Team Stay Featured is feeling proud to present an interview with a Sneha Sharma Popularly known as a Career Spotlight Coach, Public Speaker and Personal Branding Consultant who Mentored 7000+ students till date
1) What was the triggering point to get into this profession?
The young generation is undoubtedly very talented. But there is a lack of clarity among them regarding their life goals. Their choice of subjects and colleges is influenced by parents, cousins and a lot of other factors. The entire structure does not allow them to look deeper into themselves and decide what is right for them. They complete their education with a degree in hand. But jobs do not happen with degrees solely. Knowing what is best for you and learning skills that you will showcase in your workplace hold even more importance. I used to like counselling my cousins and batchmates right from school. I think I get this knack from my family. When I completed my MBA and started mentoring students as a Full-Time Faculty in Business Communication, I realized that not everybody has got a chance to develop skills and define their direction. Those students I met had a lot of potential but they lacked guidance. They needed to be trained for the workplace. They needed to be coached to land their dream jobs. That was the time I realized this is what I am going to go further in life with. Because, when I have that in me, why not use it in creating better and more successful professionals? So, since that day, I never looked back.
2) What's your definition of a dream job or career ?
According to me, everyone is unique and so is their career path. I don’t define a dream job as a profession. A dream job is a feeling. A feeling of things being right. And even if things go wrong, they don’t give you regrets. And a profession that gives you this, is your dream profession. You know the buzz that surrounds engineering in India. Still, every year 3-4% of students drop out of the top engineering institutions. Because they were told that once you get into IITs, life is so smooth. No one shows them the other side of the real side I would say, that may not give them that ‘feeling’ which we are talking about. And same goes for jobs. So many people settle for IT jobs. Then they resign and prepare for government jobs, which many of them are not able to crack. This lack of clarity makes people jump from one thing to another without giving that ‘feeling’. In my training sessions, I help students discover this feeling. Now there is no profession in which there is no hard work or failure. But in your dream career, failures are more of a forward push than setbacks. You won’t think to leave it even if there are problems. Just like you don’t abandon your home and search for a new one. So, your dream career is inside you. You cannot know your dream career if you don’t know yourself. It all starts within us.
3) As a Career Coach, what are your observations on the failure of startups other than pandemic?
Obstacles are a part of every venture. But the startups that do fail, are either not started after proper research, or they are less adaptable to dynamism. The demands of the market, the political scene, and a social scene we saw during the pandemic are very dynamic. Many startups come into existence with a sudden drive of energy to do something big and make a lot of money. What remains incomplete is research. It also deprives your business of the flexibility it needs to survive the initial thrusts. Only a well researched and discussed business idea would have the strength to adapt to these changes and establish itself. Another thing is in India we are not having many innovative start-ups. Most new models are inspired by existing ones or are very similar to them. Similar ideas are bound to face more competition. They need to ask themselves what ‘different’ can they offer, and for how long that ‘different’ is needed by their customers? Lack of funds is also one of the major issues. If you don’t have adequate funds, you’ll hire less skilled people as they charge less. And that is not going to give you quality. Lastly, I think from my own experience, if you have a passion to make a difference, keep it alive. If your passion dies, your startup dies too.
4) Share one of the most memorable feedback in your life.
At a time when I was still growing up, I used to have this fear of making mistakes. We all have, at some point in life. And once it is gone, you become unstoppable. Once I received feedback from a student after a public speaking workshop. That hope that I saw in her moved me. She said that I managed to challenge her fears. Not just the fear of the stage, but life fears in general. She told me she has been limiting herself all the time and in everything. She lost so many opportunities just because of that fear, and she has decided she is not giving up on anything anymore. That made me remember the day when I first overcame my fears. That one thing changed everything in my life. So I could visualize the student the next few years doing exceptionally well in her life. And somewhere in the back of her head, she will always remember this session. What else do I need as a coach? Such feedback is a huge boost to me and my resolve. I work with double energy. It's another level of contentment when you touch someone’s life. Apart from this, I have received negative feedback too in this journey. But I always accept it wholeheartedly.
5) What are the much-needed improvements for today's hiring or traditional recruitment pattern?
It is a good sign that today recruiters are more skill-focused. At the end of the day, all that matters is what an employee can do for your organization, and what you can do for them. This sustains the business. Coming to the improvements, startups especially which do not have a competitive salary to offer, should have a mandatory training period. They can organize an orientation session which can give them a complete idea of their work environment and help them have a good start. Next, I think taking to social media is a smart move. The more people your job vacancy reaches, the higher the chances of well-qualified candidates applying. Like Linked. or if your company or you have a good number of followers, Twitter is also a place where you can post your job. Also the kind of advertisement you create impacts the quality of candidates you attract. I have come across job alerts on websites that look like a link to a fake websites. Now I don’t know if that job is for real because I never clicked on it. I think no one does. Along with that have more than rounds of selection. In the interview round, always have a panel of more people. Don't judge your candidates on irrelevant questions like which famous personality they would meet if they got a time machine. Ask for skills. Make them do tasks. Another thing which I find disturbing is that a gap of a couple of years on a resume is seen in such a bad light. Or any kind of health problem taken to be the weakness of the candidate. Which is not true. Different people go through different problems. At last, what is important is that they are ready to be back in life with skills in hand.
6) Share the most important lesson you learned from your failures.
Failures teach you one most important thing. And that is, you can’t run away from them forever. No matter how careful you are, they come. And that is when the entire knowledge you gained throughout your life is tested. When failure is an inevitable reality, then why fear it? Face it, deal with it, and pass the test with flying colours. When we fail, we lose our confidence, sometimes reputation and money as well. But this whole test is about whether you lose your will or not. The initial process of any new thing is always accompanied by failures. I never dropped my will in any circumstances. And same I teach my students that failures are also taking you to your dream job, but maybe through a different path, which you may not like very much. But you will be there. You just need to hold on for a bit longer. I have seen people reach great heights and one sway of failure taking everything from them. But they still stand like a tree whose leaves are blown away by the wind. The period of a few months when you will have no leaves will be really difficult. But your season will come. That is what failure teaches you. Be patient. To start all over again, and with the same enthusiasm. Not many will have that quality. But if you have, nothing can bring you down.
7) like any interview questions, we wish to ask you Why Should we approach Sneha Sharma as a career coach and how to reach you!
I would say that it's okay to feel confused about your career. After all, it is something that is going to shape your life. It is normal to doubt if a thing is right for you or not. But what's important is that you don't allow these feelings to hinder your growth. At any such time when you feel overwhelmed with these thoughts, and can't find a direction, I am there. I am there to make you connect to your inner self, and find out your likings, your capabilities and your potential. I am a certified Training and development coach.
In my 11 years of this journey, I have mentored more than 7000 students. This is a six-step process that starts with clarity, then goal setting, forming a Linkedin network, public speaking, resume building and interview mastery. I believe unless they do it, they won't learn. So workshops are an integral part of my coaching. I organize project-based workshops and I have got a good response. I also coach them in time management, healthy lifestyle and Personal Branding. This way, me and my students work together and in the end, we always figure out the best. We get success at discovering that feeling within every student I mentor. To contact me, please visit my website snehasharmathecoach.com. There you will find all the relevant information. You can book your free course there. You will also find my email and contact number. Also, feel free to reach out to me on Linkedin. We are in this together
Follow me on Linkedin on this link
Follow me on Instagram