He is known as “Recruitment Magician”, a term popularly coined as a gesture of respect by fellow business associates in the IT and telecommunications industry. A few words of praise would be unjustifiable for this extraordinary HR Leader. A focused individual with clear career dimensions and long term objectives in place, he firmly believes in imbibing as much as possible, asserts that hard work, coupled with sheer determination and dedication really pays off in one’s long term career path.
Madhukar Anand, an Economics graduate from the prestigious Delhi University is a proud alumnus of IIPM. Reverberating on his college days way back in 1995, he gets euphoric about the interactive learning environment and the batch-mates who eventually became his lifelong friends. Th is learning journey would have been unattainable without competent professors & academicians. “Dr. Adhikari, Dr. Mitra & Prof Arindam Chaudhuri have been great guides, their knowledge and teaching approach has aided my professional growth”, asserts Anand. Th e endearing campus, open learning environment, the daily bus journey to and fro the campus, will remain etched in his memory forever. Th e inspiring lectures, discussions and seminars, with great emphasis on executive communication skills definitely facilitated in carving a glorious future.
His assertiveness and willingness to accurately foresee and plan ahead of time has always worked in his stride. Anand undertook a course in Labour Laws. Upon successful completion of the course, he was well prepared to face the numerous challenges of the competitive business world. His first job opportunity was immediately aft er college with a company called Synergy Consultants. Th is initial exposure to the nuances of HR played a vital role for his career.
After a brief stint, he then moved to DSQ Soft ware Pvt. Ltd. Th is opportunity eventually unfolded as a crucial platform for learning various HR processes like recruitment and selection and staffing for different verticals (IT, Engineering Services and ITES). Th is job profile, with umpteen manifolds, also unraveled global exposure for him; he traveled across various office locations including Bangalore, Chennai and Singapore. Thereafter, with a strong foothold in the industry and gaining expertise pertaining to various HR processes specifically related to the soft ware industry, he joined Dell Perot Systems as a Recruitment Associate. Apart from his various skills, his resourcing abilities got highly appreciated, being time bound and of superlative quality. Th e prominent team work and outstanding people skills further added value to his major career move to Ericsson. He has been associated with Ericsson for the last six years. He has demonstrated his prowess as HR Business Partner, in this manpower intensive business unit engaged in global services delivery. His job at Ericsson mainly involves manpower planning, budgeting, recruitment and selection along with the other HR functions.
The workforce at Ericsson primarily comprises of young and dynamic professionals with a zest to learn, enrich and thereby add laurels to their careers. Th is tremendously adds up to the work culture and eventually makes it a better and cordial workplace. As far as the Reward Policies are concerned, the company advocates diff erential policies in order to create a performance driven culture. Anand states, “High Potential employees are selected initially and groomed in accordance to take over better positions and move up the hierarchy. We have a well established career model integrated with a competence framework.” This kind of framework facilitates the employees to oversee and take control of their long term vision. In addition, the progressive HR policies and relevant tools ensure that the deserving employees get maximum exposure to different business roles. Th us, structured learning interventions enable them to effectively handle bigger & better job responsibilities.
Being a technically intensive business, entry initially was restricted to only the big and strong contenders. Later, with a shift to services, a lot of newcomers were also given big opportunities, especially in the value added segment. He says, “From the local market perspective, the ministry and the regulatory authorities need to ensure a level playing field for all followed by progressive policies.” Th e stakeholders should ensure that the telecommunications industry is in the limelight always at the right time & for the right purpose.
When probed about his first job and first boss, he lucidly says, “If one is fortunate enough to be blessed with the two it surely gives a strong head start over others who do not get it.” Since the initial days are the formative years of one’s professional journey, correct guidance and step by step interface at important milestones help ensure success in long term career goals. He firmly makes a point that, “Career should not be taken as a sprint race but as a marathon. Be employable for your entire career and plan accordingly. Do not go where the buck is but be where the buck would be”.
Oprah Winfrey rightly said, “What I know is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.” Anand shares a similar work life philosophy. His constant endeavour has been great belief in core work values & astounding communication skills. Communication is the need of the hour in today’s competitive corporate life and this need is going to further increase in years to come.
In order to significantly rise up the ladder of success one should take smalls steps for the ultimate big leap. His advice to the upcoming professionals is to strongly believe in one’s capabilities and caliber. Oft en, employees overlook the importance of work life balance because of hectic office working hours. Keeping this intact, he spends his leisure time with family, visits relatives and friends, takes his family and children for outdoor games and to various places of interest. A true professional with adept work life balance, he is positive about the numerous business opportunities for both operators and vendors in his industry; thus creating thousands of job options and value addition for the economy.
