Karishma Bhagwat

Talent Acquisition professional with 1.5 years of experience owning end-to-end recruitment as the sole TA function in a fast-paced, founder-led technology startup. Experienced in partnering with hiring managers, building talent pipelines, delivering a thoughtful candidate experience, and strengthening employer branding initiatives. Passionate about understanding what makes exceptional talent and building hiring processes that create long-term business impact.

Known for high ownership, strong stakeholder management, and the ability to manage multiple hiring priorities independently in high-growth environments.

Human Resource Associate at Carufus Technology Pvt. Ltd. (2024 – 2026)

Sole HR and Talent Acquisition function for a 15-person founder-led technology startup, owning end-to-end recruitment, HR operations, employer branding initiatives, and process improvement.

• Owned end-to-end hiring across technical and business functions, managing 10+ concurrent roles from job scoping and sourcing through screening, interview coordination, offer management, and onboarding. Partnered with hiring managers to understand role requirements and deliver a thoughtful candidate experience while maintaining a positive employer brand.
• Built and maintained proactive talent pipelines for current and future hiring needs through LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean sourcing, referrals, and direct outreach, ensuring a ready bench for recurring and anticipated roles.
• Managed offer discussions, salary negotiations, pre-joining engagement, and onboarding coordination to ensure a seamless candidate experience from offer acceptance through joining.
• Developed and maintained recruitment dashboards tracking Time-to-Fill, Interview Conversion Rates, Source Effectiveness, and Offer-to-Joining Ratio using Excel (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP) to support hiring decisions.
• Managed end-to-end onboarding and orientation programmes—including documentation, system access coordination, joining kits, and first-week scheduling to ensure a smooth and welcoming start while helping new hires integrate into the organisation.
• Maintained accurate employee records and HR databases in Zoho People with strict data hygiene and confidentiality; managed a solo HRIS migration from Zoho People to MS Dynamics 365 — data mapping, configuration, and documentation.
• Handled employee attendance tracking, leave management, and resolved day-to-day HR-related queries — acting as the primary point of contact for all employee concerns.
• Ensured compliance with company policies through accurate HR documentation — offer letters, confirmation letters, increment letters, and exit formalities including background verification coordination.
• Designed and launched the company's first structured employee engagement programme and feedback framework from scratch, strengthening employee experience through engagement initiatives, feedback surveys, and communication touchpoints.
• Built 3 automated HR workflows using Microsoft Power Automate — candidate stage-change alerts, 24-hour interview reminders, and onboarding checklist triggers — reducing manual follow-up time and improving process consistency.

Post Graduate Programme in Human Resource Management – WeSchool, Welingkar Institute of Management (2023 – 2024)

Bachelor of Commerce in Business Administration & Management – R.A. Podar College of Commerce & Economics (2020 – 2023)