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HR Expert - Answered on Jul 11, 2023

Khevna Shah is the head of human resources at Coverfox Insurance. She has 14 years of experience in human resources across industries like manufacturing, banking & financial services and insurance. Her expertise includes talent acquisition, retention, employee engagement and developing a performance focussed culture.
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Asked by Anonymous - Jun 13, 2023Hindi

HI khevna, Currently I am looking for job opportunities. My expertise is in Operations, Sales Coordination & Customer Service. I am observing that whenever I go for an interview, the HOD who interviews me suggests I take up a hardcore sales job. I am not adept at sales. One of my previous organizations forcefully put me into sales & I started feeling discomfort & pressure so much so that I had to even counter sleepless nights. Currently, I am 45 & there are almost no takers for me & the opportunities are far & few. I am fine to even start a business but I do not have any economically viable business ideas at this point in time. Request your recommendations.

Ans: Considering your expertise is not Sales, being pushed into Sales could obviously get uncomfortable for you.
However, literally every job today does have a flavour of Sales in it. Try and figure what part of a Sales job role is particularly uncomfortable and what are the aspects that you can work with...

Sales has different types as well from cold calling, tele sales to retail sales to B2B sales. You may want to introspect and find if there is a part of sales that works for you.

In case you are sure you don't want Sales at all.. identify companies that are strong in their operations and focussed on service orientation instead of hard core sales and target their career sites or apply to them specifically using LinkedIn, Job Portals, or their web sites.

Hope this helps.

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Mayank Rautela | Answer |Ask -Follow

HR Expert - Answered on Mar 18, 2021

Question by Anonymous - Mar 18, 2021Hindi

Hello Mayank,I am a commerce graduate and have around 15 years of experience in back office operations.I am currently working at the document management department in an oil and gas MNC at a designation equivalent to that of a senior clerk.I am nearing 40 and I will be losing my current job in the next few months.My problem is that I am searching for a new job since one year but not getting any interviews. I guess this is due to my age (I am 40 and still at the clerical level) and my salary (around Rs 50,000) which is a bit on higher side with respect to my designation in my city.I don't have the skillsets or attitude for a team leader or managerial position.At present, I am not in a financial and mental state to acquire new skill sets, learn new things or start new businesses which are obvious suggestions.I can't work in BPOs as they don't hire associates at this salary and particularly at this age. Besides, I am not comfortable working night shifts.Could you suggest some different solution to my problem as I have already figured out/tried the common ones.Thanks in advance.Name withheld on request.

Ans:

Hi.

Your question has so many ‘I can't’ statements that you have yourself ruled out many feasible options.

Please remember that, in the job market, there are many more qualified people than there are decent jobs. So you will certainly need to change your mindset and be flexible to adapt and learn new skill sets.

Even Sachin Tendulkar had to adapt to T-20 to play the IPL!

Approach the situation with a positive mindset and things will work out for you.

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