Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” –Stephen Covey somehow signifies the healthy conversation we had with Mr. Mullick. His profound love for HR is expressed in the minute details which he shares on every aspect. His accuracy, eye for detail, perseverance, updated knowledge and market intelligence make him one of the best HR professional in the industry. He is admired for his composure and focused approach. He started his career as a research associate with Executive Access India Pvt. Ltd., and proved his capabilities after spending more than 7 years there. His last assignment with this company was in the role of Associate Director. Currently, he heads the Recruitment division at Sequoia Capital India. His clientele is very strong and is loyal towards him, as even the earlier clients look forward to solutions from him. He loves to interact with top management professionals across functions and industries. Mr. Mullick helps the portfolio companies identify leadership talent. His specialities are leadership hiring for fast growing companies in proven businesses. He speaks about the changing trends and also the need for strategising in the HR function. He also gives quick words of advice to young aspirants and his HR mantras
Mr. Mullick has worked for a couple of organisations in different cultures and with different functions, and has had quite an interesting career journey. His corporate journey started with campus placement at Executive Access Pvt. Ltd. as a research associate where he worked for one year and nine months. He did his MB A in HR and at that time, he was blank regarding what to expect from a job and what opportunities would come his way.
Mr. Mullick states that Sequoia Capital is a fantastic organisation; many people understand and follow this industry and really value it. He gets to work with by far the sharpest minds; Harvard graduates and IIM toppers were his colleagues and he got to work in an absolutely brilliant work culture.
Ideally, venture capital firms do not have a recruitment function or an HR function, so it tends to be a small team. Mr. Mullick leads the recruitment for portfolio companies, as well as helps and consults them with organization development. He also helps in setting up their HR system and processes, for which he takes the help of consultants.
Ownership in these companies is not just a transaction, but they help a company grow and achieve their targets. Their counterparts in the United States have been responsible for getting the best companies across industries. They were the first ones to invest in companies like Apple, Google, Yahoo, Oracle, You Tube and many more. The big brands were mom & pop stores earlier, or were outlets sitting out of a garage.
HR has never been a core requirement as the team is very small, but since the company is very particular about the kind of professionals they want to work with, the issue of hiring ends up to be a very critical affair.
With the changing times, there has been a significant change in the HR function. The MN C jobs prove to be insecure and entrepreneurial set ups have the potential to earn big. He has seen people who worked for entrepreneurs do a critical job and deliver great results and mint more money.
Talking about his IIPM days, he says college was always fun with great people around. The IIPM environment was very different as it had people coming from all walks of life, unlike school and graduation times when the environment was more homogeneous. He had an absolute blast at the Institute. All the professors who taught at the Institute contributed a lot to the careers of the students. He was amongst the naughtiest boy in his class; very talkative and also fun loving.
He suggests the young passouts from IIPM to read more; read every good thing that comes their way as gaining knowledge is very important for whatever role they play in the future and in any organisation. All the aspects of the field need to be understood by the students. A bachelor is a generalist and an MB A is also a generalist, but the work he has to perform has to be extremely specialised and accurate.
Mr. Mullick attributes his success to the hard work that he has put into his career. He takes every opportunity that comes his way in or outside his domain area. He firmly believes that one’s original work never goes waste: “One should take ownership of whatever he or she does and should also stand up for his mistakes.”
He loves to spends time with his son Vivaan and his wife Aditi. He loves to go out with them for dinners, plays active sports, and adventure activities. His zeal for excellence makes him better than the best in his domain and our best wishes shall always surround him.
