EP 216 . 22 Sep 21
Design and diversity
With Shaheena Attarwala
In the episode
- How long have you been in design, and when was the first time you got started with hiring designers?
- Now that you have finished almost 1 year, how do you guys hire at Microsoft? And at Zoom Car or previous companies, which are relatively smaller setup, how did it work?
- Tell us about referrals and other tricks you’ve used to hire talent?
- What are the 3 qualities you look for in a designer while hiring? What has been your success rate?
- While working on tight deadlines, how do you ensure quality and mentoring both?
- How important is diversity in hiring for you? Is it a conscious effort or you find right balance of talent organically?
- What are your 2 biggest challenges while hiring senior designers? Why?
- What according to you are aspirations of designer in India. From Junior to Mid to Senior level talent?
- What promises you make them, so they work with you and for your organisation? How important is being good pay masters? Are ESOPs good incentive for mid to senior level folks.
- What is the biggest learning for you after working in both kinds of environment. Chaotic world of startups and building 0 to 1 products versus today at Microsoft?
About Shaheena Attarwala
Shaheena Attarwala is an Experience Design Manager at Microsoft and previously head of design at Zoomcar and Wigzo. Shaheena has over 10 years of experience and likes to call herself as a Businessman with a Designers’ heart focused on user data, simple designs, usable and functional interfaces.
Abhinit Tiwari is a co-host for this series. He works at Gojek.
This is part of a series Where are the designers with IVM Podcast. It is a 12 part series featuring few of the top influential Design leaders in India, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply.
