Q. What has been your journey like as an HR professional?
A. My journey as an HR professional has been very different and unique as compared to my fellow colleagues. I started my career as an engineer and worked in the chemical industry for 7 years. After that I joined CII as a consultant. This was the turning point in my career. My six years at CII gave me a tremendous exposure of various industries. I learnt about the HR processes and practises of various industries and companies. This knowledge attracted me to the field of HR and today after almost 12 years I can say my journey has been most exciting and full of learning.
Till date I don’t possess a formal education in HR but I don’t feel incompetent in any way as the experiential learning I got while at CII has been the best teacher for me. I was also very lucky to have found some of the greatest mentors and colleagues who guided me all through and made me fall in love with this field.
Q. What were the biggest challenges you faced?
A. The biggest and most obvious challenge in the early days was my lack of formal education in this field. Almost all the HR heads and all the people I interacted with in the HR fraternity possessed some kind of formal education and training in HR. I had to learn through the ranks. In fact I am still learning the tricks of the trade.
The second major challenge was changing the mindset of the team. HR is most often termed as a ‘support function’, but I feel we are much more than that. HR is a ‘service function’. Convincing teams to develop a strong customer orientation and a service mindset with the ‘customer first’ approach has been a hard task but I have been able to implement it successfully in many of the companies.
So yes there have been challenges but I keep learning and growing as I try and find solutions to them.
Q. What are the challenges HR faces in the new era of the ‘digital age’?
A. HR needs to undergo a drastic change if it has to remain relevant in today’s world. Change is staring at our faces everyday. The digital age poses many challenges in the way we work, we communicate, assess and deliver results.
It won’t be long before digitization and automation will take up many jobs. As HR personnel it’s our prime responsibility to prepare ourselves and our teams for the challenges that lie ahead. We need to adapt fast to the new technologies and learn fast the new ways of working. The millennials will soon be our new mentors and we should accept that and not shy away from learning from them.
Q. Any advice you would like to give on how to manage people/teams as the workforce becomes more diverse, and the ways of working change?
A. I will desist from giving an advice but would like to share what worked for me. People are not headcounts. We need to treat each individual as an individual, with his/her own unique personality, needs, ambitions, competencies and talent. As HR personnel we must identify their unique potential and use it to help them grow as individuals and in turn make the company grow too.
Believe in your people. Have faith and confidence in their capacities and capabilities. Believe me they will surprise you!
Q. How effective and how important are rewards and recognitions in strengthening employee engagement and retention?
A. Absolutely necessary I would say. However sometimes we make recognitions and rewards so scientific and mired in processes that they loses the ultimate purpose of delighting a human being. My strong personal view is that rewards and recognitions should have a human touch and interface. A genuine pat on the back saying, “Good job, I am proud of you”, works better than many other modes. Wanting to be appreciated is a basic human need and must be provided. There are no substitutes to rewards and recognitions in retaining and engaging talent.
Q. How can a company attract the best people?
A. If a company can clearly state its purpose of existence and that purpose can connect with the individual and strike a chord with them then it makes the job of attracting the right and the best people easy. One also needs to remember that the younger workforce of today is eagerly looking for avenues where they can contribute to the society making it absolutely necessary for organizations to connect the existence of their company with a social cause. Highlighting the positive impact your business makes on society will play a strong role in attracting the best people.
Q. What is the secret to hiring the right candidate?
A. As a first make sure that the candidate has a very clear understanding of the position in terms of the competencies required and the deliverables expected. In addition to this I like to have a reference for critical positions, where I have a fair idea about the candidate before hand and all is not left to just to an hour of interview. So an insight into the past work, past performance and behavior of the candidate can prove to be a big advantage and help in picking the right candidate.
Q. What advice would you give young candidates if they want to stand out and get noticed during an interview? A. The biggest factor that helps one stand out, and get the job, is honesty. Be genuine and transparent. Don’t fake it. Don’t try to tell things which are not supported by facts and body language. Lies and misrepresentations are a big NO.
Be to the point and never hesitate to say no to a question, which you don’t know much about or are not sure of. It’s absolutely fine, and the interviewer knows you are human beings and not walking encyclopedias.
