At eWards our HR specialists go by the title of go-to-person, someone whom you can go-to and approach when you have any questions/queries/suggestions/etc. Within this amazing team there’s a particular one who has amused and entertained us with her natural child-like charm and charisma- presenting the employee interview of the month our very own (the once upon a time youngest employee) Chetna Jain.
Starting off with How would Chetna define her journey at eWards?
I’ve been with eWards for 2 years now (yes, she also holds multiple titles- youngest, entertaining, most loved). In the first one and half years I was the youngest so that was quite an experience (ha ha). I’ll start with how I started working at eWards- when I finished my 2nd semester exams around June 2018, I had a lot of free time in my hands and I got the idea of applying for internships, but since I was under the impression that since I am in the first year, there wouldn’t be any opportunities (little did Chetna know eWards is different). After my first round, I was asked basic questions and then said that we’ll get back to you. A week passed and I was about to give up on eWards, until I got my call for the second round. It was conducted by Divya di and after the interview I was told we’ll get back to you in sometime, and I was under the impression that I won’t crack it. But when I reached home, I got my offer letter within 45 minutes which left me a bit curious, I always wanted to ask Divya Di what did she see in me?
And, then came my first day- which was quite inactive, all I did was sit (yes just sit) since Divya was in a meeting and my senior was not there. I did reach on time (first day, first impression) and all I did was sit, and also have lunch (you can’t miss lunch). When I had joined the team was quite small in number, and I was involved in other roles along with my primary role as an HR. I did sales (cold calling, lead generation), client servicing and it was quite a challenge at first since I was not very good at making calls (but I am now J)
We had weekly meetings with sir for mapping our progress and of-course since the team was small in strength I enjoyed lead generation. I also got a few closures (surprise surprise). I would also handle Kanika’s lead gen and get Kitkat as compensation (alert, Chetna and Kitkat are inseparable). Right after this our team started to increase in strength and I had to commit myself to being an HR.
During my role as an HR, I have made mistakes (we all do) but what I really love is the approach that the company has towards these matters. eWards encourages you to learn from the mistakes that you make instead of saying a no to anything. It’s all about learning and winning through mistakes. With me I would never say a no to any work, but I would make some or the other error, I can say that it is through my mistakes that I have reached this far. From being a person who was extremely shy (more than Shreya), to being the confident person I am today it is through my lessons and journey at eWards that helped me get this far.
When I had joined, conference was around the corner and I had to take care of a lot of responsibilities along with Paridhi, Nehal and Sneha. My first responsibility was to create the schedule for conference and I had made the first draft based on the previous schedules. Sir revamped the entire schedule and also included my name in one of the sessions. I had no clue until Sneha and MJ sir mentioned it, and I had my first literal shock, since sir insisted that I will be the first speaker on the first day. I was out of ideas when it came to what I should say and on the first day of conference, and in came Sneha (who is my savior). She would handle any difficulties that would arise. I had one situation where right before conference a certain situation had arisen where after Sneha’s encouragement I was able to send a confident message and sir read out the message during conference mentioning that the person whose voice was hardly audible has now stated about her work so confidently. My session was after lunch, and then it was shifted to a later slot, and then it was time for my session. While I was nervous, I was able to speak for 25 mins ( the average was 10–15 mins) and it felt very good. My closing lines in the speech went as follows “Being able to stand and speak in front of everyone today is my most major growth at eWards”. It was THE BEST!!
The next time I spoke due to my confidence was in the placement cycle at Bhawanipore College. I spoke about eWards and it was in front of 80 odd students in the hall room. One question that was in everyone’s mind was the short span for young students in a company, and to answer this question I gave an insight on my own journey. It was quite impactful as a majority of the students applied in eWards.
The major takeaway in my entire journey at eWards would be breaking through the wall of shyness and coming out on my own. Whether it’s talking to owners or students, potential recruits or experienced employees I have the confidence to communicate openly. Most importantly I would call my journey a complete 360 degree shift from the person who joined to the person I am today.
There’s quite a lot more to talk about from my journey, apart from becoming confident, overcoming the wall of shyness, it is also the amazing people I have met throughout my journey at eWards.
I have also watched a lot of people grow in my journey, especially the tech team- they were previously the quiet ones but today we are all very familiar with their work, names and the hidden qualities they have (yes Chetna knows a lot)
Most memorable and Most embarrassing moment at eWards
My most memorable moments are quite a lot and my most embarrassing moments are almost the same.
Apart from the confident speech at my first conference, I would say inspiring a lot of students during recruitment drive, handing the HR responsibilities, having lunch in the center table, and of course MJ sir’s moments of fun- all of these would fall in my most memorable moments. There’s also Frisbee which was a lot of fun and getting a lot of holidays approved by sir (ha ha). There’s also party approvals (it was all memorable).
My most embarrassing would be the email blunder which I made in the beginning where I did not edit the template and sent it as it was, and it was an embarrassing disaster- people of course did take it in a positive stride but it was quite embarrassing. There was also the moment when I had a slight difficulty while talking to a client (I was new).
But of course, learning from all of these experiences brought me where I am today.
When it comes to my biggest challenges- I did not know much about my work and was not very open when it comes to communication, and learning all of this from scratch was quite the challenge. Talking to people was the biggest challenge- I just couldn’t do it. But then with all my experience at eWards I was able to learn everything step-by-step and most importantly communicate confidently.
I am also grateful for the other opportunities to learn new tools and fields that I got to explore- I loved designing in Canva, all the HR mails, birthday mails, and design lessons it was so wonderful. What made it worthwhile was the appreciation that you got from the employees- for me it might have been a regular day to day role, but for the employees it was a moment of great joy so why not make it special? (Design team take note)
My best lessons apart from speaking and public speaking would be learning Canva.
Your never-say-goodbye list of people from eWards
Apart from the entire team, who accepted me and taught me a lot of things along the way I would say it would be the team from the earlier phase of my journey, then Sneha who has been my constant supporter, Divya who has always helped me through challenges and lessons, MJ who is an all time favorite, Sir who has been the most impactful person in my growth, Ma’am who helped me improve my work ethic and is very supportive, and also all the heads of the respective silos.
Finally, any closing lines for eWards
I would say two things-
First, I will miss all the beautiful moments and memories that I have made at eWards. It is a great place to work, you’ll learn a lot of things and grow immensely. It is a place where there a fresher needs to come and experience the initial years of their professional life.
For all the newcomers, I would say patience is the most important thing to show, if you are patient about your work, show a willingness to learn and listen to the feedback given then you will definitely succeed at eWards.
Thank you to all who have been a part of my wonderful journey, it’s not a goodbye- it’s see you again! Chetna signing out
