Maybe I can call this the true beginning of my career. I got the opportunity to work with the HR Department of one of the pioneers in Real Estate Business—Knight Frank Pvt. Ltd to fulfill my summer internship project. Headed by Mr. Cyrus Dalal, I was included in the team and got the chance to work on the core HR projects and handling the recruitment process. Another exciting facet was my work on the Employee Handbook & the HR manual preparation. Preparing the final datasheet of the interviewed candidates I noticed that the application blank that I designed was being used by the organization in their interview process. It goes beyond expression to tell of my happiness when the new recruits addressed me, “Yes! Chakraborty, you are the one who called me for the interview, right?” Having a long and difficult east Indian name definitely breaks the ice with people twisting their tongues to get it right and finally settling for the surname. Jokes apart, coordinating the interviews has definitely left a mark of me in the organization, can I call it an identity! Being a trainee, I think the opportunities put on my plate were truly challenging and my first steps to being a professional. Funny as it may sound, like all my classmates I also was hoping for a good stipend, but now believe it or not, the best in learning, on-ground projects, and the professional recognition is truly satisfying.

During the training I learnt more about the dynamics of HR in the practical field. In this 2 months I learnt and realized that if good facilities management relates to 24/7 of effective work environment, a good HR manager ensures that all tools including facilities management are appropriately used to create 24/7 of a distinct work culture. Though I did not receive any formal training in Facilities Management I feel that HR and FM can both go hand in hand to create a great brand experience and make an organization an ‘Employer of Choice’.

As I was doing my training I got to know how a real recruitment process takes place and could now match it with my forte of theoretical knowledge. I got to know where actually the Mayer Brigg’s 16 personality traits are really used. I knew how an employee handbook creates awareness amongst the employees to mark its importance in the organization. I felt the real challenge and excitement of meeting deadlines and working on thousands of resumes at one time. I still remember the first day in Knight Frank where I was skeptical to start even a simple work. Confidence was low in even putting down the headings of the datasheet to represent the CVs received to be sorted. But all credits goes to my Guide M/s Jhulna Rana, Senior Manager HR and Training and the whole of HR team who gave me the ease and built on my confidence to communicate effectively. Being an introvert, I definitely had troubles in the beginning but Knight Frank taught me the importance of being an extrovert to grow in an organization. To work loud- more interactions, dedicated effort, and out-of-the-box thinking is all you need to moving-up a great career.
On the job I knew more about what are the services that the company provides, how it works, the importance of manpower planning etc. In a company with 600+ employees and a deep organizational history which influences its culture is infact a great challenge to work for. There were days where I had to sit patiently, without any work assigned to me, but surprisingly that also helped me, as I looked around to see other people work and deal with various organizational activities as well as problems. I never went back home each day without something added to my learning. At office the employees were like one big family where they enjoy celebrating their birthday, or treat everybody for their success, share their feelings, help each other and work to achieve the organization’s goal. I felt that working in such a holistic environment can help anyone to achieve a lot and my experience has been the same in this brief internship. The projects here has taught me that there is a lot to measure in a workplace like turnover, productivity and even team participation, employee performance and many more. The HR strategies help you develop benchmarks for the organization. I was fortunate enough to have closely watched my guide work which influenced me a lot. She always dealt with activities optimistically. If there was any query or controversy in any department regarding any topic she had a good logic and ability to solve the problem. She did pull me up occasionally but that was only a chance for self correction. She always had a patient ear to my thoughts and approved accordingly. It gives me immense pleasure to thank Knight Frank for giving me this opportunity to work/ get trained in a ‘super cool’ HR department. I will definitely miss this team and the great experience at Knight Frank Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, Head Office.