I am a long term follower of this forum. I R2Ied in 2008 to Bangalore and since then have seen a lot; the new Bangalore, the new India and the new Indians. I have been through a lot after I moved back to India apparently for unknown reasons. I would like to share my experiences post R2I on various aspects with as many people (specially R2I folks) as possible. I hope that will give some idea about where to set the expectations when returning to India.
Myself single, woman, R2Ied from CA, USA in first quarter, 2008. I never aspired for a life or career abroad. As I started my work life in an US MNC, moving to US was just a next step. I went to US after getting bored in my first job, assuming I will be back after a quick one year US experience. Things don't follow such simple route we all know. So though every moment I wanted to move back to India, it took seven long years to actually move back. I am not from Bangalore, but considering job prospect and a small business that I started in Bangalore prior to R2I, I moved back to Bangalore.
Here I want to clearly mention that my decision to R2I was indeed best for myself, only regret is why I didn't move back long ago. Also immigrating to US was never an option for me as I was always very clear about returning to India.
I will share my experiences about:
Job search in India Moving process Finding a place to stay on rent and living on rent Typical behavior you face in India when you come from abroad Starting and running a small retail business in Bangalore How people around you (close, known or little known) treat you What all atrocities you can expect to happen The dangerous situation with real estate in India (though this is not in Bangalore, but might give some picture)
Also want to put this in FB, I have never used it, need to learn about that. Please bear with me, the time consuming post it will be, I promise to give some details
Hi Iam totally new here , i joined because we are planning to R2I in March 2013 , to bgl only ! Did u write ur post.?. i think it will definitely be useful for us too ..we were initially in bgl for 3 yrs before coming to US!!
I'm looking forward to reading about your experiences. Congratulations on starting a business! I have seen very few Indian women with entrepreneurial spirit and fewer who actually do something about it. I wish you success.
I started by applying to some companies in India from US nearly six months before I R2Ied. The flow chart goes like this here. First thing these indian companies do after they receive your resume/application, is to send it back to their US offices. Then the US office contacts you and possibly shows interest in hiring you in their US office.
6 months prior to R2I
Nokia: I forwarded my resume to Nokia Bangalore through an ex-coworker of an ex-coworker of mine. After some time I got a call from someone in Nokia Bangalore. It was not for an interview he told, he just wanted to chat with me. While talking, he repeatedly repeatedly told me that Nokia will not pay for my move, he repeatedly repeatedly told me that no managerial position will be available for me, and some more negative stuff (all I did was sending my resume). He told, next some others will call me in a few days for intervview, HR is working on those. I never heard from Nokia after this.
I got calls from few US head offices of some companies in India where I applied. Some even got me to their offices in US for interview. All of these companies tried to convince me to cancel my plan to move back to India and showed interest in hiring me in their US offices.
I remember one small company from Bangalore contacted me in the US and fixed a phone interview at 11 pm PST. I waited till 12 midnight, no one called, I slept off. At 1 or 2 am, these people started calling me. When I finally woke up, I saw missed calls and called back. Those people actually were complaining that they were calling me and no one was picking up!!! Of course, I don't remember how my phone interview was being half asleep.
Anyway I moved back to Bangalore. Few days after I landed, I actively started applying through naukri/monster etc. All my job search was via the monster/naukri job boards or newspaper ad or company website and no networking.
10 months post R2I
Airvana: My first onsite interview was with some company called Airvana within 1-2 weeks after I landed in India. I was contacted by an independent recruiter for this onsite interview. In the interview, after I finished talking to 1-2 people in Airvana, the HR came with full energy and started asking me for my desired CTC. Since this was my first interview, I didn't have much idea about what to expect for my CTC. I told him that. He gave me one day, asked me to discuss with my friends and tell him the expected CTC by next day when he calls me. Noone ever called or closed the interview process. When the recruiter called me I told him that after all these, no one even contated me to close this process. For some reason, the recruiter kept laughing listening this.
Stream processor: I got a call from a company called Stream processor after I applied online. After some lazy, late, delayed talk, they wanted me to come down to their office for an interview and scheduled it. All these were taking weeks. On the interiew day or one day before they again called me and informed me that, first one of the top bosses of the company will talk to me on the phone. While talkimg to this boss on the phone, he kept asking me questions particular to their own product which was still under R&D I believe. He seemed to know some people from the India center of one of my ex US companies. He actually told me that he thought I should join that India center of my ex US company!!! After few days this company sent me a good luck email (closure, thank heavens!).
Tata elxsi: Someone from Tata elxsi called me for an interview. Even after I made a request, he didn't send me any job info. When I went to attend the interview on a saturday, I found that it was a walk in day and lots of other people were present there for interview. One person talked to me for 30-45 mins, he was chatting casually. He told me that there will be another round of interview and HR and someone will contct me soon. He also gave some negative vibes. After few days someone called and scheduled an onsite interview for the next day at 11 am in another office. Next day early morning 8.00 am someone again called me and said, "........, so the interview is cancelled, I will reschedule and let you know". After several days they rescheduled another onsite interiew. On the way to interview as I was talking to the contact person who scheduled the interview, the person gave all kinds of negative vibes and was not even interested in guiding me to reach their office. I think only one person talked to me in the office, little technical background, and again asked about CTC. When I informed him about my indian salary before I left for USA, he took a pause to count the number of years in between, and told, "oh, that means". He looked terribly upset. Then the contact person came and expectedly was behaving rude till I left. Sure, no one from Tata elxsi talked to me after this, no 'thank you', no 'good luck', absolutely no closure.
TCS: One independent recruiter scheduled an interiew for me with TCS. On the interview day, when I reached the TCS premises, I found everything weird. Most of the people around were rude. They kept cockroaching between themselves for reason they only know. I also found that it was again a walkin interview day. They kept me waiting till the end of the day, though I was given a scheduled time, don't know why. I almost slept off in the waiting area. When everyone was gone, one person started talking to me, after some casual talks, he told me that he was not qualified to interview me and he needed his manager to come and talk to me. I had to wait a good 30-40 mins more, the manager came and we had some technical discussion. He again told me that they will get me to their actual office another day to take things further. Surely they never got back, not even for a 'thank you' or 'good luck' or any closure.
CISCO: Cisco sent me an email for a software manager position which I replied. After few days someone from Cisco called me and set up a phone interview. The interviewer called after one hour from the scheduled time and I missed it. When I called back for the missed call, the phone interview was rescheduled. The phone interiewer talked to me for quite some time and asked quite a few technical questions. Next day contact person called me and asked me about how was the interview, I said it went fine. I am not sure that made him happy or unhappy. He again called me to fix an onsite interview immediately, showed some urgency. I had to go next day to their office. The receptionist and some others were cockroaching between themselves as I was waiting in the reception area. Contact person came and started showing some xenophobia. Then the next guy came who talked to me on the phone. They first kept me waiting in the reception and then in a conference room for some time waiting for another supposedly very important interviewer. Finally two of them came, they talked to me for some time, the supposedly very important interviewer showed obvious pre decided dislikeness. They went out to discuss and the first guy came back and told me they have to discuss with SITA (changed) the manager and she will call me next day for further discussion. He next told GITA (changed) will call me next day, giving two different names for the manager. Well, expectedly no communication from them any further.
QUALCOMM: I got a call from a recruiting agency who arranged an interview with Qualcomm. Later the contact person from Qualcomm sent me an email, again she called me and talked about a phone interview, I questioned about the interviewers name etc, she sounded cautious, anyway sent me an email scheduling the phone interview. She didn't mention interviewer's name in the mail but told me it will be some xyz. xyz called me half hr late from the scheduled time and asked me 'Is this a good time to talk?', I said 'yeah', then he asked 'Can I call after half an hr?' !!! I said 'ok' !!! He called me after half an hr. First he tried to create some fuss about my educational qualification. Like a stupidest interviewer he then asked about that silly volatile variable question. He didn't seem to understand my answer, kept nagging around it. He asked if he can ask me about ARM architecture. I said I didn't know in details but he can ask anyway. Then he asked me if I have any question, I said 'No'. He said the contact person will call me back. Of course,no communication from them any further. I was so sorry that I even had a phone conversation with this disgusting interviewer from Qualcomm.
LANSDYS+GYR: Someone from Landis+Gyr in New Delhi called me up and asked 'what is your name?' When I asked who he was, he said he was from Landis+Gyr, didn't tell me his name, nor position or anything. He didn't give me any information about himself. He asked if I was ready to move to Noida, then asked my DOB. I told I would give that to HR only, he immediately disconnected the phone. Later after few hrs once again someone from Landis+Gyr called and after my hello, said 'sorry wrong number' and disconnected.
SAMSUNG: One recruiter kept calling me from Delhi to schedule an interview in Samsung Bangalore office. She called me numerous times in the process till probably one hour before the interview. When I reached the Samsung Bangalore office, 1-2 guys talked to me all right, after sometime their behaviour abruptly changed, they started cockroaching between themselves, finally started acting noticably rude with me. Again no closure from them. Pathetic company. Avoid Samsung.
ACCENTURE: Someone from Accenture contacted me and scheduled a phone interview and also gave me the name of the person who will interview me. After reaching Accenture office, I asked the security for that person. The security stared at me and with a very unhappy face ridiculed,"oh! interview!". The security ordered me to wait. I waited in the lobby and after sometime verified with them that the interviewer is informed and he is coming. After 10-15 mins, someone else came and told me that he would talk to me for the time being and the scheduled interiewer would join later. He talked to me about my experience for 10 mins and then said I will keep this open for future opening. We may call you for further interviews. It was obvious the scheduled interiewer was not to join the interview, they were simply lying, not sure why. After one-two months one closure email probably machine generated came from Accenture.
The entire experience of talking/interviewing with these Indian companies revealed that some crude plot was going on. They just call for the onsite interview so that they can get some practice about how to abuse returning Indians in person. I also realized that they all are tightly networked through their management/HR and work with each other in many other ways. Instructions are circulated about the person who will be coming for the interview. They also profile and monitor returning Indians.
In between, numerous recruiters used to call me on the phone. Some sound weird, some sound stupid, some sound like a puppet with someone next to him/her prompting what to say. All nonsense. It's a waste of time to talk to them. It's a waste of time to check the newspaper ads. All mostly fake. These companies in india are nowadays only wrapped with extreme politics, nepotism, regionalism etc. It is very easy to identify persons working in these tech companies by watching their body language.
After Lehman brothers fell near the end of 2008, I stopped applying for jobs. Though financially tough, but not joining one of these companies, I felt it has been healthy that I donot spend 8+ hours a day with these sick people.
Neelaaasman;474978I started by applying to some companies in India from US nearly six months before I R2Ied. The flow chart goes like this here. First thing these indian companies do after they receive your resume/application, is to send it back to their US offices. Then the US office contacts you and possibly shows interest in hiring you in their US office. ......
Thanks for sharing these details. I did an attempt in 2008 and can verify your experience to some extent. For some it may seems exaggeration but I know it was like that. It would be interesting that things have not changed/got worse. How you managed to pay bills without on payroll? Expenses is a rising cost and needs are growing. For me that is the biggest challenge to balance these. One would resort to a full day job even though it is loveless marriage.
