It takes a lot of confidence to step out of your comfort zone, to look beyond the familiar, in search of greater career rewards, as Sandeep Jain did. Though his previous experience as a business relationship manager had exposed him to the interview and hiring process, the world of recruiting was a new frontier until he decided it was time to make a move. Never backing down from a challenge, and having a thirst for change, Jain was ready to begin a new and exciting chapter in his career.
Jain is currently the Assistant Manager of Talent Acquisition at CitiusTech, a global healthcare technology organization that provides solutions and services to augment the daily processes and deliverables in the healthcare industry. CitiusTech partners with dozens of healthcare organizations and needs to hire the best talent possible to grow its business and maintain the 95% client retention rate it’s achieved over the last 10 years.
Armed with a BlackBerry Passport, Jain ensures his team is successful in maintaining a smooth recruitment and onboarding process. Having found a few minutes in his busy schedule, Jain helped us understand why he stands behind his Passport.
Jain is far from the only professional that’s a longstanding recruit to #TeamBlackBerry. Check out our profiles of other Passport-loving professionals, including this police officer, this life-saving oncologist, this rising NBA star, celebrity chef Tyler Florence, this international video game company executive and TV personality Piers Morgan.
Ryan Blundell: How long have you been a BlackBerry user?
Sandeep Jain: I’ve been using a Passport for almost seven months now. I started using BlackBerry smartphones, wow, almost 10 years ago. I started with the 8700, then I moved to the Bold 9700. When BlackBerry launched BlackBerry 10, I moved to the Z10 immediately, then to the Z30 and finally to the Passport.
Blundell: What made you decide on the Passport?
Jain: I was really happy with the Z10 and Z30, the virtual keyboard was awesome. It by far over-exceeded my expectations. Being able to swipe up to compose messages really excited me. With the Passport, I was sold almost instantly, solely because of the physical keyboard. I mean, it was a physical keyboard that also gave users the ability to swipe as well. The large screen also makes it easy to read messages, email and other content in a more efficient way. The clarity of the screen is by far the best that I’ve seen in the market so far.
Blundell: How did you find the transition from the legacy BlackBerry OS to BlackBerry 10?
Jain: It was awesome. I followed the entire launch of BlackBerry 10; it was time well spent by BlackBerry. They put so much effort into making sure that everything they were going to offer was going to be correct, be perfect. I felt that they did this successfully. It kept getting better with every update since then. The entire OS is efficient and user-friendly. The transition for me was so easy.
Blundell: What does your typical day look like?
Jain: I am in the team that handles talent acquisition in the U.S. Half of our team works here and the other half works in India, so reliable and rapid communication is key to achieving our results. The beginning of the day usually sees me in and out of team meetings, setting the priority objectives for the first couple of hours. It’s a lot of running around. After that, we begin working on requisitions for the positions we are assigned.
Being an assistant manager, not only do I have to ensure I am successful in finding ideal candidates, then seeing them through from interview to job offer to onboarding, but I also have to look after my peers. I have to provide them with the necessary attention. They know that if they need help, I’ll be there.
I found learning about the various aspects of the business quite rewarding. I was not that familiar with the technology side; I was well versed in the other parts of the business. During the recruitment process, I began to understand the totality of what we were offering to our clients. I learned how we loved our products and how we brought the value-add to our market.
Blundell: How does your Passport help you manage your day?
Jain: The Passport helps me to stay organized; the calendar serves as my reminder on all that I have to do. It helps me when I have to schedule meetings with someone. I carry everything I need on it: schedules, reports and access to resumes. It makes life very easy. The Peek feature, which lets me briefly check a message when I’m in the middle of a meeting or a conversation with a candidate, helps me discreetly see if there is something I need to respond to without completely averting my entire attention to it.
It helps me to respond to emails seamlessly and accurately. I almost never need to review an email before sending it. My Passport knows what I need to say. Most of the time, I compose entire messages simply by swiping. Believe me when I say it’s easier for me to write an email on my Passport than it is on my laptop. It’s just more efficient and such a time saver. Part of the delivery team is based out of India and I work during U.S. times, and they expect us to respond to their concerns and questions on the progress immediately. So basically this is a 24/7 job, and the Passport helps me keep up with this schedule.
Blundell: Which apps do you use the most?
Jain: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I also use Inst10, a great third-party app for access to Instagram. I also use Face10 from the same developer for Facebook. Those are all used on a day-to-day basis for both work and personal purposes. BBM is a definite must, again for the same purposes. I also have set up folders where I access One Drive for important work documents, and another folder that is my one-stop shop for all BlackBerry related news, Inside BlackBerry included.
Blundell: What is your favourite Passport feature?
Jain: It’s safe to say the quick features in the Hub and the keyboard are my two favourite features.
Blundell: What do your colleagues say about your Passport?
Jain: About 10 of us in the company use BlackBerry 10 phones. In my team, I’m the only one and am trying to convert as many colleagues as possible. They do love many of the features, gestures and multi-tasking capabilities. They like how fast the OS is. I’m a good salesman, so I hope to easily convert them to BlackBerry.
Blundell: How would you rate your Passport?
Jain: I would rate it 9.5 out of 10. I don’t think that anything else is needed on it. I use it for work and for fun. The speakers are great for music; music is in my blood. The battery life is phenomenal; it has no problem keeping up with my demands.
Pricing and Availability
Ready to put the world at your fingertips with a BlackBerry Passport? Get a factory-unlocked BlackBerry Passport from our global shopping portal, ShopBlackBerry.com (check with your local carrier for device compatibility).
