I met Kanchan when she joined GetMyPeon, taking over their HR reins. While she is vivacious, it took a couple of short conversations to understand the impressive career journey she has had in an amazingly short period of time. I simply had to interview her for TheRodinhoods! 🙂
Entrepreneurs are go-getters as they work towards their goal. The long hours involve studies, updated knowledge, people skills and consciously grooming new skills. Kanchan represents the sincere and industrial side of entrepreneurship. My conversation with her-
Kanchan, what struck me was the transition from your academic performance in school (average) and in junior college (excellent). Do elaborate on what made the difference.
Yes, it is indeed striking how a just-about-distinction scorer made it to scoring 90s through the two years of junior college. After my school I had to run from pillar to poster for admissions. It came to a point where all my friends were already in college and I was still on the lookout for an admission. My mother relentlessly accompanied me wherever we went for admission. There was one such day when we went to a college to meet the Principal; this college was a part of a bigger group where I had no hopes to secure a seat. When we met the Principal, she said a point blank NO and Mamma broke, for the first time I saw her requesting with tears in her eyes. THAT day made a difference. We walked out of college and as Mamma was wiping off the tears from her eyes, I decided, 2 years from now and I would ensure my mother walks the same campus happy and proud.
“I have followed a simple rule – to be amongst the top 5.”
Right enough, after my HSC, I applied in the parent group of the same college which had rejected me and got through in the first list itself. It did not stop there and by the end of graduation, I topped the college and will soon be delivering a guest lecture there 🙂 The turning point was the helplessness I saw in my mother and that was the time I decided that this was going to be the end of all the trouble she went through to get me educated. There on, my efforts aren’t to be the first but just to be in the first 5. Whether it be academics or individual assignments or work; the rule remains simple – just aim the first 5 and you are sorted because it saves you the stress to stand first while making sure all your energy is focused towards getting ahead.
Were you involved in extracurricular activities during school and college years? Did they contribute to your decisions taken later in life? Lessons learnt?
Sports were never my forte, as a matter of fact the only race I have ever nailed a medal has been “Potato Race” in the 3rd standard ;P And at that point, the idea was not to win, the idea was to get the potato before anybody else and get it to Mamma so she could make me French fries ;P
Apart from that, as a child, I took a keen interest in drawing and learning languages. I managed to establish myself amongst the top 3 rankers in the State level Marathi Language Proficiency examination in school. Also pursued a basic language proficiency course in Spanish and loved it! For a long time I used to teach when I was in school just for the sake of the happiness I got out of teaching with absolutely no monetary benefits attached.
Do share your experiences at your first job, and the key takeaways.
My first job was with a consultancy and at that time I had no comprehension of what it takes to be a competent Human Resource professional. The doorway for any HR job is Talent Acquisition and when I bagged it, I was happy for two reasons – my first breakthrough in my profession and because I was now able to contribute monetarily at home. It was an incentivized role so at the end of the month I usually took home more than the fixed salary by way of incentives.
“My first take away from the job was PATIENCE!”
We called up 20 people to get one candidate for interview and then groomed him/her for hours so that he/she got selected and then patiently waited for them to complete 3 months with the company so that we got our incentives. It also taught me to understand people over a period of time. We met everybody from genuine job seekers to bragging bullshitters and the art of distinguishing the former from the later was what I got from the job.
Transition to second job?
Was it a different ‘Kanchan’ now? What had changed?
Yeah, the second job was a corporate profile so a lot had changed. The way a consultancy functions and the manner in which a corporate operates is a lot more different. You know the people around you are more experienced and are capable of talking their way to get things done. You transition from 6 day casual attire to a 5 day formal setting. You have deadlines and dual reporting now makes sense to you.
“In a corporate,
you are directly exposed to the war of diplomatic minds.”
Initially it was difficult because I was taken for a very junior role but over two months, I was doing more than I was supposed to. Nevertheless, I loved doing it all, loved the learning and the appreciations AND the escalations as well 🙂 It taught me that the world isn’t all that bad but it does come to bite you in the back if it doesn’t get what it wants. My approach towards work, people and my career had changed. I could now relate my efforts to Business and that is what HR in a company teaches you.
Key projects which you initiated and delivered? 🙂
Mirah Hospitality has been my turning point and I thank God because it clicked in the most unusual manner. I was interviewed for a particular profile and shortlisted for some other profile. One project which is very close to my heart is the Development module I developed during Mirah. Everybody wants to learn English and the language not only is a medium to express but it instills confidence and enhances careers. Keeping this in mind, I developed a 6 month Development Module to train those who lacked prowess over spoken English. The module is like my baby because I had drafted, developed and facilitated it in entirety.
When at work, we have highs and lows. While Monday starts with a positivity of accomplishment, Friday ends with the fear of failure. To keep people high and happy and healthy in mind, I started the concept of “Saturday Story”. These were short stories with hard hitting takeaways that any working professional could relate to. After having sent forwarded stories, I tried my hand on writing one on my own. After all, stories were once a life lived by someone.
What do you do at GetMyPeon? What excites you here?
Currently I am functioning as the Human Interface Specialist at Get My Peon. ‘Human Interface’ because as a human resource person, you first need to treat your people as Humans and later treat them as employees. While you need to fight for them, you also need to debate with them to strike a healthy employer-employee balance. My job is all about interfacing with people to get the right talent to work with us and to sustain them by working out their compensation, benefits and engagement policies.
What are you pursuing? Where do you see yourself in the next decade?
I am pursuing my part time MBA in Human Resource from Welingkar’s. To a lot of people it seems to be just another part time MBA that helps you nail your long awaited promotion but to me it is a mental nourishment program that takes me through the nuances of Human Resource. I am also planning to do a specialized course in Payroll and Compliance because it shapes you into a holistic HR person – something I aspire to become.
Performance and how it affects all the aspects of a person and an organization is what interests me. Next decade is still too long, but in the next 5 years I see myself on the way of specializing in Performance Management.
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Why Kanchan inspires me –
- A success strategy that is figured out.
- Relentless pursuit of knowledge and experiences.
- Open to shift in job descriptions and newer lessons.
- Clarity on the bigger picture – she knows where she’s headed.
- Responsibility & Accountability – she knows what she’s talking about.
Thank you, Kanchan. Best wishes from the community! 🙂
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About the Author: @sushrutmunje
I build Hammer and Mop – specializing in marketing, service and operations. I’m a published poet and a writer. Startups excite me. Have been a part of speaker panels and given guest lectures at business schools, been a speaker at Youth to Business Forums (powered by AIESEC) and I sit on Unltd India‘s selection board once in a while. Contributing as a business writer at TheRodinhoods – creating content, interviewing inspiring entrepreneurs / intrapreneurs / professionals and covering events.