President rejects candidate for guitar playing and marathon running: “Kaam kab karega?”

Having extracurriculars on one’s resume can be a double-edged sword since they may or may not align with the job requirements. Often extracurricular activities such as team sports are preferred but not so much for those who love to play a particular musical instrument.

Amid the raging debate over 90-hour workweeks and work-life balance, Parminder Singh, chief operating officer of Tatler Asia, remembers when his Indian boss rejected a candidate because of the extracurriculars listed on his CV.

These extracurricular students played guitar and ran marathons, while his boss wouldn’t let him hire the candidate.

“One time a candidate applied to my team for a marketing role in India: Besides being a capable marketer, his CV said he ran marathons and played the guitar. My manager wouldn’t let me hire him, saying, ‘Yah aadmi ya sab kuch.’” Karta hai To Kam Kap Karega? “I thought these managers were extinct, and it turns out they are not,” Singh said in his post on X.

He added that he regretted not being able to employ the young candidate and that the incident occurred many years ago. “As many of you have asked, I was unable to appoint him, and I regret it. This happened many years ago. I was away from India and assumed things were going to change, but it seems they have not.”

Singh also cited Google as an example and described excellence as a “transferable skill.” “Compare this to my time at Google, which had an unwritten policy: If you excelled at the Olympics, you could go to a Google office and get a job.”

The controversy over 90-hour workweek increased after Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman SN Subrahmanyan advised his employees to work 90-hour workweeks and that he regretted that he could not make them work on Sundays.

This came during an internal meeting with employees. He also asked employees if they would like to spend time at home.

“What do you do while sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can wives stare at their husbands? Go to the office and start working.” After the undated video went viral, social media users and corporate leaders condemned the L&T chief’s stance on work-life balance.