When I was an engineer, the campus placements were on full swing … well, not so full … it was the Dot Com Bust of 2002, remember?
So a new firm had come to campus – IRIS. And I was intent on getting placed. The interview was going well and I seemed to have the technical part of the interview clinched (whew!). Now the hard part … the HR round. Some weird questions were thrown in, but I got them or dodged them safely … then the head HR (Jayaraman, as I would soon find out) asks me, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
I had not thought of this question (I was green under the gills, cut me some slack here!!). The smart alec inside me wanted to blurt out … “On the other side of the table” … I did not. I gave some simple minded answer and that was that.
5 years hence, I am taking interviews … and I AM on the other side of the table.