An MBA from Welingkar Institute of Management, Seema is a dynamic and inquisitive HR Leader. Born as a third girl child in a traditional Marwari business oriented family, she carved out a path of her own to make her destiny. For the last 10 years, she has been working with leaders in Pharmaceutical Industry. An excellent communicator, result driven collaborator and an agent of change, Seema has worked on several projects such as Change and Transition Management, Diversity and Inclusion and Business Integration just to highlight a few. Above all, she is a wonderful human being and an excellent story teller. Thank you Seema for doing this interview with us and sharing your insights on various aspects of HR
We would be pleased to learn about your journey from the beginning. So, please share with us about your first job interview.
My first job was a 4 month stint as a counsellor (sales role) for a computer training institute. I had taken my CET and was awaiting results. In the meantime, I came across this job opportunity. It was my first job interview and I went there not knowing what to expect. I reached in time (punctuality is a virtue taught to me since childhood). The interviewer was the owner of the institute. He asked me about my family, academics and interests. After a few questions, he suddenly remarked that ‘Marwaris’ are misers. My rejoinder was that Marwaris have a business sense of where to invest money to create more wealth. He gave me a simulation situation to sell a pen to him. Being from a business oriented family, I could share a decent pitch about features of the pen and align it to customer need.
I also candidly shared with him that I would quit in 4 months if I secured admission in a good B school. I am till date clueless if he hired me for my honesty or he thought I wouldn’t be able to crack a seat in good institute. Irrespectively, I enjoyed my stint and increased the revenue from 70k pm to 4 lakhs pm.
Never lose your childlike curiosity and inquisitiveness.
Which, according to you was the most intriguing interview? Can you share your experience in detail?
This was for MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd. I was being interviewed for the role I aspired for but had no experience in. I had excellent achievements to share and was very confident of my technical expertise. I was also candid enough to admit what I didn’t know. After getting to know me a little, the interviewer asked me to talk about an achievement that was challenging yet very close to my heart. I shared the project with its details. After that the interviewer kept probing around the same project. I tried to answer the questions pushing myself to think of many possibilities till I realised that there still was scope to learn more about that project. I also realised the depth of the interviewer’s understanding and more importantly the value of an inquisitive mind. As per the interviewer’s feedback, I landed the role for my divergent thinking. My lesson – Never lose your childlike curiosity and inquisitiveness.
The first job is a major milestone for many people. Let’s discuss your first year at the job. How was your experience? What were your expectations for your job and your role? Were they all fulfilled? What didn’t coincide with your expectation?
I come from a traditional business family where females are not considered worthy of running business. I grew up seeing the male members in business conversations, networking, having difference of opinions and then eating food together. I was the first one in my family to enter corporate world.
I realized that the Corporate world is a different ballgame altogether. In family owned businesses, you can have internal arguments without perceptions being formed but not in here. Corporate world encourages positive confrontation but perception management is also extremely important. You have to control your emotions and work within the norms of professionalism.
I got my first HR job with Abbott India Ltd. (the largest pharma MNC in India) through campus placement. The HR team kept us engaged right from our placements till our joining (6 months period). I was a part of the first structured management trainee program of the organization. We had a best-in-class induction program.
My situation was like that of a Bollywood Star Kid. While my advantage was that my manager was the project lead of this MT Program but by the same token there was also lot of pressure to succeed and be an ideal MT.
I was hungry to learn and achieve the world. Different levels in the hierarchy had different roles to play in my journey –
My manager (Savita Mittra) – an expert in her domain, she was transparent and shared information openly. I was allowed to job shadow her even for the most critical tasks and learn directly from her.
HR leader (Ajay Bhatt) – a very approachable and empathetic person, he understood my background and helped me turn that into an advantage. He helped me settle in the corporate world. He used to talk about my strengths which boosted my confidence.
Colleagues – Most of them were caring and well-meaning. While I was still trying to settle in the organization, some colleagues seemed very helpful initially but as I started becoming more organization savvy, I realized that to further their agenda they embroiled me in organization politics.
Coaching is task oriented whereas mentoring is relationship oriented
According to you, do you think workplace mentors and coaches play an important role in settling fresh graduates in their first job? How was your experience?
We generally tend to use the terms coaching and mentoring interchangeably. But there is a difference between the two. Simply put, coaching is task oriented whereas mentoring is relationship oriented. So Drona was Arjun’s coach whereas Krishna was his mentor. Coaches help the fresh graduate learn the technical skills, master them and hence settle well in the role. Mentors help new comers to navigate through organizational maze. They help the mentee to step out of the content and focus on context.
I have been very fortunate to have lot of these influencers.
- Bijender Vats (my manager at MSD) is a very smart people manager. When I joined MSD, he made me play on my strength to build credibility with business. Gradually he coached me on other aspects of HRBP role. His coaching style with me over the years has shifted from participative to encouraging.
- Sameer Tamhane (my current HR leader) helped me in understanding the importance of creating a personal brand and guided me in working towards it.
Apart from this there are many other influencers from whom I picked up strong virtues just by observing – Arun Khedekar’s (ex-BD Head at Abbott) simplicity, Vivek Kamath’s (MD at MSD) humility, networking from Monica Chaudhari (ex-BUD at MSD).
Sanjeev Himachali
Sanjeev Himachali is a Strategic HR Consultant, Talent Strategist, Management Consultant and a Performance Coach. He exhibits over a decade and a half years of progressive, leadership experience and core competencies in talent acquisition, management, and development, HR program management, compensation & benefits management, and staff engagements.
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As a Principal Consultant, Sanjeev is credited with pioneering best practice HR systems and processes for clients. As a Talent Strategist, Sanjeev partners with organizations hiring managers to find, select, and hire top talent which provides a foundation for organization’s future growth
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