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Southern Asia – CVs in the Paper Shredder

The monotonous tones of a hyperactive paper shredder pierce the chatter-laden office environment, while I lay motionless for my turn to be turned into confetti. The sound of my heartbeat is deafening as the anticipation of being touched by apathetic hands of an overworked HR Assistant increases with each passing moment. Contributor Murad Salman Mirza.

The monotonous tones of a hyperactive paper shredder pierce the chatter-laden office environment, while I lay motionless for my turn to be turned into confetti. The sound of my heartbeat is deafening as the anticipation of being touched by apathetic hands of an overworked HR Assistant increases with each passing moment. Contributor Murad Salman Mirza.

Nevertheless, it is strangely refreshing to finally have the time to stroll down memory lane to reflect on the moment of my birth to the impending end of my adventurous life.It all started on a positive note as I carried the hopes and dreams of a recent college graduate from a prominent South Asian country. He was feverishly building me up to be the manifestation of his aspirations in a precarious economy. I could feel the pounding on my chest of a rampant printer that typed the professional credentials with mechanistic ease. We were a big family as I exchanged smiles with several of my siblings. This was our moment as we went into the mailing box with high hopes and exuberant confidence.

The ride through the courier towards my destination was hectic; however, I made many friends along the way and we shared dreams of achieving high goals. Some of them went to external recruiters and others cluttered the desks of talent acquisition sections within various companies. A few unlucky ones never reached their destination and, subsequently, got relegated to the annals of obscurity.

All of us, who made it to the front of the inquisitive eyes of a dispassionate recruiter, went through a brief scan. Some of us got circled/underlined/punctuated with red marks for key aspects that stood out in the reviewing process, while, others got the dustbin due to irrelevance of stated qualifications with respect to the vacancy. I was safely passed along to the interview stage and beamed like a kid in a candy store upon being the lucky one. It felt good to be of valuable service to the recent college graduate who had painstakingly developed me into an attractive piece of paper.

The interview went well for my candidate and he was able to make a strong case on account of his college accomplishments. However, I had a premonition of something going wrong as I reminisced about the past day, while lying in the comfort of a cabinet within the HR office. The next day turned out to be an uneventful one and I slipped into a false sense of security, while, harboring ravenous thoughts of being the ‘top of the pile’ and getting the ‘star treatment’ after my candidate is selected.

My enthusiasm was short lived as I was roughly pulled out of the cozy cabinet after two days and placed on the cold surface of a wooden desk under the harrowing scowl of an impassive HR Assistant as she listened to instructions from an agitated HR Manager on what to do with me and others in the stacked pile. Their conversation was barely audible since I was at the bottom of that pile, however, I did hear the words ‘Nepotism’, ‘Regret Letter’ and ‘Disposal’. Soon, all of us were put in a file and taken to the paper shredder for reducing the ‘carbon footprint’ of the organization. Tears are rolling down on my typed body as I await my inevitable fate through the blades of the merciless paper shredder. Maybe, if I hold my breath and be real quiet, they won’t notice me…I am hearing footsteps…they are getting closer…

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