Viral Job Application from 1985: How My Dad’s Best Friend Helped him Build a Career

In India, every first Sunday of August — Friendship Day — is a day of celebration of unions and friendships of a lifetime. And where would we be without our friends, who see us through our highs and lows, support us through roadblocks, share our laughs, and lend us shoulders to cry on? 

In a viral LinkedIn post, Air India commercial lead Ravina More decided to commemorate one such friendship, which stood the test of time — her father’s bond with her uncle, and how the latter helped him land a job in the 80s. 

Ahead of her father’s retirement next week, Ravina gave a shoutout to that friend, who remains in her father’s life even today.

Their bond, she said, dates back to a time before computers and cell phones, when people had to write their resumes by hand before submitting them to companies. 

Ravina shared her father Vinayak More’s job application to Thermax in 1985. 

“When my dad graduated in the 80s, campus placements were not so common. He was applying for jobs for the first time in his life, and was freaking out to draft a resume and write a job application. However, his best friend, Prakash uncle’s English language and handwriting was immaculate,” she said in the post.

His friend Prakash wrote 10 job applications for him and prepared him for the questions in the interview. The job application is written in beautiful handwriting and was appreciated by many Linkedin users.

“My dad kept making mistakes, like sending the application for one company to another company instead! But as friends always [do], Prakash uncle would laugh it off and encourage my dad to keep trying,” she added.

While her father sometimes made mistakes, like sending applications to the wrong company, ‘Prakash uncle’ encouraged him, and helped him land a job.

Ravina also thanks everyone who takes time out to help friends get a career break.

You can read the full post here.

Edited by Divya Sethu