Me, Myself, and TurboHire — Completing Year One Together

At the cost of it sounding ‘silly’ l have a confession to make. When I learned that TurboHire encourages team members to write anniversary articles, I started looking forward to my 1 year anniversary piece — this one. Why? Because,1) I have always liked sharing my learnings and experiences, albeit philosophically at times; and 2) I like writing but recently have either procrastinated on it or simply got caught up doing other things.

But a small Disclaimer upfront: This is going to seem like a very ‘I, me, myself’ rant — bordering on narcissism to some; but what the heck, it is my anniversary article.

Anyway, this is it.

I believe that life can be defined as a package of time, categorised by three distinct timelines: the past, the present, and the future. The present in this case is not just today or now, but a period that is defined by who we are and what we are doing presently. And so, the past is all that which has led up to and resulted in this present; and consequently, the future is where this present will lead us.

The Past

There are three chapters of my past which I feel have contributed the most significantly to my present — the last two roles that I was in and an ongoing obsession with design thinking. Specifically so, because I know that they have contributed to the skills & competencies I have developed today as well as a value system that drives me forward.

My time as an entrepreneur taught me a lot of things which, I am sure, would be the case with almost all those who have toyed with entrepreneurship at some point in their lives. Following immediately after a B-School education, this gig helped me learn a lot about building a team and creating a business. And while it was extremely gratifying on a learning and purpose-driven front, I knew back then that it was going to fall short of taking me to a future that I wanted to see for myself. And what followed was a very difficult decision of closing my own creative agency and that which saw me taking up a role at a consulting firm in a different city to lead their brand and marketing.

As I went about creating a brand for this firm and shaping out its marketing team from scratch, I got the opportunity to do — and consequently learn — a lot more. So, on one front I was racking up some invaluable know-how of the world of marketing that would inevitably shape my profile as a marketer. But on the other hand, my observation, understanding, and expectation of what an organisation should be, was also getting defined.

The thing is, I have always believed that a company is made up of two parts — the business and the organisation. And neither of these should be better or worse off than the other. So, when I found myself in an organisation where talent and teams were perceived purely as either cost-centres or profit-centres, it was clear that the mindset that drove that company was very far from what a healthy organisation should have. Because leadership saying (or for that matter, even believing) that they ‘value’ talent development comes to mean almost nothing when their actions, opinions, and thoughts towards talent and the talent function itself are always diametrically opposite. And this misalignment of values continued to brew under the surface with the only vent for me being the occasional rants that my wife was subjected to. Should I have spoken up more about it back then, in hindsight — probably yes. Would it have changed anything though — I truly doubt it. Because habits and even mindsets can be altered with time, intent, and the right kind of coaching. But belief systems on the other hand, stem from something far more deep-rooted.

Now, in parallel to this transformation that I was going through as a professional, design thinking — which had entered my life in early 2015 — had started taking on a more mature form and purpose. What began as a self-realisation about the subject and how I functioned as an individual, soon materialized in not only me studying the subject and its related fields in depth but also teaching it as a guest speaker or adjunct faculty at various institutions. For the uninitiated, design thinking is the terminology used to describe a user-centric problem-solving process and mindset.

So in November 2020 when TurboHire and I connected for the first time, we already had a lot in common. Because — as a solution, TurboHire was envisioned and built with the primary purpose of solving some genuine problems in the talent discovery and acquisition function. And where I was coming from — with my own obsession with user-centricity and, more importantly, an organisation where talent existed as an almost antithesis of what it should be, getting associated with a team and company that was trying to solve this problem was nothing short of our proverbial stars aligning.

The Present

The last one year at TurboHire has been a brilliant amalgamation of everything that I was and everything that I want to be. Moving from an otherwise rigid professional services industry to the much more fast-paced evolving space of SaaS, presented me with the opportunity to try and do everything I wanted to — and with speed and scale.

As a marketer to be given the opportunity to experiment, challenge the status quo, and create something that the world will recognise is nothing short of a privilege. And to top it up, when you have a team that not only shares your value-system but is also driven with the same gusto as yourself, achieving dreams becomes a pursuit of reality. This is exactly what the past 12 months with this team and organisation have been.

Today I am surrounded by young professionals, be it the ones with experience trying to make a mark for themselves or our fiery interns and freshers who are riddled with a hunger for growth and learning. And one can only imagine what a work environment such as this can do for one’s own growth. Today, I wake up every morning not looking forward to just getting my job done but rather to achieve milestones and contribute towards the legacy that we will be.

I am particularly proud of my marketing team which has in this short period of one year, and with limited resources, achieved to do more than what most organisations can. Aside from the quintessential pursuits of marketing, they have pushed the boundaries in an industry where otherwise everyone only emulates leaders. From what we talk about and how we talk about it, to the multiples of ways in which we relentlessly try and connect with every talent professional out there, the work of TurboHire’s marketing team has only scaled week-on-week; month-on-month. And the support, freedom, and encouragement from the other leaders of our organisation continue to act as catalysts for all that we do in our marketing team.

Being part of an organisation that encourages and values ideas and responsibilities purely based on merit, inevitably results in a continual learning and growing experience. And being an ardent advocate of lifelong learning, I can say — without a shred of doubt — that I am evolving into a better professional with each day. I would like to believe that as a marketer I have become more adept at the work I do; and as a person I have become a better coach and leader of my team. Personally, I think I am wired to strive harder for the latter — and only because I believe that skills, no matter how challenging, can be learnt and honed with time and concerted effort. But leading people on the other hand, requires us to become better versions of ourselves. Because, on one hand I obviously need to to learn, grow, and become effectively better with the work I do. And on the other, I need to become increasingly empathetic of my team members as well as cognizant of their futures. Given a choice I would never want this learning and evolution to ever cease; but rather only evolve as we mature and grow as a company.

And the best part about this entire present is that it has a very distinct sense of just getting started. Because the future, as we all know it, is fairly unknown with its own sets of trials and tribulations. But where we are today is simply us being poised to take on the time ahead with an equal amount of passion and vigour.

The Future

I don’t want to say a lot about the future only because we truly don’t really know what will be in store. But speaking for myself, what I can say is that whatever is to become of me from here, it will only be a multifold version of who I am and what I do presently.

Everything that I do in the near future at TurboHire will boil down to one simple goal — to create something that will be renowned, respected, and even aspired to worldover. And I am certain that the people that surround me during this journey, will not only aid along the way but also be instrumental in shaping the outcome for me in both a professional and individual manner.

And if you’re keen on how we’ve been using user-centricity and design thinking approaches to build TurboHire as a brand — Click Here.

Better still you can check out how we’re transforming the recruitment landscape forever. You can get a free demo of TurboHire here.