Not your typical journey!

I am excited to share the news that I have been chosen as BW People 40 under 40 by Business World. It is at this moment that I had the opportunity to reflect on my journey so far and I thought I should pen it down.

To start with, I am from Allahabad, a small town on the banks of river Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. Growing up, being a part of the corporate world was something that I did not really imagine. More than three years into my HR career, I seek to be a leader, the transformational kind, someone who touches people’s lives and I can only attribute this to all the leaders I have met so far.

I started my corporate journey with Colgate - Palmolive; a 3-month internship in HR under the guidance of Deep Banerjee. These three months set the founding stone for my career. I closely worked with Deep and realised the importance that HR plays in the organization as well as in the employee’s life.

Having seen the importance of HR role, I was keen to pursue a career in HR. Set my mind and decided to opt for HR Specialisation in my MBA Journey. However, it was no cakewalk thanks to endless assignments, multiple classes, varying theories and the added pressure of placements. Yet it was the best time of my life as I spent it with a close-knit group of 23 other aspiring HR professionals. I was also blessed with the most amazing professors who act as mentors even today. 

Prof. Hemangi Bhalero disciplined me with her threats “You are failing this semester, Anuj”. Prof. Amitabha Sengupta taught me that there are more ways than one to discipline someone. As I recall, I was always late to his class and he tried to figure out why I am coming late and advised me to drink milk at night so that I can rest well and be on time. Prof. Shailaja Karve is my constant cribbing partner and she has spent hours reviewing my application for Business World years after I have left campus. They have not only shaped my life inside the classroom but are always available for me irrespective of when I reach out to them. This has taught me that a successful professional is someone who is also approachable, disciplined and is able to guide others in need

Rewinding to placements, I still remember my campus interview with ICICI for two specific reasons; the feeling when I first entered the gigantic office at BKC and was in awe of the professional atmosphere and the intimidation I felt by seeing the suits moving around me. Coming to the interview, Prashant Verma asked me "why HR?". A typical question you would think :P and I remembered telling him I wanted to be just like Deep. I knew Deep was an HR Generalist back then but I wasn’t sure what exactly an HR Generalist did!

I am grateful for the opportunity that I got to work at ICICI, I can say that the HR team and the teamwork I have seen there has left a mark on me. A kick at the can was to work and learn from Soumendra and Srirang, the HR giants of banking. Some words of wisdom I learnt from them are part of my operating code today. Soumendra’s words still ring in my ears,

“Anuj, if you have compassion for the employees and if you work hard, nothing can stop you”.

Employee centricity, hard work and responsiveness are a must for any HR Professional and I try to live up to these qualities in my professional life.

After a year-long stint at ICICI, I got an opportunity to work with Ola, a mobility start-up which transformed the lives of millions of drivers and customers. I couldn’t help but jump at the opportunity and what a learning experience it was! Looking back, I consider this moment where my actual career started to shape. I loved working in a fast-paced, dynamic and completely volatile environment faced with an entirely new set of challenges as compared to an organization with established HR practices. From suits to shorts, the transformation in the way people dressed to the energy levels and the attitude of moving fast and breaking things; a start-up is where I learned that marketing of what you do is as important as the work itself. The deadlines for appraisals to increments to training is always as on yesterday and being able to deliver in the limited time frame is nothing short of exhilarating. Very important learning came from Ganesh Subramanian, who left me with the advice that even if you manage to save just one fish, it is going to mean the world to that fish. Ola also taught me the importance of being detail-oriented as our CHRO Dr Srinivas Chunduru always reminded us

“Devil is in the details”.

My career at Ola was at its peak when I got the opportunity to work with the fast-growing unicorn OYO Hotel and Homes; and Srirang's words flashed in my mind, “It is easy to change a job when things are not going well, but changing jobs at a time when you are at the peak of your performance in your organization takes guts”. It was one of those times where I chose the risk of uncertainty over likely success. 

The highlight of my initial days at OYO was when I had to work on a presentation in the first week of my joining basis which the CEO would have taken strategic decisions. The onus of such a task sets it apart and it helped me analyse data from an entirely fresh perspective; I realise that the employee master(HRIS) is not just a list of names but the data that comes out of it is the story that we actually are.

I was also lucky in the sense that my boss Shruti Mehta involved me in crucial projects from day 0 and my learning curve has been immense; thanks to all the exposure that I got. One of the key projects that I had to handle was recruitment, wherein we were hiring rampantly in an accelerated time frame. Under the guidance of Amit Kavia, I was able to combine digital methods along with an analytical approach to traditional recruitment methods to shorten our hiring time. This strategy led to me and Chandrima bagging the third spot in first-ever hiring hackathon. Winning came with added perks, we were awarded a shining trophy and a cash prize of INR 50,000!

Since then, I have now moved into the Compensation & Benefits role at OYO and am excited to learn all that comes my way. Will keep you updated as I reach the next lap of this Marathon.

I would like to thank all those who have supported me so far especially my family & friends and all the colleagues from whom I have learnt the smallest of things. I realise that I am the sum total of my experiences and what I am today would not have been possible without you!

While the journey is mine, I was helped by Lubna Usmani to craft this story.