIL Institute of Management!<\/p>\n

It was not easy, especially after almost 10 years of work experience. But I persevered. I experienced the power of ‘Diversity’ as a concept in real life and it was wonderful! SOIL taught me a lot, that I carry with me to this day \u2013 whether it\u2019s the values and ethics or the business core skills, I picked up a lot!<\/p>\n

Days went by and soon it was time for the rubber to hit the road \u2013 Placements\u2026 Phew!! As a member of the Placecom, what an experience that was! Right from preparing the database of over 100+ organizations; inviting them; attending guest lectures during the placement week \u2013 all this when our self-belief was taking a serious beating! <\/p>\n

Life after college: I thanked my stars for getting a great opportunity. I landed in Mumbai and prepare myself to start with full enthusiasm. What, where, how and what? I had a tendency to ask a lot of questions [which still continues ;-)] and maybe with the experience around me, I started getting better at this. Asking the \u2018right\u2019 question, deep diving, patience, resilience, seeing an idea coming to life \u2013 all this started unfolding with a greater amount of clarity. Slowly, it all started making sense. Becoming contextually relevant and being in the present is the key to learning \u2013 this part started getting clearer, each day!<\/p>\n

Balancing enthusiasm, un-learning & not trying to be perfect, focussing on the \u2018How\u2019 as much as \u2018What\u2019 and \u2018Why\u2019 are ingredients to effective leadership and this gets curated at SOIL. It took me some time to realize this and just like the structural defect in this blog, I will surely get better at expressing this! Way to go SOILits<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Abhishek Khandelwal <\/strong> is currently with Welspun Group – a $2.7 billion diversified conglomerate with presence in home textiles, pipes & plates, steel, infrastructure & real estate. He is currently the Global Head HR for Home Textile division which is part of Welspun India \u2013 global leaders in Home Textiles space.<\/p>\n

Abhishek is an alumnus of SOIL Institute of Management, Gurgaon. He started his HR career in 2004 and since then has been involved in multiple roles as a generalist as well as a specialist with some of the leading brands such as like Mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla and new age organizations like Hike. <\/p>\n

Having in depth experience in Rewards and business partnering space, his current focus revolves around digitization of HR and building org readiness in terms of capabilities of today and tom. His leadership focus is around:<\/p>\n