At Shortlist, we love building our team almost as much as we love building yours!
We have some pretty amazing people across our three offices who have a real passion for what they do and for the Shortlist mission.
The Mehndi Project
The next chapter of our Shortlister Spotlights features Mehndi Shivdasani, a talent advisor for our Shortlist search team based out of Mumbai. Besides channeling her inner Sherlock to hire high-potential talent for senior positions, Mehndi runs a blog on sustainable living called Conscious Chokri. Our environmentally-aware Shortlister shared some quirky anecdotes about her journey through life and more!
Tell us about your life at Shortlist
I am a Talent Advisor in the Shortlist search team. We help our clients (social enterprises, non-profit, SMEs and start-ups amongst others) recruit leading talent for senior-level leadership positions within their organisations. Last year we helped 14 different organisations across India and Kenya hire some tremendous leadership talent across different jobs ranging from CEOs to VPs of various departments, a feat I’m very proud of 🙂
How has your current role impacted you?
Playing adviser to board members and senior leaders of so many diverse and high-impact organisations is a rare opportunity. It’s given me insight into how different organisations are set up, how they identify priorities and develop strategies, services, and products. Directly interacting with high-achieving entrepreneurs and picking up a thing or two from them on how to operate efficiently and be resilient and focused is helping to shape me into a better working professional.
I’m also slowly building up a strong network within the social impact space that I hope to leverage going forward in my career 😉
I’ve also made some fantastic friends! Interacting and working with an ambitious, efficient and warm team like ours inspires me to strive for better every single day.
What is your professional background and what made you join Shortlist?
I have a few years of experience in recruitment and talent management, and also hold a Masters in Social Entrepreneurship from Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney, Australia.
I started looking out for my next job opportunity towards the end of 2017 and envisioned joining a social enterprise or a non-profit. I heard about Shortlist through my then-acquaintance, now close friend and fellow Shortlister, Pranay Merchant. I was looking to take on a role that would enable me to create some form of social impact, push me to pick up some new skills while building on my existing skills and areas of interest such as building high-value relationships with people.
What’s your professional superpower?
Over-communicating with people! I find that most of us are almost always distracted with so many things — emails, texts, calls etc. — so over-communicating my thoughts and ideas helps to make sure my communication is clear and consistent.
I’m also a master listener so if you need to vent about something, I’m your person!
What’s your favourite Shortlist memory?
I’ll always cherish the time I spent in Kenya with our team and meeting clients there. Also, almost every Pulse Check and team gathering is memorable in its own way.
What are three words you would use to describe Team Shortlist?
Fun! Supportive! Determined!
What’s your favourite Shortlist value and why?
I LOVE all of our values as they all hit home. If I have to pick one, I’d say that One Team is my favourite value. I admire how everyone on the team is always rooting for each other across offices and countries. We love sharing the credit for all of our wins, big and small, and don’t shy away from giving each other feedback. All of these reasons combined make me proud about being a Shortlister.
Why is the Shortlist mission important to you?
Being able to offer organisations a platform to find the right people to join their teams and scale their work is immense! In a world where we’re trying to automate almost everything in life, our effort to blend the use of technology with a human touch to unlock professional potential is super relevant!
Anything else you want the world to know about you, Shortlist, our team?
Working at Shortlist is rewarding on so many levels! I couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with.
So Conscious Chokri, tell us about your life outside of Shortlist
I run a blog on low-waste living called Conscious Chokri. Using this blog, I’m trying to create awareness about the global waste crisis and encourage people to reduce the amount of waste they generate by making long-term yet convenient changes to their lives. I also deliver workshops for school and college students on this topic. I try to spend some of my time volunteering at beach cleanups and urban farms in the city as well.
And then there’s spending time with family and friends while gorging on some yummy food and cocktails 🙂
As you know, we like to give “high-fives” to recognize when our team members do something awesome. Now is your chance to make a public high five to a fellow Shortlister:
A BIG high-five to every single member of the team!
If you would like help building your team, let us help you. Shortlist offers a wide range of recruitment solutions that help companies build great teams.
