Rushit comes with 20 Year of Executive Search and Selection with 8 years of Supply Chain Consulting service within APAC. Have worked for more than 40 countries with diversified industries and functionality.
In his current role at Alcott Global, he is managing Supply Chain Management (SCM), Logistics, Procurement, Manufacturing, Regulatory, Quality and Operations functions and catering to Pharma, Packaging, FMCG, food and beverage, Industrial Equipment and Medical Device industries in the Asia Pacific.
Listen to the full discussion here:
Connect with the Guest:
Rushit Shah: LinkedIn
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- Being an executive recruiter during the pandemic
- Hiring and retaining top talents
- How the whole diversity and inclusion agenda is being practiced
- How can a job seeker and professionals non-supply chain and logistics background make sure to position themselves correctly
- Technical or soft skills for a professional to get into senior level leadership roles
Show notes:
- [1:58] With the pandemic, so much has changed about the supply chain. How has the experience been of being an executive recruiter within the space in the last couple of years?
- [2:04] There’s this phase in the pandemic where everybody in the supply chain got so busy. Everybody’s hiring, everybody’s looking for talents and this is where we make our money, and I’m able to kind of get my bread and butter. So it’s a great opportunity. It’s a great phase to be in.
- [3:33] What advice would you give companies when hiring and retaining top talent?
- [4:38] Problem is many of these supply chain professionals are back office people for many companies and they always take them for granted, and once they resign they start realizing the cost of not having them. This is why it’s important to start taking procurement, supply chain and logistics or pragmatic people very seriously.
- [5:37] Can you share with us some examples where your client hired people coming from other functions or industries, and what they did to give that right start and support to help them with their role?
- [8:05] Either release to go to different functions within a company and break down the job description into one soft skill and one technical skill and then you will definitely be able to find it. We constantly look for new solutions, instead of just going and looking for the same function in different companies.
- [9:49] How have you seen the whole diversity and inclusion agenda being actually practiced and not just something people talk about in board meetings or as a PR stunt but actually practicing it in their day to day recruitment?
- [10:58] I think recruitment can be the culprit but it has started changing now because companies are pushing the recruitment companies to provide them with policy solutions. So if the shortlist does not have specific nationality or gender, they will ask for us to make sure we add them.
- [12:59] How can a job seeker make sure that they are getting a number of amazing opportunities and positioning themselves correctly for those opportunities?
- [13:28] Employees have certain expectations, for example, the salary. They always look at financial components and something that is very tangible. And I think this has to be changed, they have to start looking at very different ways.
- [17:07] What would you say if somebody is from a non-supply chain and logistics background who wants to move there at a mid-level? What can they do to put themselves in the right position?
- [18:27] Storytelling is one thing, you cannot just reach out and say that this is what I want and you don’t have any experience. So you should tell me, this is your forte and this function is where you see yourself in and try to create a story to sell yourself. Because if you can sell yourself to me, I can sell you ahead.
- [19:08] Which are most important, whether it’s technical or soft skills, for a professional to get into senior level leadership roles within the industry?
- [20:32] If you do not show the confidence of understanding the business and you don’t know what kind of problems to expect and how you’re going to solve it, you’re going to lose it. As a candidate, you have to be confident that you can actually do this job. So “fake it, till you make it” kind of thing does actually work at a senior level.
- [21:53] What has been the one thing you started or changed that has led to the most impact in your career?
- [23:10] Looking at non-tangible, like more non-financial components really helped me but the thing was, I was passionate about one thing and that is the curiosity of learning more about new countries, cultures and traveling.
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About the Host:
The host, Shub Faujdar leads our Organizational Development business and is curating frameworks to transform your organization’s workforce by working with world-class facilitators and trainers from the Supply Chain space. As with everything in Alcott Global, our frameworks and programs are specially created to meet the needs of the industry and then further customized to the needs of each organization.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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#09: Swati Patil Rao, Senior Director – Head of APAC Supply Chain & Logistics at Zoetis Inc.
#10: Philippa “Pip” Penfold, CEO and Co-Founder Company at People Collider
#11: Jim Carling, Segment VP Human Resources at TE Connectivity
