Big Fish in a small bowl from small fish in a Big Bowl

One such experience has been with Pragya, a very talented Chartered Accountant, now working as a Senior Manager with our client MiQ where she heads the Finance Operations for India.

Having always worked in big MNCs like Deloitte, Wipro and Infosys, she has had a great career, but certain incidents and subsequent insights made her want to seek a change during her stint at Infosys. That is when she received a call from us regarding an opportunity in MiQ, a mature Ad Tech start-up with primary presence in Europe, US and India. 

When we discussed this opportunity for the first time with her, her initial apprehension was about joining an organization which was much smaller in scale compared to Infosys. In big organizations, one has air cover and people to guide you at various levels. Though she would have the guidance of the MiQ Head of Finance, he was based in the UK whereas at MiQ India, she would be responsible for all Finance related decisions at a young age with just 9 years under her belt after qualifying as a CA. 

Pragya’s journey from being one among the 400+ other CAs in Infosys, to being the only CA in MiQ India was a tough bridge for her to cross. But after a lot of discussion with us, she made the decision of giving it a try. 

In her own words: “I have always heard that growth is really great in smaller companies. There is so much more exposure. But there is also apprehension. Autumn Leaf (ALC) made the picture clearer for me, both the pros and the cons. They told me that because I would be the ‘go-to-person’, it would be a big responsibility as the onus will be squarely on me. But it could also fast forward my career.”

When asked to share her interview story, she remembers it with a smile. “It was a lonnng process”, she said laughing. “I was the second preference at MiQ. There was one more candidate, also from ALC, who had a little edge because of the extra experience he carried. But there was an uncertainty regarding his joining. And it took around 2-3 weeks for that doubt to clear and for the offer to come my way. Had ALC not kept me informed about what was going on regarding the possibility of my getting the job, I might have gone somewhere else and lost the chance of working in this wonderful organization.” 

Pragya believes that the significance of keeping a candidate posted at each phase and sharing honest details was paramount. “Autumn Leaf kept me updated about each and every step, no matter where I stood in the interview rounds. This is so important. Most consultants hardly care to inform you if you are lagging behind somewhere or in some way.”

The maturity, ease of understanding, mutual comfort and extent of knowledge sharing were the best part of her engagement with Autumn Leaf. She felt good in connecting with us because she could converse with us with an ease that she said was hard to find with most Executive Search & Recruitment firms she had interacted with.

“The consultant from Autumn Leaf knew so much about finance…despite not being from a finance background, it was really impressive. She could explain the job profile and responsibilities to me with a depth which I had honestly not expected. Talking to her was like talking to my finance fraternity.”

She also added that other than the personal communication, the content rich emails she received from Autumn Leaf’s recruitment software Expertite enhanced her experience as a candidate. “Earlier, I had never received an interview call letter which blocked my calendar according to the interview schedule and gave me details about the interviewer as well. This was really unique and very helpful for me in preparing for the interview.” 

Now that she has joined MiQ, she says her experience out there has been what had been described to her. “Yes, this role has given me a lot of self-confidence, which was there but somewhere not there as well. Everything was like happy-go-lucky before but here, when the whole responsibility is on you, you start performing and delivering your best. I feel so elated now to have got this call from Autumn Leaf a few months back, in a middle of another busy day at the office.”

Being a part of someone’s journey perhaps has no match. We are over the moon watching her flourishing and growing in her career with her new employer. 

And as for us, our clients’ faith in us and our candidates’ experience drives us to perform at our best so that we keep snowballing into a bigger family with each new hire and witness more such beautiful career stories getting painted over and over again.

About the author: Divya K