‘Kaam kab karega?’: Indian boss rejected candidate because he played guitar, ran marathons | Trending

Jan 12, 2025 04:28 PM A COO recounted an incident where his boss rejected a candidate for mentioning hobbies in his CV. Amid ongoing debate about work-life balance and 90-hour work weeks, a Singapore-based COO recounted a time his Indian boss rejected a candidate only because he mentioned his hobbies in his CV. The marketer’s CV mentioned that he ran marathons and played the guitar. (Representational) Parminder Singh, the COO of UK magazine Tatler Asia, took to X to share the bizarre incident. “Once a candidate applied to my team for a marketing role in India. Besides being a capable marketer, his CV mentioned that he runs marathons and plays guitar. My boss didn’t let me hire him, saying, ‘Yeh aadmi yeh sab kuchh karta hai to kaam kab karega?” he sad recalling his interaction with his superior. In a veiled jibe at comments made L&T chairman SN Subrahmanyan, Singh added, “I thought such managers were extinct. Turns out they aren’t,” he wrote. Take a look at the post here: Singh said that he regretted that he was unable to hire the “capable” candidate and gave the example of Google while talking about hiring well-rounded candidates. “I couldn’t hire him, and I regret it. This happened many years ago. I’ve been away from India and assumed things would have changed, but it looks like they haven’t. Compare this to my time at Google, which had an unwritten policy: if you excelled in the Olympics, you could walk into a Google office and get a job. Excellence is a transferable skill!” he wrote. Outrage over L&T chairman’s remarksRecently, an undated video went viral on Reddit showing Larsen & Toubro chairman SN Subrahmanyan advocating for 90-hour work week for employees. When asked why his multi million dollar company was still making employees work on Saturdays, the chairman hit back saying that he wished he could make them work even on Sundays. “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Get to the office and start working,” he said The comments have been condemned social media and corporate leader alike including Anand Mahindra, Harsh Goenka and Adar Poonawalla. (Also read: ‘Wife loves staring at…’: Adar Poonawalla hits out at L&T chairman’s 90-hour workweek call) Recommended Topics News / Trending / ‘Kaam kab karega?’: Indian boss rejected candidate because he played guitar, ran marathons See Less