Experts focus on upskilling, diversity and inclusion in workplace at HR Conclave 

The global job market is evolving at a fast, coupled with an increasing  demand for a new level of skilled managers. This market shift is further accelerating the industry-academia collaborations between the B-schools as well as organisations to train skilled professionals for the trending job market.

Thus, with a similar objective,  Apeejay School of Management (ASM), Dwarka recently organised Corporate Meet & HR Conclave in its campus. The aim of this event was to further collaborate with the recruiters’, both current as well as prospective, and to engage with them for various institutional-building activities.

The event kicked off with a welcome address by Dr. Alka Munjal, Director at ASM, who emphasised on “the need for an active industry-academia interface to ensure a holistic learning of the students.”

Two panel discussions consisting of industry professional, practitioners were conducted.  The first panel discussion was on the subject of “Reskill and Reinvent: Appealing to Gen Z”. The power-packed panellists for this round included HR luminaries like Mr. Mussarat Hussain, Head (HR), Suzuki R & D, India; Ms. Lopamudra Banerjee, Head (HR and Admin), Carrier Midea; Ms. Sulbha Kaushal Rai , Chief People Officer , RenewBuy. Dr. Runa Maitra, Founder and Director, People Talent International was the session moderator . The esteemed panellists shared that the approach of paired and shared leadership was the need of the hour. They further emphasised that the evolving organisational landscape is blurring lines between students and corporate workers, with 75% of Gen Z acknowledging the need for upskilling to stay engaged. AI should be seen as an enabler and students should make continuous learning and upskilling a lifelong necessity. 

Mr. Hussain in his deliberation drew the attention of students to the “70:20:10 rule of learning where 70% experiential learning, 20% social learning skills are acquired via books and certification and 10% of formal learning is acquired in the classroom”. He further urged the budding professionals to focus on learning outside the classrooms. Ms. Banerjee highlighted on “fungibility as an important skill-set that organisations look for in a candidate and on the other side, employees seek for wellness and work-life balance in their prospective employer”.

The topic for the second panel discussion was “Elevating diversity, equity, and inclusion quotient”.This session delved into the significance of DEI (diversity, equality and inclusivity) practices, their implementation challenges, and the best practices. The session witnessed the presence of very seasoned HR professionals from different organisations like Mr. Emanuel Suraj, Chief Executive Officer, Define Equity; Ms. Mili Chadha, Director (HR), ASSOCHAM; Mr. Sandeep Singh Sasan: Head (HR Ops & International recruitment), DRAIPL; Mr. Vaibhav Mediratta – Regional Director (L&D), BYJU’s; and Ms. Sandhya Rana – Group Head (HR), DSS Imagetech Pvt Ltd, who moderated the session. 

Mr. Vaibhav started the discussion by mentioning that Indian organisations are dynamic entities akin to rivers, not stagnant ponds. The panel emphasised that several Indian companies are striving towards gender diversity and a comprehensive approach covering age, regional, and cultural diversity is vital to attracting global talent. The panellists further opined that best practices like assigning diversity goals, process of blind screenings during talent acquisition, collaborative policy-making, involving stakeholders, emerged as a key driver for effective DEI implementation. In the end, Mr. Emanuel Suraj concluded by saying ” Diversity is integral to key leadership roles, illustrating how focusing on problem solving can naturally bridge the gender and age gaps”

Both the sessions saw active participation from the students. Among the many key takeaways, one of them was “upskilling is the need of the hour”. The attendees also had a deeper understanding of DEI practices.

The next exciting step was the announcement of the Summer Internship Programme results for batch 22 -24. Rohan Pandey bagged the first prize followed by Kritagya Srivastava, who won the second prize and Ms. Anmol Lalwani, who received the third prize. The following three students won the award and were felicitated in presence of their corporate and faculty mentor, amongst loud cheers from their peers. 

In the end, Dr. Ishita Adhikari , Head (CRC) and Convenor of the event extended the vote of thanks with special reference to the senior industry professional whose presence had illuminated the campus. The event concluded with networking over lunch.