S1E8 The Hunt for a Marketing Midas: “Day 7 - Jay”
Divya K
At 6:01 AM, the phone in Mr. Mogambo’s living room rang. Mrs. Mogambo was still sleeping like a log. A little perturbed, tying the knot of his robe, he ran to pick up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Mogambo, are you up?” Mr. Gabbar Singh’s tense voice asked from the other side.
“Yes Sir. What happened? Is everything alright?”
“I think we’ll have to shut down soon.”
“What? Why?”
“We have lost a lot in the market. And now we have nothing to keep Bitter Chocolates going. We are going to go bankrupt soon.” Mr. Mogambo heard the scared and slightly sad voice of Mr. Gabbar Singh.
Mr. Mogambo said in a nervous tone hiding his own anxiety. “Sir, don’t you worry. I assure you, I will never let this ‘terrible’ thing happen to us and the company. Trust me.”
“I hope so. By the way, did you manage to shortlist candidates for Marketing yet?” Mr. Gabbar Singh asked.
“Candidate interviews are going on sir.”
Mr. Mogambo woke up startled and looked around. Was it real or was it a dream? He pinched himself. It was a dream. Mr. Gabbar Singh, the Founder & MD of Bitter Chocolates Inc. was tough and the company was reputed. It cannot perish. Never.
Mr. Mogambo couldn’t go back to sleep after that. He was terribly worried about the recruitment for the Head of Marketing position. He decided to talk to his old friend Arindam in Autumn Leaf if today’s candidate also turned out to be not completely suitable.
Mr. Mogambo reached his office, went inside his room, arranged everything and as usual logged into their recruitment system Expertite to review the profile of today’s candidate Jay coming at 10 AM.
Ramlal announced Jay’s arrival. A very stylish young man in his mid 30s knocked. Mr. Mogambo asked him to come inside and have a seat.
Stretching out a hand to shake, Jay said “Chopra, Jay Chopra.” in a typical James Bond fashion.
Surprised at his confidence and after a second’s pause, Mr. Mogambo said, “How are you Jay? Hope you didn’t find any difficulty in reaching our office.”
“Of course not, Mr. Mogambo. These petty things never bother me.” he said with a haughty smile.
“I’m sure. So, Jay, take me through your profile please.”
“I am a Marketing topper from [blanked out], with more than a decade’s experience in marketing, managing teams in the last three companies I worked for. I am a music enthusiast, travel blogger and I guess a lot more than most people can only imagine.” One raised eyebrow with that haughty smile again, almost bordering on crooked.
“Impressive. Tell me, why did you choose to apply in our company?”
“You know, every company that I have been with, they’ve simply loved me like anything. I have done so much for them. It was my hard-work and creativity that gave these companies the market position they enjoy today. I know they must be thanking me every day for having me as a part of their journey. I want to do something similar for your company. I can see that your sales has gone down a lot. Don’t worry. Have me on your team and you will thank me soon.” Saying this, Jay winked.
Mr. Mogambo coughed and moved on, “Tell me about an embarrassing situation in your life?”
“Embarrassing?” and he started laughing. Even for his supreme confidence, he hadn’t expected this question. “I have never been embarrassed about anything. I have been such an admired kid in my school life. Scored so well, was so good in sports, music and everything else - I have only enjoyed appreciation.” With a haughty smile, he went on and on about his “achievements” in school and college.
“Good to know that. Tell me about your…” He was about to say ‘strengths’ but Mr. Mogambo paused and thought that “If I ask him about his strengths, he will again start that praise-train of his. Let me change it.” And he continued with, “…about your shortcomings. Now, don’t say that you don’t have any. Everyone has. So what are yours?”
“Hmm…” slit-eyed and tilting his head in a deep thinking pose, Jay spoke, “I think being the best in everything everytime is something that worries me. You know why? Because I feel that others too must get a fair chance to showcase whatever is in them. Even if they can’t portray it as deftly as I can, still, everyone should get a chance. Don’t you think?”
My Goodness! So full of himself!
“Okay, Jay, understood. Just one more question. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”
“That’s an easy one. I see myself heading a company in the next couple of years, as the CEO I mean. I know I am capable of anything I want to do. You know, you may laugh but I think sometimes that I can even be a rock star if I want.” And he started laughing with that tinge of self-praising attitude in his voice.
Giving a fake smile, Mr. Mogambo asked him some more questions to which also Jay managed to put his ‘I am the best’ element while replying.
Mr. Mogambo felt suffocated. “Okay, Jay. I think that’s all I need to know. Our HR team will let you know about any further process.”
“Thanks Mr. Mogambo. I really liked meeting you. Trust me; it’s very rare that I like someone. I have a very selective taste.”
“I’m flattered, Jay. Thank you. Have a nice day.” Shaking hands again, Jay went out.
Mr. Mogambo couldn’t understand how someone could be so pompous and over confident. Although, it was appreciable that someone had the ability to keep holding on to his confidence in any situation that may come up, there always had to be a line - a line that kept a sanity check.
He asked Ramlal for some tea. He then dialed Arindam’s phone.
“Hello”
“Good Morning Mogambo. How are you? Long time!”
“Good Morning Arindam. I am okay. Yeah, it’s been almost a year since we last spoke.”
“You don’t sound okay Mogambo, is everything’s fine? How’s Gabbar? And Prateek? If I recall, we had helped you hire him as your Head of Category?”
“Gabbar is okay I guess. Prateek is doing exceptionally well, he is a great hire - I must thank you…” and after some more chit chat, he told Arindam everything that was going on.
Arindam asked “Why didn’t you simply tell me earlier that you were looking for a Head of Marketing?”
“I guess I assumed it was not going to be so difficult. Will your team be able to help us?”
“Sure. Give me 2 days and we will recommend a couple of great candidates. Can you assign the JD to us from Expertite, like you did last time?”
“Hold on, let me do it right away…” and with a click, Mr. Mogambo assigned the Head of Marketing JD to Autumn Leaf.
“Yeah, I got it, let me glance through…” Arindam said and ran through the job description. “Alright, let me get Hina to look into this right away. She will be in touch with you.” And with that, Arindam assigned the Head of Marketing JD to Hina.
“Thank you Arindam, appreciate your help on this”.
Mr. Mogambo felt relaxed. He knew Autumn Leaf would not let him down. After all, hiring Prateek was a very similar story.
What do you think the upcoming episode will have?
About the author: Divya K
In case you missed the last 7 episodes, here they are: