Pros
1. If you want to work in journalism/media, then it’s the perfect job for you. For people with Economics/Analytics background, NO. You get ‘media invites’ all across sectors and you get to be in press releases with a tape recorder where you enjoy hotel lunches with media crews (who are more serious at their jobs). Well, another concern for you then would be, ‘to-be-on-your-toes’ because of the knowledge required to aggressively chase people. Don’t worry, since the company doesn’t identify itself with hardcore journalism (because it requires work), you don’t need to either possess or develop any domain specialty. You need to be ready with only 3 questions at any point of time i.e. what is the current scenario, outlook, and challenges. For doing this you definitely get paid more than another media company, so its a plus. 2. There is no HR in the company. There is supposedly a management committee member who has assumed an ‘HR role’. Which basically means you can do anything you want, behave with people however you want as long as you’re in good books of the committee or a part of the committee itself. Sounds great? It should, in such a ‘lovable’ atmosphere you can’t complain about anyone’s behavior without the fear of backlashes.
Cons
Having given you a glimpse of the work environment, you should already know how dictatorship works. The CEO has stated the rules, and anyone found not following goes on their radar. Seniors have also realized that the only way they’ll survive or get promoted is to behave exactly the same with their juniors. Let’s look at the trickle-down effect: 1. The Close watch: Whether you’re in office or at an office conference, if you feel that someone is staring at you, well chances are someone IS staring at you. Now it could be the CEO from the stage trying to move you away from your colleague (because it’s a school obviously, no-talking allowed as you’re not considered a working professional). Or it could be your Team Leads (or rather Associate Directors (ADs) which they call themselves to enforce authority) looking at you, monitoring your every movement, peeking into your systems, looking at the amount of food you intake. During office hours, you’re not supposed to even approach your teammates and talk. They are noting down everything. If you come on their radar, they would succumb to monitoring you even closely (how close you say?), they would change your seats strategically where the Class monitors (or ADs) can pry on what you’re doing and call you every time they catch you talking to someone 2. American fetish: The CEO has a thing for Americans or let’s just say anyone but Indians. How do we know? He openly has stated that ‘Indians lack integrity and which is why I don’t trust them.’ On various occasions CEO, Directors, Senior Directors, and ADs have been found nosing around in other’s business of who is having lunch with whom. Not only that, they’ll go one step ahead and try and make you have lunch with people with same job titles even if you don’t gel with them. Not enough? This could affect your future promotions too. 3. Infrastructure: The ironic part is India Infrastructure doesn’t have an infrastructure of its own. Do they have adequate space for all the employees to sit without playing musical chairs? No, employees have to literally hijack the seats of absentees and this is not even a company of 1000+ employees. They are merely 100-150 people in total. Now, do you expect them to have a canteen? Haha, what a joke. The adjacent hospital has a decent canteen renovated (now) because of high demand from this company!! But yes, they do have a spacious pantry where 4 people can stand without moving ofcourse. Washrooms, well 3 in total (for 150 people), get ready to play musical chairs for the toilet seats too. Regarding salaries, well that comes at the CEO’s luxuries. Even in 2020, you get paid through cheques, if it’s a holiday, well bad luck for you, you’ll get paid after that only. In this world of digitalization, they work with everything on paper. Payslips? Paper. Any form/declaration to be submitted? Paper. Reimbursements? Cash/Cheque. Performance reviews? Paper!! 4. Personal downgrade: As a result of all of the above, you tend to loose confidence overtime as you’re questioned every step of the way. You learn no new skills except tackling these people, so in terms of career growth, it gets only tougher from here. You are found begging for holidays as they play a lot of mental games around ‘giving you the privilege to take a leave’ which is actually your right. The senior people badmouth the CEO in his absence, juniors badmouth about seniors and so on. The ADs constantly bring you down by “commenting” (LITERALLY) on your work rather unprofessionally. This behavior affects you mentally which nobody will take responsibility for (especially these guys). So choose yourself over this job.