New Delhi, July 18 -- The early 1990s were a challenging time for job seekers in the United States as the country grappled with a recession that pushed unemployment above 7% and forced employers to slow hiring. Amid the difficult employment landscape, a chance opportunity changed the course of Raj Subramaniam's career.

Today, Subramaniam serves as the Chief Executive Officer of FedEx, but his journey with the global logistics company began in an unexpected way-by stepping into a job interview that his roommate had decided to skip.

In 1991, while completing his MBA in marketing and finance at the University of Texas at Austin, the India-born executive was searching for career opportunities. By then, he had already built a strong academic...