2020 , the year that it was

 

 

 

 

 
What an year it was – one that shook humanity from its very foundations , an invisible virus that manifested itself in 70 million+ Homo Sapiens and brought the hectic hustle bustle of modern life to a grinding halt.

It broke a lot of myths.

It taught us new ways to work – in the Indian context , Work From Home, was never really acceptable before the pandemic – MS Teams , Zoom and the likes, brought seamless digital working to be a reality – I saw 80+ year old seniors also gearing up to become tech savvy

I know of so many friends, who owing to motherhood, were feeling guilty of leaving the young kid to maids and going to office everyday – but now can continue their careers , some by shifting to KPOs who will now mostly have WFH for long

( yet WFH also brought loneliness , the absence of social interaction – the \’water cooler \’ talks )

It showed that consultants can work without living out of a suitcase – so much of travel , indeed , wasn\’t needed – we know for a fact that profitability of many consulting practices has shot up immensely because of cost savings

Many parents in say cities like Kolkata , got a super opportunity to enjoy the company of their kids . My own parents got to experience the super joy of staying with my brother, sister in law and the new born kid 😊 it was a decade since he had moved out for engineering, job, MBA and then job again . The pandemic had silver linings , therefore for many

It taught us that weddings could be simple – getting the entire hundreds / thousands assembled for dinner and wasting a lifetime of savings, wasn\’t really needed ( these close yet not in the Top 50 people could join over Zoom 😊 )
However, 2020 was an year that brought umpteen hardships for many as well – migrant workers , for whom terms like isolation and social distancing were a joke in their super small chawl

Joinings for campus recruits from Tier 1 colleges were often postponed . Down the ranking ladder, offers were even revoked and some had to made desperate joinings only to be asked to quit later – my junior, an year 2020 graduate from a Tier 2 college, joined a real estate classifieds company, asked to sell for INR 4 lacs p.m. of listings in a non existent and dead market and therefore asked to quit in 2 months

So many senior people lost their jobs

People realized the importance of stable employers versus the fast growing yet risky ones

Take my case – we spent months behind preparation of our new job portal, CAJobPortal.com and MBAJobPortal.com, where Employers could post jobs , ask candidates to record Video Resumes .. and when it was ready, the recruitment market went into a deep slumber – we also had to lay off staff and wait for returns on the investments made

Yes 2020 has been cruel for many , unexpected for many and good for others in some way or the other

It\’s been such a rocking year that Oxford Dictionary surrender to its gyrations and said there could be no \’ word of the year\’ for this momentous year 2020

Hope the vaccine will change the course of humanity and we all will emerge stronger collectively

Hope you also have a lot of experiences for this year

Would love to hear from you

Regards

Sonia Singal