Marium is a 23-year-old woman who recently graduated with a degree in Development Economics. She interned extensively and was excited to begin her career in international development. However, she found that her new job involved constant supervision, more bureaucracy than expected, and an emphasis on conformity rather than independence. While she enjoys the work and her colleagues, Marium feels her idealism is frustrated by the realities of her development organization. The problem is how Marium can adjust to the workplace while maintaining her passion for making a difference.

1. Empathize and Define
Tehniyat Khan

2. Introduction to student
 Marium is a 23 year old female graduate from
University
 Majored in Development Economics,
graduated with high merit
 Took a gap year before university, had 8
months of work experience before hand
 Interned for three summers; leadership
experience in various campus clubs and
societies

3. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘Well, I thought I had ample experience to land
the perfect job, but the very application
procedure is so disconnected from the actual
job, it’s a huge hurdle to get past the first
battery of application tests […] So first, there is
a long multiple-choice exam, which tests you
on your english and math skills.. I don’t
understand how any of this is even relevant for
someone who already had to take these exams
to get into college in the first place, and in a
country that doesn’t even speak english so
well.. And then follow a few rounds of
interviews, which are generally ok..’

4. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘So I’ve interned at a lot of places, at small non
profits and research companies and larger
offices like the British Council, so I knew I
wanted to work in a small office space with less
bureaucracy and a friendly environment.. And I
knew I wanted to work in development.. So I
accepted when this development firm in the
health sector offered me a job’

5. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘Their application was easy enough. I just had
to send in my CV and we had a skype interview
since I was in a different city from their office.
They told me I would be working on an
independent project with one month of training
and I would be responsible for meeting
deadlines on my own. I’ve always been an
independent worker, so this was a very exciting
prospect for me!’

6. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘I joined office a weekend after graduation. It
was a sudden shift, but I looked forward to
starting work as soon possible; stand on my
own feet and everything. But then, the first few
weeks at work were really stressful.. I found
that things at work did not work the way I was
told they would.. I had little control over my own
work and was always treated as someone who
didn’t know anything’

7. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘Its not that I was asserting my own point of
view too aggressively.. Let me tell you an
example. So the way this office works is that
we get grants from donor agencies abroad and
we work on development projects in
conjunction with the donors. That’s part of the
charm of working for this firm, it’s a very
international mix of ideas and processes and a
lot of to-and-fro between us. But my seniors
would stand over my shoulder and peek at all
the emails I would send to them, sit in on skype
conversations., beyond just an advisory or
monitoring role.. I began to feel as if I was
being watched by Big Brother.. ’

8. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘So the constant supervision was something I
had to learn to get used to.. Though I’m still not
sure how anyone gets used to it. The office
environment is nice, though, I have very
friendly and cooperative colleagues and we’re
all mostly young people and making friends
here was pretty easy. ’

9. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘There wasn’t a huge divergence between what
I did in my coursework and what I was doing at
work.. Except that at work I was concentrating
exclusively only on health, and the huge
dependence on finances.. Oh dont even get
me started on how often we have to look at our
budgets! In school, development is taught as
being benevolent and fair, but I’m shocked at
how so much of development aid money
actually just goes into paying administrative
costs and paperwork.. I feel it really takes out a
lot of energy from the real work.. ’

10. Empathy Map: Say
 ‘Another thing I felt was weird about the office
space was how they emphasize on your
independence and leadership skills and having
‘effective personalities’ work for them.. And then
they hire people who match the criteria, only to
force us into conformity. The 8-to-6 work day, the
way we dress and word our emails, the way we talk
to the communities we work with.. My seniors keep
holding up one or two ‘model employees’ as their
favorites and encourage us all to be more like
them. I think that’s really frustrating. Why hire
someone if you have that huge a problem with the
way they are?’

11. Empathy Map: Do
 The interview was conducted on
skype, so I could see Marium
smiling, looking away in the distance
as I asked her more questions, or
when she had to think for a minute to
answer them, speaking faster when
she was talking about something she
was passionate about.

12. Empathy Map: Think
 It was clear that Marium loved the job she was
doing, but not the company she was working
for
 Her previous job experience and internship
made her a little more prepared than most
other fresh graduates, however, adjusting to
the change in lifestyle was still a jarring
experience.
 There is a ‘gap’ between what employers think
they want, what they want, and how they treat
their employees.

13. Empathy Map: Feel
 Marium probably feels a little overwhelmed at
the sudden shift from college life to work life.
 She feels an invasion of privacy and a lack of
trust at the work place.
 She is idealistic, will need some time to adjust
to workplace norms.
 Her idealism makes her frustrated with
administrative costs and bureaucracy.

14. Problem Statement
 Marium, a fresh graduate and recent
employee who is hard working,
practical and well experienced, needs
a way to adjust to the norms of the
workplace and maintain her zeal for
work because she wants to make a
difference in the lives of people while
also working in an enjoyable
workplace.