At the GAIN Credit Group, we pride ourselves in nurturing and fostering a culture of shared success and mutual growth. Our emergence as a company-of-choice in the alternative lending industry is due to the dedication, focus and commitment of our workforce – a group of supremely talented, loyal and experienced fintech professionals, who leverage their deep domain knowledge and expertise to create great value for our business!

Today, we introduce you to another such professional: Addlin Sofia – Lead HR Systems (Human Resources)

Let’s chart her journey of success with us…

Life before joining the GAIN Credit Group

Best things come to those who wait and have belief in the ways of powers beyond us ? That sums up my tryst with GAIN Credit so far.

Going a bit back in time, in fact, 7.5 years ago, I remember myself as a fresher. I had just finished my MBA (with a Gold Medal) and BE (Computer Science) and come off a 3-month stint with HCL. Even as someone who had just started looking out for a full-time role, I had my priorities clear in my head: a) working with the HR organization of a progressive and growth-oriented IT organization and b) taking up a job which allowed me to maximize my potential, rather than compromising on my ambitions and going for a ‘safe option’ as suggested by my parents and well-wishers.

That’s where my journey began.

Staving off familial pressures, multiple options to join consultancy opportunities and some truly awkward and demotivating moments (I have encountered a situation wherein I was told off for a role due to my physical appearance), I continued to be relentless and focused in my pursuit for the job that I truly wanted to do.

That’s when I came across a newspaper ad for an opening with GAIN Credit – and applied to the position on a whim, without thinking too much. Sent my resume to the given email ID, went through multiple rounds of interview (October-November 2010) and kept waiting for a response. The complete interview process had taken a long time and now I was being made to wait; in my mind, I had already given up on this opportunity as there had been no news on the next steps.

As they say, the best happens when you least expect it.

I vividly recall that I got a call from the office on a Sunday (I was at church at that time) and was asked to report to GAIN Credit the very next day. As my luck would have it, I got late getting in on Monday as it was raining in Chennai. But my fears and anxiety disappeared as soon as I was requested to join the company immediately. I went through a plethora of emotions that day – the pride in my parents’ voice as I conveyed the good news, the self-confidence booster I got because of this development, as well as the strengthening of my faith and belief in the powers beyond us to reward our patience with what we truly deserve.

Most importantly, the stint with GAIN Credit also marked an important milestone in my evolution journey as a professional and a person; a girl who was considered timid, childish and too-innocent-to-be-true, was now charting her journey towards success with the confidence, poise and grace of a lady who had been given the pedestal that she was destined for – a platform which would define her standing in life for the years to come.

My role in driving value for the GAIN Credit Group

Making life easier for all through automation of HR processes ?

Around 4-5 years ago, we followed a manual mode of implementing all HR processes in the company. Apart from the extra time taken to complete these processes, we were also constrained by the fact that they were quite prone to errors owing to manual intervention.

That’s when we started investing heavily in automation – with a key focus on automating the overall Employee Database. I was fortunate to be part of the entire transformation exercise; in fact, I led from the front in executing the automation drive which enabled Line Managers and employees to get complete visibility on the overall metrics (no lengthy approvals and special access required), shortened the overall time taken to implement certain processes and simplified the otherwise cumbersome procedures to deliver ease-of-use and accessibility to our end-users.

Key people I work with 

Having spent 7.5 years with the company, I have had the wonderful opportunity to work across the HR spectrum with leaders like Gopalan, LaxmiR, Prabhu Ram, Ramu Seshadri and Mukund Venkatesh.

While Mukund was heading the HR Team in his own capacity (I still recall our weekly team meetings), he felt that our vertical needed a leader who could take the reins of our function and drive it on our evolution journey. That’s when Rajiv Sharma (our current HR VP) came into the scheme of things and became my biggest source of motivation, self-belief and confidence!

Being factual (and not meaning to earn any brownie points), Rajiv’s entry marked a tremendous turnaround in the way we functioned and HR’s perception as an enabler-of-positive-change within GAIN Credit.

On a professional note, he has a very astute approach – to make employees’ life easier by providing solutions that are simple to use. And that’s what he inculcated in all of us: helping us think from a stakeholder’s perspective on all issues, brainstorming on and developing out-of-the-box solutions to day-to-day problems, as well as share our successes and failures (which are rare) as a team which functions as all for one and one for all.

To quote the famous Ice Age line, we have now learnt that in a team, we always look out for each other and watch each other’s backs.

And, if ever we feel the lack of support or are stuck up with a problem (professional or otherwise), Rajiv’s always there to help; he stands up for us whenever we need him – that’s another quality which sets him apart as a true HR professional.

Why do I look forward to each day@GAIN Credit Group?

The fun never stops, does it?

At GAIN Credit, it’s been a roller-coaster ride unlike any other.

Talking about my learning, I have now honed my skills in multiple HR functions like operations, file management, access card systems, information systems, SharePoint management, learning and development – that’s quite something, isn’t it?

Throughout the last 7.5 years, there hasn’t been a mundane day in my work-life – each day has given me a new challenge to work on, reinforced a never-say-no attitude towards work and built me up as a professional and an individual.

On a personal note, GAIN Credit has given me my true identity in life: an opportunity for me to prove my worth as the best among equals, command the respect of my family, peers and colleagues and enjoy a feeling of mutual trust with everyone I work with.

In short, I trust my organization strong enough to consider it as my mentor and educator in life – who motivates me to give my best each day and become better at what I do with each step.

Because, deep down I know that I will always have a hand to catch me if I fall ?

Why a career with GAIN Credit Group could be the best decision of your life

The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. And I just can’t have enough of it at GAIN Credit.

When we say we are flat and non-hierarchical, we really walk the talk; anyone with a point of view can actually just step in to the seniors’ room and make his/her point without the fear of being judged – that’s what employee empowerment is truly about.

If you thought that late working and overstaying in the office could win you brownie points with your bosses, think again – here, we give you the freedom to create your own work schedule and adapt it to your lifestyle and family commitments. Working remotely is also encouraged: as long as our people can deliver results and adhere to deadlines, we are happy to let them work in the way which suits them the best – that’s what trust and faith is all about.

Be it our leadership, the infrastructure, the policies or our people: we are all focused on one goal – to create value for the business through fostering strong, trustworthy and lasting relationships between employees.

Therefore, if you would like to work in a company which doesn’t make you feel like a puppet attached to a string of money, please do apply with us. Although I must warn you that it could be highly addictive: working with GAIN Credit will most likely get you hooked to our #CultureOfAwesomeness which will hardly find parallels outside!

Out-of-Office: My personal time

Outside of work, my time is mostly devoted to household work as well as creating small knick-knacks (photo-frames with glitter paper, gift boxes, keychains) to satisfy my creative urges; I feel creating something useful out of nothing gives me a sense of accomplishment, a means to utilize my creative bent of mind, as also bust the stress that sometimes comes with being a full-time employee and a dedicated spouse.

Yes – that kind of also reminds me of bike rides with my husband.

Whatever ‘we time’ we get, we just get on to our bike, ride out to the highway and have a jolly good outing together. Our last sojourn had taken us to a place called Palar (Chengalpattu) and we now plan to take our passion for driving further beyond Chennai.

Life is only meant to be lived once – so why not make the best out of what you’ve got. Believe me, if you are working with a place that respects you and in a job that you love, life’s a breeze.

I hope that my cup of joy with GAIN Credit always keeps overflowing with the best of times!

That was Addlin’s Story of Success.

 And, the next one may as well be yours! Interested in working with the GAIN Credit Group? Click here and check open positions available with us – it could be the best career decision you’ve ever made!