To Be or Not to Be!
Geetika Sharma
Founder Better Careers | Director Promaynov Advisory Services Pvt Ltd | Career Coach | Connecting Talent with Opportunity |
‘I DO NOT WANT TO GET BACK INTO THE GRIND’ said the hurried voice on the other end.
Being an HR consultant by passion and a Quality/Six sigma consultant and a Program Manager by profession, last 5 years of my life has been all about screening CVs, scheduling interviews, salary negotiations and helping the candidates make a swift move into the new organization.
At the core of my being I am a feminist, I noticed the trait when I saw myself pushing for my female candidates a tad more than others ;), vouching and negotiating for their higher salaries with the clients and so on. At one point in time a client even asked me that ‘Do you only share CVs to help the ‘DIVERSITY’ team? Parking that thought for my next blog and focusing on the hindrances I face while I try convince my female candidates for a lucrative and demanding assignment.
While I often get CVs from female candidates, a considerable chunk comes from very efficient, highly educated and skilled professionals who are on a sabbatical and though they want to do something meaningful with their careers but THEY DO NOT WANT TO JOIN THE GRIND! These ladies are ready to settle for a lesser pay but demand flexibility in time/work from home options/able to be home by afternoon and so on. What they are demanding is not wishful thinking but needs to be clearly laid down in the processes, in the JDs, in the mandates which are shared with the recruiters. A recruiter should know the kind of efforts (if at all) the corporate are taking in attracting and retaining this talent pool. Some of these policies might be sitting in the HR deck but need to be shared with the consultant trying to make your organization an attractive deal.
It’s time that the corporates awaken to this segment and gain cognizance of this sizable talent pool, else they would slowly get comfortable and consumed in their domestic duties and forget their desire to get back to the mainstream workforce.
The views expressed by the author are her own. Geetika Moudgil Sharma : Running her own HR consultancy since last 5 years in Gurgaon. Mother to 2 energetic boys and dabbles in music.
Finance Controller, Global COE || CFO II Head of Finance II 15 yrs diverse experience across Business Finance, Financial Reporting, Strategic FP&A, Taxation, Commercials, Risk Management, IFC, Fund raising, COE...
5 年Nice Greetika..Women as a mother has more obligations than men and it's natural that women would look at such flexibilities. The conclusion is that it not only effects the women career but at large scale impacts Indian economic growth as substantial portion of earning talent is not coming into competition. I wish that companies would work out to provide necessary facilities to women at workplace instead of worrying about cost. At the same time diversity should happen basis the capabilities and not for name sake or on personal preferences. thanks Shankar
Zero Balance Divine & Karmic - Soul Spirituality
5 年Geetika, to be or not to be is not the question but obtaining relaxations by female employees is killing the total team spirit. I don't want to elaborate more on the issue as I may be haunted for my comments.