Yesterday afternoon I got a call from H. My previous employer was likely to make him an offer and he wanted my opinion. I started off by telling him “two months into that firm, I decided to quit”. And then went on to tell him why I quit, and the good and bad things about that job.
Finally it was time for him to make a decision. Despite my pleas of “i’ve told you what i’ve to tell you; it’s up to you to decide now”, H wanted my advice. After a couple of minutes of thought we decided that it’s best he “plays it safe” and “accepts the offer”. After all it would be “better than most day one jobs” (yesterday was day zero at IIMB).
Now, I had had a really tough time in that job. It was almost traumatic. Ended up screwing both physical and mental health 😛 And when i quit, I’d taken a vow to “do something horrible to the firm” and “actively negatively campaign against them so that no one joins them next year”!
And all that goes for a toss. The slotting system is supreme. It defines a hierarchy. A commonly accepted hierarchy. And if not anything else, it is “safe” to follow the slotting system. I’m in awe of it!
Another factor was something like “i hated that place, but I shouldn’t deny this guy his chance. Let him go find out for himself”. I think this was the overriding factor as to why I finally told H to take the offer.
I’m also wondeirng how I would’ve reacted had he approached me immediately after i’d quit that job. Maybe i would’ve been angrier then, adn much more against the firm. Maybe I would’ve advised him then to not take it at any cost. Hmmmm…