As I walked into the first working area, I could see a familiar figure.
Following my gaze, Preeti spoke up, "That's Mr. Shaurya Sharma, he has joined the team as a project manager."
My face started speaking on my behalf, like frown lines on my forehead telling how annoyed I already was. But that cannot be given away that easily, so I chose to walk past into my office.
But that was not why I was here, I was here to be a team player for the success of my new project.
I stood in the near-centre of the main hall, "Can I have a moment, everyone?" I started drawing all eyes to me. As much as this setup is making my skin crawl, I still need to handle things here.
'You can do this, Roop.' My internal voice screamed at me.
With all attention on me now and after the greetings from the team, I proceeded, "First of all, how are all of you doing?"
A collective 'Great, mam' response from them put my heart at a certain warmth I had been hoping for.
"As you all know, we are on to something new- we are stepping into the product market with our perfume brand- Mira."
The whole room was covered in applause as I took a moment and proceeded, "This is an important part of growth for the company and the team, and this is why I will be working alongside you to make this a grand success. The launch happens in two months, before which we need to come up with great ideas to set our feet deep in the market. What do we think about it?" I added a very basic question in the end.
"We need to come up with something to stand out in the perfume market. As unique as our fragrance might be, people would not know it until they smell it." Shaurya responded.
I arched up an eyebrow at him, "And you might be?"
"Shaurya, here as a project manager for the perfume line campaigns," he held his hand out to shake mine, with an obvious glint in his eyes, probably saying 'I know you know me'.
I acted as if I had not read his eyes and shook his hand professionally, "Welcome to Malhotra Corp, Mr. Shaurya."
Turning back to the other employees, I added, "I agree with Mr Shaurya, here. While the product is very well formulated, we need an even better campaign to make this work."
After the brief discussion with the team, I headed to my office with Preeti.
"What next?" I asked her for my schedule.
"Next we have some candidates from the business school," Preeti said opening her laptop, "Would you like to have a look?"
I motioned a 'yes' and she shared the candidate portfolio on my screen.
By the evening, I had finalised three candidates for Mira, all with average grades in college but an extraordinary skill set and volunteer activities.
Hoping to see how it goes, I set up and interview for them with Shaurya, where I can test all their capabilities in one go.