&#8220;I have very good personal relationships with all my team and all HODs with whom we interact to fulfil our roles and responsibilities.&#8221;
Headsup recently got to discuss the different aspects of the lives of HR professionals with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shortbiteswithlakshmi/">Gajalakshmi Bhuvaranjan</a>. Gajalakshmi is a nuanced HR professional who has worked with Pioneer Xenergy Pvt Ltd. As our discussion proceeded, she traced her bittersweet journey from an inexperienced HR to a seasoned HR Advisor. She got entry into the world of HR when a fellow HR left abruptly. This opportunity shaped Gajalakshmi&#8217;s flourishing career as we know it today.
She learned the job, liked different subsets, and then started working on recruitment, payroll, and employee welfare initiatives. She clearly mentioned that her interactions while doing all of this paved the way for a great HR opportunity. She further discovered her natural talent for working with people.
&#8220;HR gives us a chance to work and assist people in meeting specific needs as part of our duties.&#8221;
She thanks the efforts of her colleagues and the other professionals who support this journey throughout. However, she also points out the tremendous support she has gotten from her spouse. While discussing this, she also acknowledged the importance of taking some time off when her son was born and making a reentry when the time was right.
She worked in expansive organizations within the Murugappa firms and with excellent learning environments. Today, her work is a benchmark for more employees to come and learn from. She is known to collect a record 200 suggestions monthly, resulting in annual savings of roughly Rs. 80 lacs. That was when people needed help getting 5 suggestions per month before she took charge. My personal commitment, drive, and excellent working relationships with functional leaders enable employees to apply their extensive knowledge in making ideas for improvement and rejections. From 2008 to 2013, she oversaw HR at Pioneer Wincon Ltd. During that time, she made numerous organizational development interventions to give the HR department more credibility.
&#8220;In place of only supplying labour, HR now actively adds value to the company. None of the decisions were made without HR&#8217;s involvement.&#8221;
Gajalakshmi inspires all who want to build a successful career in HR. Her career graph proves that if you have the knack for something, you will achieve greater heights in that field. The only thing that matters is your willpower and the ability to learn, adapt and grow.

Balancing Personal Relationships and Building A Successful Career in HR: Listen to What HR Advisor Gajalakshmi Bhuvaranjan Has to Say

“Never give up on the fire in you, however strong the wind is.”
We recently had a fulfilling discussion with <a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/anusreenair/">Anusree Nair, HR White Rabbit Group Inc</a>, about her journey as a professional. In conversation with us, she unfolded several nuances that prompted her to reach out for the post she holds today. The journey is just as fascinating as the charismatic HR herself.
As she mentioned, she initially started her journey as a marketer and, after a successful run for about 2 years, opted to try NGOs. Her motivation throughout this switch was to fulfill her long-lost dream and do her bit in the NGO. There, she found herself drawn toward Human Resources, and when the right time came, she made a switch back to the corporate with a new designation.
We further enquired about her motivation behind three different roles and how she accomplished them. She answered that she made this work a part of her life. She mentions &#8211; 
“I enjoy what I do, and it is part of my life.” 
Anusree is a motivated HR expert who plans her days with proper schedules for everything. She is focused when she works but manages to find time to explore different places and try other food on weekends.
Headsup also learned about the challenges she has faced in her career to become the seasoned HR manager she is right now. The journey has been full of learning experiences for her. She learned about recruitment, payroll, facility, and operations, but personal management is where she found her true work soulmate. Anusree says &#8211; 
“Keeping people 100% happy, which is literally impossible, but I try to give my best shot.”
Like any other professional pandemic has made her tough and resilient in many things. Initially, she was lost due to a totally unprecedented situation, but she taught herself how to connect with people and excel at HR management. While talking about her job in general, she also breaks the myth about an HR job. It is a widespread misconception that the job is an all-play, no-sweat job. She disagrees with the notion and discusses how it’s a skill that you can’t learn or train yourself in. The only way to be great at what you do is to love your job.
Anshree Nair is an exemplary professional for all go-getters who want to make it big. She urges people to go into unchartered territories, take risks and never let the fire inside them die out. Only through this fierceness and motivation can you achieve great things in life.

“You are Here Because You Love People and the Job”: In Conversation With HR Anusree Nair

“Talent Acquisition is an art!”
We recently connected with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shilpamathewpaul/">Shilpa Mathew Paul, Sr. HR &amp; Operations Manager at 2Hats Logic Solutions Pvt Ltd. Infopark, Kochi</a>. A season HR recruiter and a talent acquisition expert, Shilpa has been working in the field of hiring and most HR positions. She has been an HR Recruiter, IT Technical Recruiter, HR Manager, Senior Manager of HR and Operations, and indeed an inspiration for all.
In an insightful round of talks, we learned that HR Management has always been Shilpa’s sweet spot. During her formative college days, she realized her potential as a gifted professional in HR Management and IT Sector. There was no going back from here. She began her work as a human resources recruiter, honed her skills, and, as she mentions, became “a talent acquisition expert” after a series of successful IT technical recruitments.
Shilpa is an ardent believer in hard work and investing in her job to get optimum results. She passionately discusses the importance of being involved in what you do as the role of a good recruiter transcends beyond the 9 to 5 limit. In her opinion, 
“Employers need reliable HR professionals in order to maintain a healthy environment.” 
As the entire organization&#8217;s HR management falls under this obligation, the job is a 24*7 hustle, she adds.
While discussing her work, she also talked about the fine line between a recruiter and a talent acquisition expert. She finds that the market is quite competitive regarding talent acquisition and retention due to the current environment. Hiring the right talent takes a great deal of effort and healthy practices. 
Headsup also learned from her that this knack for finding and hiring talent is an art form and is not achievable by everyone. She mentions how she had to go the extra mile to get referrals and employ several HR modules, and networking techniques to find “the right talent at the right time.”
Despite being an expert, she proudly acknowledges the trials and tribulations of the field. She suggests honing the necessary skills for all HR professionals to reach where she stands right now. She further adds &#8211; 
“You’ll have to come out of your comfort zone in order to make things happen. You’ll have to learn a wide range of things.”
Shilpa further explains the changing atmosphere of the workspaces in the wake of the pandemic. Post-pandemic workplace demographics have changed drastically. Your employee can be sitting anywhere, and as a recruiter, it gives you a window to work with professionals across the globe. For Shilpa, it also proved to be a great way of “talent sourcing.” She deems this mode of work as the future of workplaces. She used herself as an example of how the work mode made her personal and professional life easy and balanced. As a working professional, her work-from-home tenure has little negative impact. Instead, it has encouraged her to strive for more.
Lastly, we concluded the conversation with an exciting take on recruitment from Shilpa&#8217;s end. She discusses the story of a hire where the professional lacked the “so-called industry experience ” but showed natural talent as a self-learner. Shilpa firmly believes in the rule of competency. 
This rat race for experience and competitiveness loses in front of a true talent. As a professional, you only need to know your niche and keep a positive attitude towards the process. Shilpa is a living example. Her journey started during her college years. Today, she stands as a beacon of light for numerous young talents like herself. Her spirit for learning something new, exploring unchartered waters, and keeping up with the changing fabric of the workplace makes her excel as an HR professional.

Shilpa Mathew Paul, Sr. HR & Operations Manager at 2Hats Logic Solutions Pvt Ltd. Infopark, Kochi

“Your One Decision Can Change Somone’s Life”: Decrypting Talent Acquisition With HR Shilpa Mathew Paul

“I was a zero in HR when I came into this profession—without any academic or professional background in HR.”
We sat down with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/arunanandta/">Mr. Arunanand T A, Head of HR at FullContact, Inc in Kochi and a member of People First Org</a>. With M.Tech in Computer Science from National Institute of Technology, Calicut. He has been working in the corporate sector for the past 9+ years in varied HR roles with MNCs.
An undergraduate in Engineering, Mr. T A worked in the field for three years and subsequently came into the HR Generalist and Strategist role. Shedding some light on his journey, he told Headsup about not having any formal training or experience in HR as such—it was only after working with experts he realized how much there is to learn about this field. After completing MTech and working in an MNC in Bangalore for three years, he still wanted to be in HR.
Soon after, an IT startup in Kochi—Profoundis—was acquired by FullContact, Inc., a US-based IT org. He told us, that FullContact needed a person who did not have a traditional background in HR to lead the India team. By this time, Mr. Arunanand T A was clearly yearning to be in Human Resources, and when the opportunity came to him, he was happy to oblige immediately! 
We asked Mr. TA about his two cents and personal experience in managing work with personal life. He said &#8211; 
“Thanks to the organization that I am part of—FullContact, Inc.—and its amazing benefits and wellness programs designed specifically to make sure that work does not come in the way of life, I never had to worry about this problem.” 
Furthermore, he told Headsup that what made it particularly easy for him to connect and detach from work was the organizational perks including a comprehensive set of vacation and paid leave benefits, paid travel perks and time off, time to be with family on paid leave, and other advantages! 
As opposed to a “task-driven” organization, Mr. Arunanand said that his was an “accountability-driven” organizational setup &#8211; one where all employees felt empowered to set their own goals. The flexibility, which was a natural by-product of this fabric, is what helped him maintain a positive work-life balance. 
In fact, this built-in flexibility is also what helped him and his team get through the uncertainties of the pandemic. He said that WFH is a natural part of the work culture and covid was a simple “plug-and-play” given the organizational flexibility. 
Talking more about the pandemic, Mr. T A said that the circumstance gave his company the agency to hire from anywhere, thus expanding the talent pool. The only major bottleneck that came with the covid-19 pandemic, according to him was the lack of face time. However, he said that through regular retreats, offsites, and fun events, this bottleneck would be tactfully compensated for.
In his glorious career spanning almost two decades, Mr.Arunanand set up new offices and ingeniously dealt with upcoming challenges. 
While there are many challenges posed to HR professionals, the biggest challenge in Mr. Arunanand’s opinion is to connect to the business. He did not have any formal training or experience in HR as such—it was only after working with experts that he realized how much there is to learn about this field. He elaborated on this as he told us &#8211; 
“One of the mistakes that early career HR professionals make is not to network. One should interact with other professionals in the industry, learn from one another, and connect to the larger depths of our roles. This is very important, like many other functions, in any HR function.”
What we learned from Mr. Arunanand’s incredible journey is that no matter which background you belong to, If you have a calling to HR, there are no hurdles you can’t cross! And yes &#8211; networking is everything!

“People are Integral; Networking is Key”: An Insightful Discourse on HR with Arunanand T A

Keeping up with our endeavor to highlight exemplary voices from the field of Human Resources, this week our team got the chance to interview <a style="color: #000000;" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shruti-mishra-she-her-92b23828/">Ms. Shruti Mishra</a> and learn from her varied experiences. She is currently a Senior <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="https://headsupcorporation.com/blog/the-consequences-of-not-having-an-hr-business-partner">Human Resources Business Partner</a> for Empower, having worked in the past with organizations like Infosys and Thomson Reuters. 
Highlighting her journey, she mentioned that HR was always her true calling, followed by law. Her passion emerged from her desire to make a difference for people. Over time, it has transformed into something greater – the ability to break down complex problems and find simple solutions in the corporate world. 
Describing her growth-oriented mindset, Ms. Shruti elaborates,
“I have dipped my hands into many projects around talent transformation, organisational design, setting up HR functions from scratch in organisations, and talent acquisition amongst others. I chose to be a big fish in a small pond with the choice of my organisations as I wanted to learn in places where things are not as structured as they should be.”  
As she continued working in diverse areas, the biggest challenges that she faced as an HR professional were to find a seat at the table and leverage that seat to bring value. Her overarching goals have been to keep HR relevant and engaged by ensuring constant growth and learning. She insists that one must never forget this, irrespective of the years of experience that one may have. 
Striking the highly elusive work-life balance has been a challenge with the demands of the role, but Ms. Shruti adds &#8211;
 “My personal mantra is to divide my time into compartments and make conscious efforts to separate personal and professional life.” 
The pandemic further increased these challenges and made the separation harder, as Ms. Shruti describes the mental toll it took on HR professionals. 
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent shift to work from home have changed how people view HR. The Human Resources department managed to guide organizations through employee-oriented decision making, keeping in mind that they themselves are employees. As the work shifts to a hybrid model, HR is presented with new challenges as some studies conclude that over 82% of respondents felt more comfortable working from home than from the office. Ms. Shruti elaborates and adds that &#8211; 
“Resilience and openness to seek help are the keys to being a successful HR professional operating during a pandemic.”
Ms. Shruti Mishra works and lives by a simple philosophy – don’t be afraid of taking risks in your career and getting your hands dirty. She believes that they will either make you or break you, but will give you a path enriched with immense learning. Her word of caution for emerging HR professionals rings true, you can either choose to be a cost center or be strategic enough to positively impact the EVP. She ends with her golden mantra “Remember that you choose your own vibe!”

Choosing Your Own Vibe: In Conversation With Ms. Shruti Mishra

In our quest to highlight the personal narratives of exemplary people in the field of Human Resources, our team at Headsup Corporation interviewed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shantanu-bhattacharya-23711b8/">Mr. Shantanu Bhattacharya, Vice President HR at Grab (Grab a Grub Services Pvt. Ltd)</a>. With an MBA in Human Resources Management, he has been working in the corporate sector for the past 18+ years in varied HR roles with MNCs and Indian conglomerates. 
Shedding some light on his journey, Mr. Shantanu shared an interesting anecdote where he mentioned getting into medical transcription and billing early during his college days to save some pocket money. Developing and honing his competencies there, he was sure that he wanted to do HR when he desired to get into management. During his first job at General Electric, Mr. Shantanu got the opportunity to be a part of a Human Resources Leadership Programme that helped him grow and fast-tracked his career progression. He then briefly dabbled in transition and quality, learning about business operations as well, but chose to return to HR for his passion and belief in the field. 
In his glorious career spanning almost two decades, Mr. Shantanu set up new offices and ingeniously dealt with upcoming challenges. Elucidating on his initial work at Jaipur, he said &#8211; 
 “I realized that we had a sizable population in the city who were educated married women and wanted to do something for their livelihood, and a better engagement professionally. But they were not ready to spend eight hours at work, so we came up with a new concept called part-time assignments.” 
Convincing his bosses was an uphill task that he undertook to bring to reality the potential he witnessed in this policy; one of the many examples of creative and out-of-the-box solutions he brought along.   
Talking further about his key roles, he expanded upon the importance of cultural sensitisation and unique policies attuned to the needs of the people. Reflecting on his journey, he recalled the challenges he faced in this career, summing them up as &#8211; 
“The first challenge is to deal with ambiguity. As a junior, you are being directed as to what you need to do. But as you grow up the ladder, ambiguity is something which one needs to learn how to deal with, and also remain positive during that. Secondly, managing cultural integration for global organisations can be very hard, along with taking into consideration the interests of diverse stakeholders. Thirdly, handling power centers and organisational dynamics. Every organisation has its own dynamics and you need to learn and understand those to strike the right balance.”
With the pandemic, newer challenges such as remote working and productivity concerns, along with concerns regarding employee welfare and engagement emerged. According to him, HR stepped up and had to redesign policies to adapt to the unprecedented global scenario. He added &#8211; 
“Upskilling definitely has been the talk of the town, and upskilling during the pandemic can aid in faster decision making with lesser ambiguity and happier employees.” 
He also believes that the hybrid model of working is here to stay given its utility and upcoming HR professionals need to adapt to that. 
Another gem that Mr. Shantanu often works on is the belief that even though HR does not actively work in revenue generation, they can impact the bottom lives by optimising the costs for the organisation. This optimising is made possible through mobilising talent, creating an enviable culture, focussing on process maps and aligning business strategies to the work of HR.  
On striking the right work-life balance, he warns that &#8211; 
“You cannot continue a great professional life until and unless you engage yourself beyond work.”  
He mentions that passion and dedication for his job, along with spending quality time with family have been the pillars helping him navigate the demands of this profession. Additionally, he engages regularly in hobbies such as listening to music and keeping abreast of the current happenings in the world. 
Mr. Shantanu leaves us with some words of wisdom for the upcoming professionals, “Take life as it comes to you. If you plan too much, you will end up nowhere. Keep upskilling and adopting new competencies, otherwise you will get obsolete.” Networking and being attuned to human needs and sentiments often helps at the job. He adds that “Keep it simple – break down complex problems into simple statements and that is the way to go.”

“Keep It Simple”: In Conversation with Shantanu Bhattacharya

In a quest to know the trials and tribulations of Human Resources and everything in between, Headsup hosted a fruitful round of HR Speaks with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bisaiharikrishna/">Bisai Harikrishna, Tier 1 HR Services (HR Ops Rewards) &#8211; Analytics and Digital at GSK</a>. He has a vast experience in the field of HR having started as a summer intern at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in April 2015. At present, he is a business partner at Lupin and Biocoin.
We started our conversation by wanting to know about the commencement of his journey as an HR professional. To this, he replied that as a graduate student in the field of science, he always read about business leaders in various industries and came to realize that most of them had one thing in common that is they all prioritized “people”.
This is why, Harikrishna added &#8211; 
“While finalizing on a PG program out of multiple options in hand, I went ahead with the PGDM program in HR &amp; Marketing from the Integral Institute of Advanced Management (IIAM), Visakhapatnam.”
He mentioned how working at Dr. Reddy’s was a great start to his career, he told us that he handled his first full-time assignment in Talent Acquisition Support during his time there. 
One of the most difficult challenges as a professional is creating the perfect work-life balance. On asked about his secret to a work-life balance, he revealed that- 
 “I found the following technique helped me: The 8–8–8 rule. I have started following this rule and could tell the improvements right away. The 8–8–8 rule represents the 24 hours that we have each day. To achieve a balanced life, we need to split the 24 hours into three parts”
(8 hours of work, 8 hours of personal time, and 8 hours of sleep.)
He further explained that during work, he follows the 80/20 rule which tells us that 80% of the results come from 20% of activities. We should also learn how to measure effectiveness, remove time wasters and prepare a list of defined tasks every morning but most importantly, we should also learn how to say ‘no’. 
Talking about the biggest challenge Mr. Bisai has faced as an HR professional, he said &#8211;
“Young employees focus on growth and development compared to mere compensation. There must be ample opportunities for them to learn and grow in the industry. In the long run, this will also help in the scarcity of finding skilled talents for pharmaceutical companies. The older age group employees who are less tech-savvy must be given training and skill development opportunities to enhance their technological skills. It will help them stay engaged and motivated to apply new skills and improve productivity.”
He also believes that more challenges in the HR world are the development of technologies, scarcity of talent, competitive compensation, and employee retention.
Towards the end of our conversation, we asked him to share a personal story or any vivid experience that would inspire or motivate any fresher entering the HR Industry. He told us that as an HR Professional, it is very important to know the business because failure to do so may result in disengagement from the business realities. 
He also believes that “HR professionals should be technically updated and should constantly upgrade themselves from time to time. They should also work on simplification of processes, without losing control, with the right intervention of technology. Finally, the most important of all, they always take a positive approach.”
On this note, we culminated our fruitful conversation with Mr. Bisai Harikrishna. We hope you enjoyed reading this! Stay tuned for more upcoming stories about HR professionals who have made it in this world!

In Conversation With Bisai Harikrishna About His HR Endeavors!

In our latest HR Speaks endeavor, we are exploring Riya Singh’s story in HR, her challenges, and her approach. <a style="color: #000000;" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/riya-singh-08363249/">Riya is currently employed as an Employee Relations Specialist at EMR Software Company</a>. She told Headsup about her trajectory and how she navigated her way through the unprecedented times of Covid. 
Speaking about the inception of her journey, Riya said that having lived in an Institution campus, she &#8211; 
“ (I) was always in touch with management students and wanted to pursue a learning career where I can be a people person and drive change if need be hence pursuing an MBA in HR and be in HR was my dream.”
The year 2013 marked the completion of her MBA from Jaipur National University, focusing on Human Resource Management and Services. Since starting her career as a Talent Hunt Partner, where she learned about industry requirements and working mechanisms, she has moved into several roles including Human Resources Officer, Human Resources Business Partner, and now Employee Relations Specialist.
According to her, she maintains a proper work-life balance by adhering to &#8220;The Eisenhower Matrix,&#8221; also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix. Her professional and personal lives are kept separate, and no matter what situation she is in, she is focused on the task at hand. Even though a cup of tea with friends and family might take the edge off after a long day at work, a cup of coffee comes in handy to face the deadlines! 
Regarding her experiences in HR, she states that &#8220;there isn&#8217;t anything that surprises me anymore&#8221;. The roles she has taken on throughout her career add to her personality and have all contributed greatly to her success. 
According to her, as an HR professional, she views all challenges thrown her way as an opportunity to bridge the gap between employees and management. As the HR, she considers herself to be both a parent and a pastor. As she progressed through her career, she developed an eye for detail that helped her achieve the most effective results for any given situation.
In response to a question about how the pandemic affected her. In her words, she tried to stay optimistic about the situation throughout the pandemic. By using her time wisely, she upskilled herself and focused on areas where she felt she was lacking. The fact that she emerged stronger and more resilient from the pandemic is an understatement. Also, she says she became a lot more proactive and solution-oriented in the virtual environment.
Culminating our fruitful conversation with Riya, we asked her to share any experiences that would motivate others. When responding to this, she gave an example of how she had made sure that her employees or even her family and friends did not feel distant and cut off during the outbreak. Whether it was a text or a call, she always started her conversations with positive affirmations and encouraged everyone around her to work on themselves,
Riya rightly ended our conversation on an inspirational note as she said &#8211; 
&#8220;Be the voice that determines success&#8221;.
The experiences Riya shares from her HR career we hope have given you a better understanding of what HR is all about. Keep an eye out for more motivating stories about HR pros who have made their place in HR and are here to stay!

Riya Singh, Employee Relations Specialist

“Be the Voice That Determines the Success”: In Conversation With Riya Singh

Our next HR Speaks story is about <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/debin-dennis-86b27447/">Mr.Debin Dennis, Senior Technical Recruiter, CSG</a>, here’s a look into his journey as an HR Professional and his take on where the HR industry is headed.
We started by asking him how he started his journey as an HR professional to which he answered “I was pretty passionate about speaking with people and loved sharing ideas. My professional journey started off as an intern QA in a development startup. Being an intern, I got to interview people to hire the next intern and I loved the job. I expressed my interest to handle the HR functions at the start-up and they gave me an opportunity. I didn’t have a tech background or good grades but I was confident that I could do a good job here. I learned a lot, worked hard, and until now had a fun-filled job along with my share of challenges.”
We followed this question by asking him about his biggest challenge as an HR professional. He was keen on letting us know about his challenges. He said “You have a position, if it is filled within the stipulated time period then it’s great but if it’s not, you have to start from scratch. However, times are changing, companies are spending money on HR, global talent is open now which has been a blessing. Nowadays the challenge in TA, would be the power of marketing! You have to be powerful to convince the business leaders whether the candidates are fit/unfit for the organization and powerful enough to convince the candidates that the opportunity and organization is right for them. Hence being in talent acquisition is a smart job, but it’s not an easy one.”
Then we asked him about he found a balance between his work and personal life to which he replied “Communication and time management is the key here. You always just need to find the right balance between what is important and what is not. Prioritize tasks at home, hobbies, work accordingly, initially it is difficult but practice makes it perfect.”
When asked about his experience with diverse roles he mentioned “Yes, it’s something that I have always encouraged. At CSG we do a lot of diversity hiring, we engage in diversity for leadership roles which have been very successful. We run a lot of DEI programs for the same and we encourage people to come up. As a company, we are allowed to work from anywhere, and now we have people working all around the globe. Also observed that working with diverse people has also improved our scope of learning, and collaboration.”
Pandemic was hard on people, we asked him about how the pandemic affected him to which he said “When it comes to the good things, I get to spend a lot of time with my family, I get to play with my kid. Upbringing is easy, you don’t miss moments and you are always there. You can work on yourself and everything is at your convenience. Working with CSG has been fabulous, you’re yourself while working here. Pandemic also has some bad perks as well. Everything is virtual and F2F communication has become difficult. People have social anxiety disorders these days; people who were social before have become introverts. My IT friends complain that they’re burned out after work and need only rest on weekends. At CSG we tell our employees not to overwork, if they cross 40 working hours you get an email that they have worked extra hours. Also, we have off days for Me-Time as well which is another employee-friendly initiative. We make sure to give proper notifications to avoid employee burnout. I suggest every company should take measures to sort out employee burnout. A Happy employee will always give you more than expected.”
Lastly, we asked him about a personal story that would give people entering the HR industry some insight. He was very encouraging and said “Being in HR is never an easy job. Everyday learning is obvious. You have heartbreaks and rewards which are more heartwarming. Things change each day which in turn makes you more adaptable towards change. For upcoming HR folks, nowadays it’s all about data, you should be a data-driven analyst for this job and with the virtual world, you should have excellent judgment over things.”

Mr.Debin Dennis, Senior Technical Recruiter, CSG

Future of HR: In Conversation With Mr. Debin Dennis

HR Speaks team is back again with another power-packed conversation with a notable leader in the HR industry, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/prosenjitmukherjee/">Mr. Prosenjit Mukherjee, who is presently serving as the Head of Human Resources at SCIKEY</a>. Prosenjit comes with a vast experience of 17 years in Global HR Practices. During his stint in different corporates &amp; start-up organizations, he had competently handled many core HR functions like Global HR Strategies, Talent Acquisition, Talent Engagements, Organization Development, HR Operations, Facility &amp; Admin Management etc. He also served as an HR partner in a few businesses and maintained profitable outcomes. So, let us summarize our interview with Prosenjit. Read on.
We started the conversation with Prosenjit, asking him how he started his journey as an HR professional. Prosenjit started on a lighter note, saying that his journey towards HR was accidental and not an easy path to walk. He laughed, letting us know that his friends still call him an &#8220;Accidental HR&#8221;.
Prosenjit shared with us his educational background in which he stated that he graduated in Commerce and Statistics in the year 2004. While preparing for his MBA and further education, his father was diagnosed with cancer. He has to look out for jobs for supporting his family. So, as a fresher, he started working as an Intern. Firstly, he worked in a Sales profile and then in a Marketing profile in Foreign Exchange. He also worked as a Call Center Agent.
While Prosenjit worked in the Call centre, he used to speak with hundreds of people and resolve their issues. Slowly, his passion grows in interacting &amp; networking with people. He was very fond of talking and could talk on any topic for hours without hesitation on a public platform. While working as a Call centre agent in a renowned BPO named Aegis, he received a chance to apply for a training role, so he opted for the same. HR was still not clear to him then.
After his father expired in 2007, the whole world had just turned upside down for him. He was then the only bread earner in the family and used to take home just Rs. 4000 per month.
While he was managing his job, he was also doing tuitions parallel managing all the household chores &amp; supporting his mother&#8217;s medical needs. He realized that he was made to do something else and something more. He started turning his pain into empathy, and gradually humility grew deep inside him. So, he started working with Swami Vivekananda Institute by helping people in need. He worked with blood banks and supported his friends in finding jobs. He became a guy who is always available beside you. The thought of becoming a people guy inspired him to choose &#8220;Human Resource&#8221;.
Prosenjit reminisces his journey to be full of fun, and he enjoyed every moment of it and loved it to the core. Later he became a part of an MDP program at XLRI.
He said that his learning towards HR is, &#8220;No matter what happens, never lose your cap. You are people advocate now and will always be. While you move towards a larger role and contribute your bits towards business growth, that cap needs to be worn &#8211; always.&#8221; 
Next, we asked him how he managed to balance his work life as an HR and personal life. Prosenjit said that his family is his strength, and he was blessed to have some very beautiful women in his life – his mom, wife and daughter and his sister&#8217;s support made him a family man.
He always prioritizes what&#8217;s important in the family. He stated that last week, his wife had Covid, and she had to quarantine herself. While she closed herself in one room &#8211; he took charge of becoming a &#8220;mom&#8221; of their daughter and a &#8220;father&#8221; to his never too old mother, who is presently crossing her 77. 
While his family provides inner strength, support from his colleagues at SCIKEY; (his workplace) are always there. They are a family loving company, so their priority rounds with the happiness and wellness of staff and their family members. So he did not find a challenge in managing the balance between work and personal life. 
Also, he likes to work in a complete Flexible Model. Especially during Covid, their organization had adopted best practices of the Flexible Work Model that says, &#8220;Work when you are available and try to be most productive then.&#8221; So it helps, without binding the employees in a 10-7 job. Also, he follows Pomodoro Technique, which allows him to work 25 minutes at a stretch and take 5 minutes rest. So by adopting this way of working, the balancing task becomes easy for him. 
Moving further, we asked Prosenjit about his experiences with diverse roles and his transformative projects. Prosenjit was more than happy to take this question and stated that in his career of 17 years, he has been handling various roles in Finance and Accounts, Operations, Training, L&amp;D, Admin, Transition, HR and Marketing. Also, he has been handling roles from different Industries. From Forex, travel and tourism to BPO and ITES, to Market Research and Analytics and lastly, in Information Technology, he handled various roles from individual contributors to a strategic role. He has played the role of Social Media evangelist where Networking and Branding was his core focus during the Pandemic era. 
As HR, he has handled global HR roles and in multiple geographies at various corporates, including some big brands and start-up organizations. He has handled specialized roles from an executive search professional to a Grievance Redressal Expert to a D&amp;I specialist.
Next, we asked Prosenjit about his biggest challenges as an HR professional. Prosenjit replied in no time that the most recent challenge that he can think of is the unprecedented times of 2020 as a Pandemic Era where the HR role has transformed 360 degrees. Talking more on this, he added that the role HR used to play in pre-pandemic has completely transformed and like everyone else, he has also faced challenging times in changing the method of work and teaching the same to grass root level. Enabling flexible policies and work from anywhere was not just the task; engaging people even in the remotest region and ensuring they do not feel isolated was a challenge. He and his team had dealt passionately with their strong minds to face these challenges. He thinks these unprecedented times is never to forget. Losing loved ones, seeing the turmoil in the jobs marketplace and constantly working without a pause to keep a culture that listens and act fast for everyone was difficult but not impossible. He further added that dealing with the challenges during Covid has moulded him as a great listener and an empathetic personality. His humility quotient rose considerably. So eventually, the biggest challenge became his biggest opportunity. 
We were keen to know how the Pandemic has affected Prosenjit in a positive &amp; negative way and how he had decided to cope with the same. Prosenjit was very excited to take this question and replied that while the Pandemic had been a curse for several, this acted as an opportunity for him. He has learnt new skills and can nourish his public speaking skills by participating in several national &amp; global forums. As a person, he is extremely positive, so he managed to overcome whatever negative thoughts have impacted him during the Pandemic. 
Our last question to Prosenjit was to know about any of his personal stories or vivid experiences that he wants to share with us for inspiring or motivating others in entering the HR industry and the others who are already working in the HR industry. Prosenjit replied to this, stating to his HR friends and our readers -&#8220;Never die down. Never feel departed and never feel you&#8217;ve chosen the wrong path. This is coming from a guy who&#8217;ve sold books to stores and literally lost his shoe sole, like how you&#8217;ve seen in Bollywood movies. My life was dramatic, and I did not think of becoming who I am today. But my undying passion and faith towards myself (and not anyone else) for becoming that &#8220;People guy&#8221; have helped me pass through the difficult phases of life.&#8221; So, this teaches us even in the worst of scenarios; if you have the required faith in yourself, you can achieve your goals in life for sure. 
We are sure that you have enjoyed reading Prosenjit&#8217;s career journey, which is nothing less than an inspiration. We will be back with another interview with an influential personality from the HR industry soon. You can write to us with your views, feedback and queries in the comment box below.

Mr. Prosenjit Mukherjee, who is presently serving as the Head of Human Resources at SCIKEY

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