Summary
In the podcast’s second episode, Elizabeth talks to Rashab Kanodia, an alumnus of Centennial College’s Financial Planning program He tells personal stories about what he did when his job search didn’t work out, and reveals the strategies that helped him bounce back. To Rashab, getting through the job search process is all about faith and conviction.
Elizabeth: Hi everyone, and welcome to episode 2 of the Career Resilience podcast series. My name is Elizabeth Manzato, I’m an Employment Advisor with the Career Services department at Centennial College. Today we’re speaking with Rashab Kanodia, a recent graduate from Centennial’s Financial Planning program. Rashab and I worked closely together while he was completing his studies at Centennial, and we met on a bi-weekly basis to discuss his job search and new ways to approach any challenges he was facing.
Podcast Intro: The career journey is rarely linear. It is full of twists and turns. Because of this, we know that the transition from school to work can feel scary, uncertain and challenging. To address this, we’ve developed this podcast series to chat about career resilience with guest speakers to show that you are not alone on this journey. Career resilience is the mindset that allows people to pursue their career goals and bounce back, pivot, and thrive when confronted with challenges such as difficult job search, a failed school program, job loss and changes, or career uncertainty. In this podcast series we will focus on five skills that allow us to thrive when unexpected events happen. They are: curiosity, persistence, flexibility, optimism and risk taking.
Elizabeth: So I’m gonna pass it over to you for a second, Rashab, if you want to introduce yourself to everyone.
Rashab: Sure, I would love to. Hi everyone, this is Rashab Kanodia, and I’m an alumni of the Financial Planning program. So happy to be here.
Elizabeth: Okay, great! So let’s get started on our questions for you today. So as I mentioned, we are focusing on career resilience, so how are we surviving through that job search process and maintaining some of those challenges and surviving through the job search journey? So my first question for you is what does career resilience mean for you?
Rashab: That’s a good question. I would relate resiliency with faith and conviction. It is the consistent approach to stand up on what you believe. And yeah, so, have a view and stand upon that. So it’s more of a commitment game for me.
Elizabeth: Great, and I know that conviction was kind of a theme that represented itself often in our meetings. Whenever you face those challenges I know you were quick to kinda bounce back on those and recover. Can you describe a time when something didn’t work out as you had hoped. And what did you do, and what did you learn from that?
Rashab: Well, there is no turning behind, and it’s true that there have been many instances where I failed miserably. When you take up something in life, don’t worry about the end result. Our sole focus should be on things we are doing in the present situation. And if you do those small things in the right way, definitely things will fall in place. And you’ll be very near to your end goal. So yeah, this is something I would say. Even also when you are failing, don’t get dejected. Don’t get discouraged, I would say. I would suggest you to handle that situation in a wise manner and look at the positive side of that failure. Try to learn something from that. And you know if you are able to get that lesson from that failure, then you know what, you have upgraded yourself. Now you are a better person than you were before.
Elizabeth: Absolutely. Yeah, and I think a big part of resilience is learning from those mistakes and like you said, not becoming discouraged by those, using those to improve on yourself and learn for the next challenge. What have been some strategies that you’ve used to help yourself stay resilient during these changes and transitions to support you in navigating your career journey?
Rashab: Well, every time I tumble, I question myself as in, ‘why am I doing this thing in the first place’? I used to dive deeper and connect with myself. After finding my purpose, I used to re-energize myself and try doing things differently in a way that it would work now at any cost. Yeah.
Elizabeth: Great, yeah so using the opportunity to reflect on the situation and figure out how you can approach it in a different manner.
Rashab: Yes, true.
Elizabeth: Great. How do you maintain a positive attitude during some of these difficult situations.
Rashab: This is a question which I would love to answer because when I was taking time to analyze myself and know more about myself, so these three dutiful words I would say to myself whenever things go south: “nothing is permanent.” This thing gives me so much encouragement when I’m feeling low. Also, when I’m on cloud nine, this thing would take me down to the ground and say that you have to be consistent in what you’re doing. So I believe failure and success they are not permanent. They go hand in hand. And, when you have some failure in life, take them as a stepping stone towards success. So, I would say someone who has failed is not a lower kind of thing. But yes, I would say that he’s trying to do things in a different way. And you know, that’s how you learn, and that’s how you come out of your box. So this would be what I would suggest. Yeah.
Elizabeth: Excellent. Yeah, so nothing is permanent, and I really like that. That’s something that really resonates with me and something I do try to emphasize to my students in our meetings often is that although you might be facing these challenges, nothing is permanent, everything is constantly changing. So it’s not something you’re necessarily gonna be facing forever.
Rashab: Yeah, also, I kind of missed mentioning this part. And this is where we should focus upon. So I would say failure is just a perception. It’s a state of mind, you know. So, what do people believe? Like, what is failure? They say defeat. But you know what, I was never able to accept that I was defeated. I was consistently working hard, and I had the belief that you know what, if someone was working so hard, he can never be defeated. So, you see again. Even when I tumble, I wasn’t ready to give up. See, that is not a failure for me. I’m still on the run.
Elizabeth: Excellent. And I liked that word that you used – defeat, right? It’s that, yes we face challenges, yes we face some of these, we make mistakes and we make failures, but I think defeat is, when we’re defeated that’s when resilience is really given up on us. Right? And being resilient is about never being defeated. It’s about consistently realizing that when you make a mistake it doesn’t mean it’s over; it means that things are constantly changing. Nothing’s permanent. That’s a really great observation to take away from that. Okay, so why is resilience an important skill to cultivate?
Rashab: You see, in every walk of life, resiliency is important. It reflects your true character and it speaks volumes about yourself. So, I can quote a particular instance from my interview with CIBC. So, this is what happened. I mean, I knew the fact that I had those skills, I had those qualifications, which was required for me to be eligible for this role. So again I thought that okay fine there are other candidates who are also getting interviewed. So what is that that puts me apart from them, right? So I thought that personality is something which is unique for each and every one of us, and that could get me this role. So I was true to myself and I showed them how passionate I am about this job. And I tried showing that passion in the previous experiences I had. So you know, this face, this pretty face, had that passionate face; that spark in the eyes. So that did the job for me, I would say.
Elizabeth: Excellent, good so being true to yourself and making sure that despite some of the challenges you faced, because when we started meeting I know that you had been to some interviews that were unsuccessful so continuing to pursue through that job search and continuing to attend to those interviews and stay true to who you are, that’s really important. So that’s a really great observation, and I like that you pointed that out that you know you are competing against other people. But you wanna work for somewhere that wants to hire you for your personality and your attitude as well, not just you technical qualifications. So that’s good that you were able to represent that during your interview and show them who you are and to success in the end. That one did work out and you did get the job after that; that’s great. Okay, so our final question for today: what skills and tips can you share with students to support them in staying resilient as they go through some of these same changes that you did, and the uncertainty of their career journey.
Rashab: Yeah, so I would say this: Stay on your ground. So, the reason why I’m saying this is, you have to be firm in your beliefs, and so head-strong in your ambitions. That no wave or ocean should be able to shake that. So, first have an opinion, have a view, have a stand point, and then move on. So you have to search for that calling, that passion, which could get the best out of you. So try to work on a path which is right for you. Not from a short term perspective, more of like what depends you as a person. So, let me ask you this question: tell me what kind of job or what kind of work you can do 7 days a week, even without getting paid. So that is how things work. So ask this question to yourself. And then, also, believe in this thing that if you do what you like, you don’t have to work a single day. So yeah, believe in these things, and you know the calling thing? Passion calling? That thing would work for you, for sure. And also I would like to say something from an interview perspective. Never put yourself down when you’re going for an interview. Be confident. Think that as going for a business deal. So put the things that you have on the table, make them an offer which they can’t refuse. And yeah, take things from there and definitely you know if they don’t hire you, don’t get dejected. Feel that okay what I had to offer they might not afford it, or they don’t want it. But stay positive and tag yourself.
Elizabeth: Excellent. Thank you so much Rashab. Yeah, I really like that last point you said. It connects back to what you had mentioned about conviction, right? It’s that once you set a path for yourself, once you create goals for yourself, don’t let challenges or failures or mistakes get in the way of that. If that’s something that you’re really passionate about, if that’s something that you’re really dedicated to, then keep to that path and stick to it and don’t let other people bring you down, right? Stay true to yourself, so that’s great. So just want to summarize a couple of the points that you made, because one of the big key aspects of career resiliency is optimism. And Rashab, I think you’re one of the greatest, that’s why we had you here today is you are one of the greatest examples of that. I knew that from all of our meetings and you know, even when we started meeting I said I’d love for you to come in and speak to our students and tell them about your journey. So it really is important about what you mentioned about how nothing is permanent and that’s a big part of remaining optimistic is knowing that you may be facing challenges, you may be facing failures, but that doesn’t mean anything about your future. You still have a chance to meet the goals that you want to meet, and yeah staying positive and knowing that is the right path for you is really ultimately a big part of resiliency. So thank you so much for coming today and talking about that.
Rashab: It’s my pleasure, and I’m so happy about that that I was able to share this experience with my fellow other students I would say. And yes, Centennial College has been so kind and so generous for having me and giving me information in this prestigious college, and getting a chance to be a part of that classroom environment where we had one of the best faculty members imparting their knowledge. And it was a good learning for me. Last but not least, Career Services Centre particularly has been a major stakeholder in my career successes. So yeah, so hats off to you and the whole team for working on my career and I owe this job to you, and everyone.
Elizabeth: Well, thank you Rashab, that’s very kind to say. And I keep correcting you that no, this was you that did this. But, I’m glad I could be there to motivate you and keep you focused on your career path because that is a big part of resiliency. So to all our students out there who might be struggling with your job search, take advantage of that and come and see us at Career Services and we’re happy to meet with you and re-motivate you if that’s what you need to stay optimistic in that job search.
Rashab: I’m so honoured.
Elizabeth: Thank you everyone for listening today. We hope you all come back for Episode three with Piotr Mierzejewski, the Director of DB2 Deployment at IBM Canada, and Greeni Verweij, Senior Recruitment Consultant with Recruiting in Motion.