Working with me

I love finding exciting new people I can work with. But if you’ve hired in any capacity before, you know how hard it is to find people who share the same love and passion for the work as you do.

If you ever want to work with me, here are a few things you should know:

I’d enjoy working with you if

You’re ambitious and interested in personal growth.
You welcome direct and honest feedback.
You operate with high agency, urgency and optimism.
You show extremely high ownership and often go beyond the stipulated duties.
You communicate clearly and quickly.
You’re resourceful. You can do a lot with little.
You take a lot of initiative.
You show up. Consistently. Day after day after day.

Here’s how I operate

I vehemently despise shoddy writing – this includes copywriting, messages on Slack and everything in between. Writing is a vehicle for your clarity of your thoughts. I expect you to take it seriously.
I prefer to assign the junior-most best suited person (in terms of skills) for any project, with final accountability of delivery lying with their manager.
I keep the critical and key information transfer delay to 0. If I know something is up, you’d know it as soon as possible.
On a new problem we pick up, I like to help out with directions.
I mostly let you focus on your work with plenty of heads-down time.
I prefer to be aware of how things are progressing, and if & when they’re blocked.
I appreciate async but timely updates.
I like it when you do your homework and bring clear questions to me so that I can help you with decisions.
I love bullet points, and you’ll likely get a ton of YABLs (Yet Another Bullet List) from me in a variety of contexts. I assure you though, you’d grow to love them.
I love to design. You’ll often find us jamming on a file together.
I don’t like overly elaborate processes. I employ them only to have our team function effectively and consistently.
I don’t do something a certain way because that’s how we’ve done it in the past. A process has to stand the test of time and the ever evolving context. If it doesn’t work anymore, we change it.
I don’t like following up. If I’m reminding you about something we’ve discussed before, it’s too late.
I don’t like when people wait to be told to do the right thing. Just do it.
I care for every member of the team, and will go to great lengths to protect their time and focus.
I am very direct and quick in sharing good and bad feedback.
I don’t keep a timesheet for when you clock in and out of work. I don’t count how many leaves you take. I trust you.
When you’re not feeling it, take time off. I don’t keep a tab on how long you’re gone for, I just expect you to be back 100% when you return.
I expect nothing but the sincerest work of the highest quality for us to discuss feedback. I’d not review half-baked or poor quality work. I’d not tolerate cheating the craft.
I have great respect for the willingness to learn and improve.
I have very low tolerance for low skills with low intent.
I have above average tolerance for low skills with high intent.
I have a dispropotionately high regard for strong agency – if you see a problem, do you feel a strong urge to solve it? If you see something being wrong, do you try to fix it? Are you the first one to act once the action is clear? Agency gets stuff done, and I love it when people exhibit it in abundance.
If you’re ever stuck, don’t wait to ask for help or clarification. I don’t like when people waste time stalling when they’re stuck.

I give plenty of details with my feedback to make it actionable.
If I can’t explain my feedback with logic, feel free to question me until you’re convinced.
When I give feedback, I expect acknowledgement and closure on the entirety of it.
I prefer candid informality. I make jokes and keep things light. I like to do serious work without being too serious.
I like to connect with my team outside work as well, so you’d see me take interest in your hobbies and other activities purely out of curiosity. Also if you’re interested, I love traveling, collecting watches, taking photos, watching football and writing.
I don’t appreciate when people complain about problems when they haven’t even made enough attempts to solve them or sought help from someone who can help solve them.
I don’t like people who spread negativity. I prefer to address the issues instead of venting about them.
I love it when you question things – processes, ideas, projects, priorities, decisions, direction, strategy… anything.

Work with me

If all of this sounds exciting to you and you would like to work with me, shoot me a mail on me@hvpandya.com.