Hema Ravichandar - In pursuit of challenges

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory," so goes the saying. Hema Ravichander took up a challenging career, tided over many difficult situations, and now gears up for more challenges ahead.






The sheer volume of recruitment she has made for Infosys as HR head is testimony to her success as an HR professional. Infosys grew to nearly 40,000 employees in July 2005 from 250 in 1992, when she joined the IT major. 





Her success is not just confined to numbers. Consider this: Many studies have ranked Infosys as the most sought after company to work for in India!





However, Hema didn't have a smooth ride to success at Infosys. At a time when the industry was facing high attrition and MNCs lurking to poach employees from Indian IT companies, Hema introduced novel methods and set new benchmarks in HR practices. These made techies dream about joining Infosys someday!





"My greatest challenge in Infosys was managing the turbulence of 2003", admits Hema. Constant fear of failure motivated her to conquer challenging times.





Hema is not the one to be satisfied with a few victories. She is seeking the less trodden path, more challenges and exhilarating victories.





She left Infosys in July after more than 10 years with the IT major. At Infosys, Hema had served as senior vice-president and group HR head. 





This was not the first time that she left Infosys. This alumna of IIM-A had earlier taken a break for what she explains, 'to balance work and life.' 





Hema is now gearing up to work as an independent HR consultant for some of the leading companies in India including Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Marico Industries. Now, out on her own, she feels that it would be lonely, but blissful.