‘I owe my first job to my Professor; thanks to his recommendation’

Hailing from Haryana and not wanting to stay away from home and in a hostel, the obvious choice for this Business Development Executive at Core Diagnostic in the sales department was to pursue his graduation from Apeejay Stya University (ASU).

While his ancestral home is in Palwal, his parents moved to Sohna in Gurugram, a few years back. However, Jayant Sahrawat who did his schooling in Palwal at SPS International (the school is affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education) decided to look closer to home when it came to his graduation.  

“I wanted to stay home and pursue my graduation and post-graduation. I looked at a few schools for biosciences, including Greater Noida, but I chose ASU since I found out that it had a good faculty,” Sahrawat said.

Excerpts from an interview.

This is your first job, how does it feel to be working?

It has yet to sink in that I have completed my PG and am working full-time. I joined Core Diagnostic on October 3, 2022, as Business Development Executive. While I would have loved to work in the field in which I graduated and work in the lab rather than the sales department, COVID-19 threw my career graph into chaos.

After I completed my BTech from ASU, I decided to pursue MTech, again at ASU. But then a lockdown happened due to the present pandemic and all lab work was suspended. My resume doesn’t have the requirements that would have made it possible for me to work in a research organisation where I would love to work on genetics.

But all is not lost. I love what I am doing here. It gives me different exposure that will help me hone my skills and understand all aspects of research.

What did you do with your first salary?

I will be very honest. I got married in May this year. The rest, I think, is self-explanatory; this means it all goes to the wife. I have to get a full salary since the first month was spent on online training. I am not going out in the field with seniors and getting to learn things hands-on. It is interesting and I am having fun. But I have not given up on working on the research aspect of genetics.

What will you have to do to switch and get back to research?

There are a couple of things.  Will have to look for a lab and or a course that will allow me to bridge the gap that came due to the pandemic. Second, I will have to work for at least six months, exclusively in the lab, and present a paper or two before I can qualify for any job as a researcher. At present, I am concentrating on this new job. Maybe after a year, I will see what needs to be done to correct my career graph.

It happened organically. I looked at colleges/universities that were closer to home that offered porgrammes in Biosciences. I chose ASU because first, it has a better faculty, and second, it has a better School of Biosciences

–Jayant Sahrawat, Business Development Executive, Core Diagnostic

Why did you choose ASU?

It happened organically. There was not much thought process. I didn’t want to stay in a hostel and be away from home. I looked at colleges/universities that were closer to home that offered porgrammes in Biosciences. I looked at GD Goenka University as well. But I chose ASU because first, it has a better faculty, and second, it has a better School of Biosciences.

Tell us about your days at ASU. Did you have a lot of fun?

I chose to pursue a subject that requires in-depth studies all the time. It left very little time for fun and frolic. But that didn’t mean that all my time was spent buried in the books. I was part of the NSS, a community services initiative of ASU. I was also part of the Rotaract, a Rotary International-sponsored service organisation focused on community service, international relations, and leadership.

I did participate in some of the college functions but nothing where we went out. This is also due to the pandemic. Everything came to an unfortunate standstill. I would have loved to explore a bit and find out if there was a creative side to me.

How did ASU help you prepare for the interview?

Probably the mistake was on my end. I didn’t realise that I should have started preparing and being in touch with the placement cell of ASU. I thought I had time and things would happen on their own. This was a big mistake. I only pursued the placement cell after I completed my MTech. I lost three months and plenty of opportunities in my field. After much running around, I got placed only in October, and that too due to the recommendation of my Professor from Biosciences. He also guided me on how to prepare for the interview. He told me which YouTube videos to watch and how to present myself on the day of the interview – how to dress formally and how to prepare my CV.