Lessons From My First Job: Ramaswamy Kavalapara, Head-HR, Xchanging APAC

Ramaswamy Kavalapara, Head-HR, Xchanging APAC shares his first job experience 

My First Job: It was with Wipro in the Personnel (HR) Department

My experience: It was phenomenal.  I was just out of college when I joined Wipro.  Being a fresher, I had to learn ground up.  Every team member was helpful in guiding me on the areas assigned.  In a couple of months I was up and running in the few areas assigned.  I could see a big opportunity, and decided to grow. The environment was very flexible and they were willing to let you learn and explore.  In a couple of years I mastered every area assigned.  My principle was to work smartly and take less time to complete an assignment and be able to take on more. Because of my enthusiasm, my manager added more to my portfolio, giving me complete exposure to all the activities undertaken by the department.

Things I learnt: When I started 26 years ago in Wipro, everything was manual.  The entire department had one personal computer (PC 286) and it was largely used for learning.  All work was hand-written, or by a manual type writer.  My learning was patience, empathy, team work and that working hard as well as smart really pays off in the long term.

Skills I Acquired: Everything around the Personnel / HR space that I could gather.

My Manager’s Teaching: He was a very strong person in the domain but very strict.  He took the pain to explain everything from scratch and tracked you closely on the progress.  Adherence to timelines, accuracy, and error-free completion of tasks were some of the areas he emphasised on.

My Journey So Far: Wipro was a solid foundation and I did not look back. I learnt that long-term stability pays. In the next organisation, I spent close to 17 years with a multi-faceted opportunity including stints overseas. Growth has been a steady factor with me and in the current organisation as well, the experience and learning has been tremendous.

Turning Point in my Career: This was at my second job. We had a new CEO regularly interacting with all youngsters in the organisation, and I was one of them.  At some point he told me that he is going to make me the head of the function (I was second-in-running at that time) and it will be under the mentorship of a senior colleague from a different department. This mentorship was planned for a year, but in 3 months I gained his confidence and started reporting directly to him. Working under his leadership was a turning point in my career.  It used to be 18 to 20 hour work days, but every bit was a great learning and growth opportunity. The share price of the company shot up by 600%.  Attrition dropped from 39% to 9% and many more laurels were achieved.

My most crucial step: I was given a target to reduce attrition from 39% to below 10%.  It was just me and one other colleague reporting to me. I had to work really hard to get the entire organisation together to make this happen.  We had to connect with every employee on the shared vision as mutual trust was the key. A lot of actions were taken in this space, eventually bringing transparency and getting everyone aligned to the organisation’s vision. People were encouraged to talk about their aspirations. Value creation was done for people in the bottom of the pyramid to bring out the best in them. Additionally, the entire management team addressed all employees in groups (including security and housekeeping staff) on the vision, achievements and plans ahead. We had a happy lot, who helped in creating value for customers, shareholders and themselves.

My Advice:  Hard work, be patient and leverage every opportunity. But do not forget the basics; roll up your sleeves and be ready to dirty your hands. Also, it is very important to be compassionate.

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