I Chose HR When Everyone Wanted Me To Do BM At XLRI - Sana Azeem's Success Story, Against All Odds

By Team InsideIIM

A career decision is probably one of the most difficult decisions we ever make in life. Why? because this can affect our future. Hence, most of us end up choosing a comfortable option since it pays well, or has better career prospects. But, does it spark your passion, does it make you love your job? Most of the time we don't consider these options at all. However, today's feature on InsideIIM's Best 50, Sana Azeem is different. She is someone who gave up the coveted Business Management course seat for Human Resouce Management because she was passionate about labour laws. Sana is someone who knows what's right for her and is not afraid to work towards it. This quality of her found her a place amongst India's Best-50 Most Employable MBA Graduates!

The following is Sana Azeem's set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top-50 most employable MBA graduates of the Class of 2020. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated by the Founder of InsideIIM-Kampus Konversations, Sana's story and profile stood out. Here's her story in her words.

"Hello, my name is Sana, and I was born and raised in the city of lights - Varanasi. I would describe myself as someone who is highly achievement-oriented illustrated by being a topper my entire academic life, versatile and as someone who loves learning. I am a recent Human Resource Management graduate from XLRI, Jamshedpur and I also humbly claim to be amongst the Top 5 Academic performers at XLRI HRM batch. My bedrock is that of a Computer Science & Engineering graduate and before coming to XLRI, I worked at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. as a Systems Engineer."

Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.

"I have always believed in shattering well established hackneyed notions with my actions and hence my XLRI admission was no different from the usual. I was offered seats in both the Human Resource Management as well as the more coveted and sought after Business Management Courses. Based on the various discussions I had with stalwarts in the industry, I could clearly gauge the strong proclivity towards Business Management over Human Resource Management, citing better career prospects or even better pay package. Even my parents suggested to go for the more lucrative option, however, I still went ahead and chose Human Resource Management as my MBA specialization. It is probably the biggest risk I have taken so far in my life and trust me, the rewards so far have also been great!"

When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.

"During my professional stint, I got to know about a voluntary project level CSR initiative which was taking instrumental steps to improve educational and health conditions in certain remote areas in and around the city. Although the initiative was voluntary and needed considerable effort from the volunteers’ side to take out some time from the hectic work hours, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands as I could see potential in the initiative and the impact it had on others’ lives. As part of the initiative we went ahead to adopt a village and worked for its overall betterment, we organized some amazing drives, one such was the sanitation drive which saw a footfall of and benefited around 200+ villagers. My interest and dedication also led to, me being selected to hold the post of 1 out of 9 program leads to take further the implementation of various drives. I took immense pride in carrying out my role and this experience is still very close to my heart as a truly selfless act."

Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?

"During one of my project submissions as part of the academic curriculum, my team members and I were in major dissent about the topic of the project which was expected to be decided by the team’s unanimous decision and was to be awarded extra marks for its uniqueness. Most of the other team members wanted to take up something that was recently taught in another subject and hence stood a chance of being a safe bet and fool-proof. However, I had a very strong desire to attempt something that wasn’t done before and hence my work to discover the latest in the field was already underway. The biggest challenge in front of me was to convince the team members of this initiative. I started by trying to explain to them the benefits of taking up a new topic which was manifold. Apart from the learning opportunity it gave, it also offered a clear chance of standing out of the crowd and earning the highest project marks. It wasn’t an easy task but I was able to convince everyone in my team about the idea, despite their initial apprehensions, and with our combined efforts the project was later appreciated not only by the faculty in charge but also went ahead to grab the highest marks allocated. This small yet significant instance gave me an opportunity to experience in real life, the management principles of stakeholder buy-in and the wonders of collective efforts."

What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative which has led you to do deep work in that field?

"Law is probably encoded in my DNA, given my father was a professor of law at the largest residential university in Asia. However, my true penchant for laws can be attributed to the various Labour Law courses offered at XLRI and the erudite faculty members associated with the subject. I started as a novice in the world of labour laws, but with two years at my dispense, I explored the various facets and dimensions of labour laws from classroom discussions and lectures, from getting the highest grades in exams to winning law-related competitions, one such memorable event is definitely emerging as the National Runners Up in domestic enquiry and labour law quiz event of 3rd National XL IR Summit 2019 and now I can proudly claim to have some level of expertise in the subject and I wish to pursue it further in my upcoming work stints."

If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?

"Leading an MBA student life of 2 years and surviving through this uncertain times in an ever-changing VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous), life has definitely taught me to have a plan B ready, hence, I would invest a portion of this money in a recurring cash flow scheme to help secure my parent's old age, and my siblings and my future. I would also spend some amount in buying a house of my own, to gain the financial independence that would bring the much sought after security in life. Next, I would pursue my dream of starting and funding an NGO of my own to provide a safe adobe to orphans and give them a modest ground to discover their potentials."