Sep 2023 – Present · 2 yrs 9 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region · On-site

• ■ With 20+ years in executive search & leadership hiring, I have had the privilege of working with 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐂𝐄𝐎𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐬 to identify and place transformative leaders who define business success.
• ■ 𝐀𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & CEO 𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 - 𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐑 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲, I lead a search firm dedicated to delivering precision-driven, impact-focused executive hires. North Star Executive Search is built on a singular vision: to help organizations navigate the future by securing their North Star Executive — the guiding force who anchors vision, accelerates transformation, and drives sustained business growth.
• 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐔𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭?
• ■ Our approach is deeply consultative, research-backed & results-driven. We are trusted talent advisors specializing in VP to C-suite level hiring across diverse industries & functions. Our unique methodology, anchored in fitment, reach & rigorous evaluation processes, enables us to deliver ‘First Batch Closures’—80%+ times, ensuring that our clients find the right leaders in the very first batch of candidate profiles we present.
• 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 & 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞
• ■ North Star Executive Search is the executive search practice of HR Interface, a firm I founded in 2006 & have led to become a recognized name. Our practice is built on a foundation of 20+ years of expertise, a vast industry network, & a track record of high-impact leadership placements.
• 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐞?
• I believe great businesses are built by great leaders. My mission is to help organizations WIN by identifying, engaging & securing the best leadership talent available. With a commitment to excellence, discretion & long-term impact, I partner with top decision-makers to ensure their leadership investments drive measurable success.
• 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟑𝟎 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 | 𝟐𝟎 + 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 | 𝟑𝟎𝟎+ 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
• 📩 neha@northstar-exec.com

Mar 2022 – Sep 2023 · 1 yr 6 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India · Hybrid

• In leading the Talent Acquisition COE for dentsu South Asia, I've helped it emerge through a transformative journey, developing as a strong employer brand. Our efforts saw this global advertising & marketing communications powerhouse, hailed as 5th largest in the world with 66,000 employees across 140 countries, leverage this talent to fuel business growth, winning the prestigious Cannes Global Agency of the Year 2022.
• My role has been multifaceted & impactful, encompassing:
• ● Building the Talent Acquisition COE:
• Hired, coached & led a high-caliber team of 30+ recruiters recruiting for 3 service lines (Media, Creative, CXM) & Corporate Functions. An impressive 3500+ offers made while reducing costs & increasing quality. Less than 0.5% of offers involved external vendor costs.
• ● Collaboration on Global TA Projects:
• Successfully collaborated on crucial projects with global colleagues from APAC, UK, ANZ, China, US on Internal Mobility, Workday Recruiting, Early Careers, EVP, Employer Brand, DE&I, etc.
• ● Talent Analytics & Data-driven Insights:
• Spearheaded customization of service line-specific predictive hiring models. Built high-density talent pipelines. A data-driven approach allowed us to optimize the end-to-end TA value chain, with improved quality of hires, reduced time-to-fill & enhanced org performance.
• 🏆 Achievements:
• ✓ 3500 offers made. Only 0.5% external vendor costs.
• ✓ Significant reduction of 50% in the offer dropout ratio
• ✓ Built the TA COE ground up during a time of high transformation & integration.
• ✓ Championed & built the step by step program for integration of 25 agency acquisitions into the 'One Dentsu' employer brand.
• ✓ Received routine appreciation from APAC CHRO, APAC TA Director & Global TA Head for our timely & consistent fulfillment of a large number of open roles, improved quality of hires, professional skill development of recruiters, high-impact stakeholder management, and overall excellence of recruitment function.

Oct 2015 – Mar 2022 · 6 yrs 5 mos · Mumbai Area, India

• At Media.net, for a Global AdTech Business (India, MENA (North America, Middle East) EU (Europe) & APAC region I have enjoyed & championed:
• ■ End to End Talent Acquisition (Business/Tech/Product Management/G&A/Corporate functions) for a rapidly growing global adtech business having helped scaled the business from 150 to 2000 employees over 6.5+ years.
• ■ Tier I Graduate & B-School/Post Grad Campus - Relationships, Hiring & outreach. (IIM/IIT/MDI/MICA/SCMHRD/SIBM, etc)
• ■ A World class & progressive Candidate Experience Management (Glassdoor rating 4 - 4.4)
• ■ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belongingness in Hiring (DE&I)
• ■ Team Management & Mentoring
• ■ Employer Branding / Talent Brand Building
• ■ Recruitment Center of Excellence (COE)
• ■ Talent Community Building
• ■ Hiring Leadership Programs
• ■ Stakeholder management
• ■ Management reporting
• ■ Compensation & Benefits Bench-marking & Best practices for attracting premium talent.
• ■ Industry & Competitor Mapping.
• ■ Psychometric Assessments / Qualitative Aptitude testing
• ■ Recruitment Tech, ATSes & New Age Hiring Methodologies (Successfactors, Lever, Hackathons, Recruitathons. Clubhouse hiring, etc)

Aug 2014 – Jul 2015 · 11 mos · Mumbai Area, India

• Led the strategic recruitment efforts for PropTech Giant Housing.com across tech, product, business & corporate functions, partnering over 2.5 years. During this tenure, I successfully scaled teams across various functions including Business (Marketing, Sales, Campaigns, Operations, Strategy, Art studio, etc), Technology (SDE1/2/3, Platform Engineers, AI/ML experts, etc.), Product Management, & Functions (HR, Legal, Finance, IT, etc).
• At Housing.com, my role included but was not limited to:
• ● Talent Acquisition COE building: Reporting to the CEO & CBO, I led the recruitment efforts globally. Built a team of in-house recruiters which hired impactful hires that built robust SAAS/PAAS products.
• ● Compensation & Benefits: Successfully conducted salary benchmarking exercises, skillfully negotiated salaries & effectively closed complex compensation packages including ESOPS grants, ensuring the attraction and retention of top talent.
• ● Recruitment Strategy Consulting: By devising sophisticated recruitment models, I formulated an eloquent recruitment strategy and optimized team structures to address the specific hiring challenges of multiple Strategic Business Units (SBUs) with distinct scaling requirements and unique skill set demands.
• ● Employer Branding: I played a crucial role in building Housing.com's talent brand into one of the most desirable workplaces. This accomplishment received recognition from LinkedIn and PeopleMatters, ranking it as the 6th most influential brand in India, alongside prominent companies like TCS, Wipro, HCL, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra. [Link: https://bit.ly/3aZ4O3t]
• ● Campus Hiring: In collaboration with top-tier I campuses such as IIT/IIM/ISB/MDI/MICA/etc, I identified & recruited high-end talent to support the company's rapid expansion. I devised comprehensive questionnaires and facilitated group discussions to effectively shortlist and onboard exceptional candidates from these esteemed institutions.

Aug 2006 – Aug 2014 · 8 yrs · Mumbai Area, India · On-site

• Started my Entrepreneurial venture into Recruitment Consulting & Executive Search at the age of 22, scaling the company to becoming a team of 15 on-roll recruiters, servicing 250+ clients across industries across India/APAC/SEA (South-East Asia)/ Middle East/etc
• ■ Recruitment Service Delivery: With Leadership in Mid/Senior Level Hiring across industries, we were touted as the most successful Recruitment Partners by many of our clients in Technology, E-Commerce, Media, Retail, Real Estate, Digital, Consulting, BPO/IT/ITES, Aviation/Airlines, Travel & Tourism, F & B, Hospitality, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive, BFSI/NBFC, Education, Logistics & Supply Chain, etc. I was in charge of overseeing & executing all end to end hiring leading up to high fitment delivery by stringently following time tested processes & best practices for clients in all these domains successfully.
• ■ Executive Search & Strategy Consulting: Working very closely with Senior Management/CXO teams on the Client’s side, executed multiple successful accounts for strategic hiring of business heads, setting up complete leadership teams, helping with Succession planning & strategy consulting for crucial positions across the board.
• ■ Team Management: Built, trained & managed a team of over 30 recruiters over 8 years, servicing more than 100 clients every year. Recruiting, training, mentoring, performance management, appraisals, etc for the entire team was completely managed by me.
• [ Hired for Adtech / Gaming / Edtech / Fintech / Food tech/ Agritech/ Real estate tech/Health tech/ E-Commerce / Consulting / Big4/ Digital / Ad agencies / Luxury Retail / Manufacturing / Pharma / Travel / Education / FMCG / Insurance / Entertainment / Media / Retail / Telecom / Tourism & Hospitality ]
• Functions hired for: HR (Human Resources), Finance, Sales, Business Development, Data Science, Engineering, Platform Engineers, Software Developers, Data Scientists, etc

Aug 2005 – Jul 2006 · 11 mos · Mumbai Area, India

• A part of the RS BPO (BPO Recruitment Support) team, the job profile included sourcing, Assesment, Interviewing, Profiling & Closing on acquired mandates in bulk hiring for BPOs/Banks/ITES/NBFCs/etc.
• Recruitment being the main job profile. Also, training the new inductees, mentoring, training, etc.

Apr 2003 – Jun 2003 · 2 mos · Mumbai Area, India