Jayashree Jayanth: The path that paves a million success stories

A dog lover, traveler, and fitness enthusiast: These three words might set the tone of an Instagram influencer’s introduction who is out posting videos, taking selfies, and amassing followers! Taking the Shakespearean analogy, if the world is a stage, these are just a few of the roles Ms. Jayashree Jayanth plays. A highly motivated woman leader of the HR space for the past 18 years, presently working as the Director of Human Resources for Ushur. An enriched career in human resources and talent acquisition from renowned companies like Springboard, RoofandFloor, Neudesic Technologies, Bank of America, Ma foi Management Consultants, ABC Recruitment, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Oh, and did we forget to mention that she is a shining alumnus of the prestigious Indian B-School IIM-Lucknow? That's right! An all-rounder on all fronts. 
We figured it would have been difficult for her to pick a line of work, So we had to ask, “why did you pursue a career in HR?” She said,

“I’ve always loved working with people and I believe that when we solve people's problems, we solve business problems.”

Fueled with passion for her field, Jayashree spoke about issues and aspects of the hiring space which are usually overlooked. One of the challenges she faced is recruiting the right fit within set timelines and getting quality candidates within the budget. Although as unpredictable as braving a storm in the sea, there are certain basics she adheres to, that keep the ship afloat amidst the deadlines and money caps. Through her years of experience, her go-to approach to ensuring the best hiring experience has been providing an elaborate, well-defined job description to the candidate applying for the role. Similarly, well-articulated directions are also given to the hiring panel before the hiring process begins. 

She is constantly breaking silos and ensuring TA team members have intake conversations with hiring managers to understand the job description better. This is not merely inclusive of the technical aspects of the role but also the behaviors that will help build the right culture at Ushur. A start-up environment necessitates a lot of hustle, an ownership mindset, and the ability to bring passion to work for a mission-oriented company. Although it may seem obvious, this keeps the candidates informed about the expectations and technical proficiency the job would demand. Bridging these channels of communication could remove a lot of the hurdles during the time of hire. 

Apart from this aspect, she takes a deeper dive to understand if the candidate has an ownership mindset and the desire to work passionately for a mission-oriented company. Over the years, this has proven to be mutually advantageous to the company and the candidate. The entirety of her career has been built around her love for working with people and ensuring that they integrate seamlessly to create something that is beyond themselves. 

Therefore, the inclusivity of a candidate to the existing workplace culture is something she is very serious about. For the candidate to easily integrate themselves into the existing space, diversity, equity, and inclusion of the company also play a very important role. Mrs. Jayashree actively continues to fight against discrimination against candidates based on race, color, caste, gender, or sexual orientation. She persistently maintains a transparent selection process. Additionally, she ensures that the candidates are provided competitive compensation packages and also ensures constant updates of the compensation ranges according to the market. Although it may seem small, these steps add up to create the perfect experience for the workforce. Almost one-third of a person’s life is spent in a corporate office. 

The avoidance of this nitty-gritty is what leads to mishires in the company. Jayashree opines that the issue of mishires creates a substantial loss for the company. Apart from reducing the velocity of outcomes, mishires have a sharp impact on the overall culture of the organization, this is why she gives due importance to culture and values. With these stringent measures, Jayashree has managed to keep the percentage of mishires to less than 5% over the last year. To avoid these issues from inching their way into the organization, Jayashree believes that the TA specialists and HR Leaders should buck up while hiring talent. She urges them to hold on to a sense of purpose for the role by considering themselves as the guardian and gatekeeper of the company culture. “You are the firewall. Instead of looking at TA as a closure of a role, consider it an important aspect of the organization and culture building.”

While proficiently providing the answer to questions regarding company-related predicaments, we felt the urge to shift the spotlight onto Jayashree. She is no stranger to the challenges a woman leader in the workforce would have faced. She stands to beckon and encourage women to pursue leadership roles in the talent acquisition space and emphasizes how they should believe in themselves and trust their judgment. Often being the only senior woman leader on the leadership team, she generally experienced a lack of empathy or understanding of a woman and her needs.  It was often expected that women learned to manage things because they had assumed a leadership role. In many cases, they had to strut about as if impregnable or unaffected by anything. Thankfully, this trend is eroding. Women leaders are encouraged to be vulnerable in the workplace, thus, reasserting the importance of building the right balance between ambition and well-being. 

Ms. Jayashree Jayanth continues to lead by example and create ripples in the human resource space. Our conversation with one of the pioneering trendsetters in the hiring space was memorable and inspiring.