Nimai Swaroop

I started my career within the automotive sector, working in Marketing. After this I completed my MBA focusing on Global Marketing and then moved to Centrica working for British Gas and Business Gas in various product marketing, Strategy and Portfolio roles. I Then moved to Royal Dutch Shell to set up their Recruitment marketing capability and now joined RBS as their Group Head of Employer Branding & Marketing.

Before moving into HR I had a limited knowledge of working what it was all about. In fact my move into HR was more by chance. It all happened when Shell offered me the opportunity to work for them and set up their recruitment marketing capability; I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I also found that there were similarities between my previous marketing roles and my new HR position. For example the job market is similar to a consumer environment, top candidates, like consumers often have more than one job offer, and to secure the right candidate for the job, employer brands must recognise the need to offer a compelling proposition that is differentiated and delivers on the brand promise the company makes externally.

I have not only been exposed to Marketing, my job also means that I also work with other areas of the business, some more than others. Like other areas of the business HR has its share of driving the people agenda, and fortunately the recruitment marketing space exposed me to a number of areas where traditionally I would had limited contact. Indeed the people agenda gets increased focused in times of recession and HR has a pivotal role in driving this change. At the same time to support growth one needs to ensure the talent needs of the organisation are not ignored and therefore HR plays a key role in leading this.

Therefore the remit of a traditional HR function is evolving into a wider multi-skilled workforce where organisations can achieve increased efficiencies by taking some functions internally, for example recruitment. The basis for ensuring a successful relation is recognising HR as a business partner rather than just a provider of people services.

My career has also enabled me to travel a fair amount with my work, from the US to Europe, Middle East, Russia and Asia Pacific, The most interesting place I visited was Sakhalin in Russia, it was a nine hour internal flight within Russia, a small island with strong Japanese influence. It was the summer thankfully but I did enjoy my time there. I did also enjoy Egypt, travelling brings together a diverse set of experiences and when people tackle problems from different points of views the richness of the information becomes invaluable.

Any advice for anyone thinking about a career in HR?

At times HR can be considered as a service provider and lack an equal voice at the table. This can get frustrating, and convincing the organisation of the benefits we bring can be challenging. Although we have started to see more commercially focused HR organisations, the key to succeed is to speak the language of the organisation so people understand you.

So anyone who has an interest in shaping organisations, has a flair for people, and enjoys change and diversity in their job, would fit in well within HR.

Nimai Swaroop's career highlights to date

Setting up a marketing function driving talent needs for Shell via the development of a single Employer Brand across the group. The diversity of the role, our global footprint and the challenges in successfully recruiting through a centralised model was very exciting indeed.