From an IT Engineer to the Head HR at Zivame – Siddharth Vishwanath’s Story
After completing his engineering degree in IT, Siddharth Vishwanath (GMBA’09) started his career by working in the IT services industry for 2 years before he decided to join SP Jain to pursue the Global MBA program. “When I started my GMBA, I was very new in the industry, and quite naïve. So, it was no surprise that the first few days in the program were overwhelming, to say the least. The power-packed curriculum, meeting new people, travelling to new places, trying new cuisines – it was a completely new territory for me,” says Siddharth.
Post his MBA, Siddharth explored career opportunities at multiple domains including consulting, media & entertainment, automobiles, fashion, retail, and e-commerce. He was entrusted with leading an HR function at the young age of 29, and since then, there has been no looking back. Today, Siddharth is the Head of Human Resources at Zivame, leading the People function for one of India’s fastest growing start-ups and ensuring that the company’s business scale journey is driven through people, culture and processes. As a part of a start-up, Siddharth’s role requires him to be a part of the leadership team that is driving business forward as well as a hands-on leader managing the people agenda on the ground – be it at Zivame’s Corporate Headquarters in Bengaluru or at one of their 40+ retail stores across the country.
“SP Jain helped me a lot in getting me where I am today. First, it got me out of my comfort zone and taught me business fundamentals the right way. The 1-year I spent at the school helped me build a strong network with my peers who came with a wide spectrum of experience and who, till date, are a constant source of motivation and support for me. Second, it opened doors for me where there existed none. It created opportunities and gave me the SP Jain alumni tag which I continue to leverage in the industry to bring credibility to my name,” he adds.
As one of the leading professionals in the industry, Siddharth was recently invited by The Economic Times to be a part of their HR Round Table and discuss relevant topics about attracting, upskilling and retaining tech talent in a challenging VUCA environment.
“Upcoming professionals need to realise that HR is a field where tremendous impact is created through the right business fundamentals and an astute sense of business acumen. Incidentally, the means of doing this is through the only appreciating asset called People. The talent supply versus demand in HR is low and the field ensures that good business talent is given an accelerated path to growth,” Siddharth concludes.
