Geomanage was also affected by the global financial meltdown. However, thanks to our solid management principles, dedication of our team members and great support from close friends, we were able to stand firm amidst the mayhem. Our management quickly recognized the importance of team building and preparation in a quiet time like this.

On the personal front,it was my first encounter with recession. Till then I had only heard about it from my seniors and read about it in books. However, I can definitely say that experiencing such a major recession at such an early stage of my professional career was a blessing in disguise. If you are a cricket fan, just imagine that I started my career with an Australian tour. It simply means that I learned the hard way.

Now with the ghosts of 2009 behind us, we are ready to work hard in 2010 with a fresh mind and spirit. We pledge to keep improving continuously and providing quality service to our valued clients.

We look forward to everyone's support in making 2010 a successful year for all of us!

However, we all at some point of time try to achieve something better. Sometimes we read about great men and their lives and seek inspiration from their deeds. Sometimes we choose to do something that we have never done before, something that challenges us and raises the bar.

This time I tried to test and raise my mental strength by fasting for nine continuous days. I gave up on eating any kind of grain and salt for those days. I was surviving on fruits, nuts and dairy products.

It was great fun indeed. At first it was hard to survive even a day without salt and grains. But slowly my mind made adjustments and my body obeyed the mind like an obedient child obeys a teacher. I was thrilled to find that I had no desire to eat even when I was surrounded by great food. I realized how much fun it can be to let your mind take control over our senses.

I came out as a stronger man after those nine days. My next challenge will be running the Tokyo Marathon in Feb next year. This time it will be a mixture myself mentally and physically.

But I know now, the real battle is in the mind.

Toyosu, Odaiba, Shinjuku were explored and conquered in the next couple of days. Every effort was made to capture the memories for forever through our cameras. In short, it was all going according to the plan (the plan being 'no plan').

But something was missing somewhere. Our curious and exploratory selves were starving and finally one evening they decided to say enough to the stale diet of predictable fun.

That evening was the evening of August 14^th.

A walking tour of Tokyo was hastily planned for the next day. No maps were procured, no routes planned, and no goals set. Everything was entrusted on our 'at the moment decision making abilities'.

Challenges were immense. One partner opted out of the plan and the prospect of waking early after retiring late wasn't very tempting either.

My alarm clock proved it loyalty once again. I was surprised to see the intensity of the sun at 6:00 am. The weather was fabulous as if the nature has been conspiring to help us achieve our goals.

Quick shower, application of sun block and other basic preparations were done while listening to some patriotic songs (It was Aug 15^th i.e. Independence Day of India and Surrender day for Japan).

Couple of train changes and 40 minutes was what it took us to be transported to one of Tokyo's oldest neighborhoods i.e. Asakusa.

Located on the banks of Sumidagawa,( the biggest river of Tokyo)Asakusa boasts of great cultural heritage from Edo era(1600-1868 AD). The first thing that caught our attention was the presence of couple of hand-pulled rickshaws. For a moment, we thought we were in Kolkata. However, the dress up of the rickshaw pullers and their good health was ample proof of the fact that they were doing much better than their Kolkatian counterparts. They were not shy and readily agreed to pose for some snaps.

Gradually, we made our way towards Sensoji, the most important attraction of that area. Our camera battery deserted us at the first gate of sensoji. Disappointment was obvious but we decided to take positives out of it. We slowly made our way through the closed souvenir shops and crawled towards the main Pagoda only to find the roof covered by a huge vinyl bag from outside. Some quick investigation revealed that construction work was being carried out to revamp the ancient structure in order to prolong its life. Hmm, whatever! We offered silent prayers, burnt some incense and took a walk around the temple premise and discovered a huge hanging straw sandal. The message below it claimed that it weighed 2500 kilograms and people who touch it go on to be good walkers. There you go, I told you earlier also, the whole universe was backing us in our walking mission. We took a leap of faith and managed to somehow lay our hands on the giant peace of straw footwear.

We were soon on our way out. The sight of souvenir sellers opening their shops gave us a great sense of achievement as we had started our day at right time. Tsukiji was next in our agenda. Tsukiji literally means reclaimed land and is allegedly the largest fish market in the world. It's predominantly a morning market where local seller's auction tuna as early as 5. The morning tuna auction draws a considerable number of foreign and domestic tourists. We were never going to make it to the morning auction and only wanted to experience the overall environment of a fish market of such a magnitude and especially in Japan where fish comes net to God.

Since we had no maps, I headed to the police box outside the temple and asked a cop about the route to Tsukiji. He had pulled out a subway map even before I had finished my sentence and was amused when I told him that I am planning to walk all the way up to there. However, he explained us the route and in no time we were walking down the Highway 6 which runs parallel to Sumidagawa and cuts through a significantly important area of Chuo ward of Tokyo. The sun was strong but we walked in the shades of the buildings occasionally briefly stopping to look at something interesting. (We could not take pictures as our camera battery was dead). We walked past empty alleyways, some 50 Lawson, crossed some vintage looking café's (closed because it was still early) on our way. We walked past the plush neighborhoods; we walked past ghetto. Places that we had only been by train before were conquered one by one. I have to say that it really helped our Geography knowledge about Tokyo which is mostly limited to remembering which exit to come out from a subway station.

Well it took us an hour and a half to make it to Tsukiji. We were delighted to be there and felt a great sense of achievement. However, it was dampened a bit after we learnt from an English speaking security guard that the major part of the market was closed for the Obon holidays.

What's really surprising here is that we did not feel the disappointment at all. The reason was simple, we never walked with the sole aim of making it to our final destination. The idea was to have fun and enjoy the journey and we were thoroughly successful in that. It was a practical lesson for us that if you start to enjoy your efforts/your journey, you will not be worried by final outcome or result. We as humans make the mistake of attaching excess importance to the goal and forget to enjoy the journey.

Indeed walking teaches us so many things!! I can't wait for my next walking trip.

May the straw sandal give power to my legs! Amen!!

Everyone has their own interpretation of Recruitment as a profession and their  interpretations have evolved from their own experiences. I say 'evolve' here because interpretations change with experiences.

Expectation Management is as old as the history of Human civilization. We all do it and experience it in our daily lives with our friends, families, colleagues etc.

Expectation Management is about bridging the gap between what we want and what is the best that we can have.

Hiring companies are always after the most talented and experienced candidates. They want someone who can do the job and a half, is a team player, can lead blah blah blah..... . .

But they have a limited budget for that position and under no circumstances they are allowed to go beyond it, even if they have to strike a little compromise.

Similarly the candidate is seeking a bigger pay cheque, a better job title, a parking lot in the Corporate headquarter etc etc...

But they also have their own limitations and hence cannot have all that they want.

That's where we step in. We recruiters sell the company, position, job title to the candidates and sell skills, talents, years of experience to our clients while managing expectations of both client and candidates.

Though good sales skills are paramount to a recruiter's success, one might need other vital skills to be a complete recruiter.

Giving the right advice to both candidate and client and maintaining candor and transparency with tact is very important for building long term relationships.

The current market situation makes it very easy for a recruiter to forget the basic ethics for a while and just concentrate on generating revenues.

That's where I think a good recruiter needs to bring his Emotion Management skills and stick to the ethical standards of this thankless yet rewarding profession.

Note: Do read my next posting to know my opinion on Japanese recruitment market, it's challenges and how to overcome those challenges.

Also,I had a thought that may be JLPT authorities have suddenly decided to switch the listening test for a reading test and they have notified everyone but I haven't got the information because I did not open my mail box for the last two weeks ( I am dreading those sleezy tissue paper packs and 1 million chirashi waiting for me in the mailbox.)