Introduction: Human resources (HR) is the division of a business that is charged with finding, screening, recruiting, and training job applicants, as well as administering employee-benefit programs. HR plays a key role in helping companies deal with a fast-changing business environment and a greater demand for quality employees in the 21st century. But this is a bit tough for someone who is new like me to the world of Human Resource Management to understand all these terminologies. So I tried to connect with Human Resource Professionals who are into this field so that I can get to know more about the job description, the tools used in HRM, the skills required and some of the challenges faced by HR industry. After my research blog, I have got to know much more about the HR profession. My blog will also be helpful to many people who are trying to change their career path into HR or who are new to this field.
The HR professional I spoke first was K.V. Kiran Kumar Reddy. He is a Manager- HR Systems at Swiggy. Currently, he handles the HR Tech and Systems at Swiggy. Kiran has completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and later completed his PGDHRM from XLRI Jamshedpur.
The next HR professional I spoke to was Teja kerkar. She works at Vivajay Brushes (Goa) as an HR Executive and Admin. She has a total of 5 years of experience in the HR domain. Teja has completed her BBA from St. Xaviers College, Goa.
What does your work day look like?
The day starts with meetings, we decide on Monday about the things which we are going to be implementing for this week and getting it completed, then we get thorough with it and implement it. So we decide on Monday morning that these are the features we are going to implement for this particular product, we then decide on the requirements and later we implement those features. Every day in the morning we start with identifying what are the gaps that are there, in order to complete certain things and finally rap up with what has to be done the next day.
K. V. Kiran Kumar Reddy
It looks like a new chapter every day. New challenges and learnings on every step.
Teja Kerkar
Tools you use?
In the HRM system, we mostly use Darwin Box. Then for recruitment, we use a tool known as MNY (MyNextHire). We also use the HR Resolver and some more internal Swiggy tools.
K. V. Kiran Kumar Reddy
We only work with Biometric system software.
Teja Kerkar
Key skills you use at your job?
Two major things used are project management and the second one would be people’s skills; as when are working with a team, we need to understand and respect likes and dislikes of our peers.
K.V. Kiran Kumar Reddy
Leadership, being proactive, good communication skills, laptop sevy, recruitment & selection.
Teja Kerkar
Reason you choose the company?
The work culture and peer group you will get at Swiggy and a very important thing that I would consider is having a good manager who would lead me.
K. V. Kiran Kumar Reddy
When I was recruited by Vivajay Brushes three years ago, I had an experience in an HR consultancy firm. Additionally, I had handled labor & factory inspections, plus compliance audits.
Teja Kerkar
Career progression in this field?
It’s pretty simple, there are multiple functions in HR, so you will need to get into various functions of HR like HR business partnering, performance management, talent management, people operations, learning and development. Once you know about these things, you can climb up the ladder. Once you have enough experience to guide people through, you can either become the CHRO or you can become a functional expert. If you want to be a functional expert then you will need to go in one of the three verticals: compensation and benefits, talent management, learning and development.
K. V. Kiran Kumar Reddy
Getting exposure of WCA audits, ISO audits. Getting trained under first aid training and fire fighting trainers was much of a progress.
Teja Kerkar
Some Challenges you faced
I didn’t know in-depth about project management initially so had to struggle, like what features to implement or what features to stop or what does the customer want, how do I involve stakeholders, stakeholders management process was tough initially. I overcame these challenges and learned about project management. I took help from various articles published about project management.
K.V. Kiran Kumar Reddy
Handling the Covid pandemic situation, manpower shortage, handling grievances at work.
Teja Kerkar
Some Challenges in the HR industry in general
One thing is that we need to have a connection with the employees you are going to handle, unless you understand the problems of the employee, you wouldn’t be able to solve the issue. So if you are going to implement your own solution, that wouldn’t work. You need to understand the employees and come up with a solution. This is one of the main challenges people face not being able to understand their employee issues. The solution is simple, you will need to talk to your employees, have a group discussion with them, you need to talk to them personally and understand them, have a one to one connect.
K. V. Kiran Kumar Reddy
Every industry you go there is a new level ahead. HR in hospitality is very much different from the HR of Factories. So you find it difficult to get adjusted in such situations.
Teja Kerkar
