‘Have clear vision and intent before appearing for a job interview’

Spearheading a 20 member team at Urban Company, Aman Chitkara believes that a strong leader must collaborate more and command less. After completing his schooling from Apeejay School, Saket in Delhi, he pursued an undergraduate degree in Bachelors of Commerce at College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi. Simultaneously, he upskilled himself with four Finance-related online certifications from National Stock Exchange. Being a successful professional in his field, he shares his learnings. Edited excerpts from the interview:

Please tell us about your professional experience.

Prior to joining Urban Company, I had a short stint with Uber Eats as a Programme Manager. At UberEats, my focus was to launch its app in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets in India.

What are your responsibilities as a Senior Manager at Urban Company?

It has been 3 years at Urban Company now. It is a capability and business-building role. I ensure operations, buying, selling and quality assurance of products that the company procures for salon and beauty services. I hone the delivery experience at Urban Company, along with post-order complaints, margins and revenue. I am leading the experience charter with a sizable team of professionals.

What have been the trends in ‘salon at home’ services in the past 3 years?

In the pre Covid-19 era, the idea of having ‘salon at home’ services started to gain popularity. At that time, the demand for men’s grooming was growing sharply. However, during the first Covid-19 wave, all services came to a halt.

Then, after the first lockdown, as things began to resume to normalcy, people started opting for more beauty-related services at home. The preference simply came from the Covid-19 scare. Post the Covid-19 second wave, again there was a massive growth in salon and men’s grooming services. Currently, many people have moved to a ‘salon at home’ experience. It’s just more convenient.

What is the trend going to look like in future?

Women seem to prefer ‘salon at home’ more. We may witness an upward trend in this segment because there is a lot of scope for innovation in it.

Life lessons learned at Apeejay School, Saket?

Discipline and leadership – both virtues have really helped me in my career.