Nikita's Journey: From Recruitment to Strategic HR

A Shift with Purpose

Nikita’s path into HR was not linear, but it was intentional. After completing her undergraduate degree in Hospitality and Hotel Administration in Mumbai, she began to notice her strongest interests were not just in service delivery, but in understanding people, building systems, and improving the employee experience.

That curiosity led her to human resources. She found herself drawn to roles that shaped how organisations functioned from within. At Deloitte, she joined the recruitment team and quickly built expertise in hiring, resume screening, stakeholder management, and candidate experience. But she began to see the limits of staying within one area.

“I could handle recruitment end to end, but I wanted to do more,” she says. “I was watching people lead initiatives in change management, policy development, employee engagement. I realised that without formal HR education, that next step might never come.”

So she made a move. She applied for a Master of Human Resource Management at the University of Canberra. She chose Australia because of its practical approach to learning and its reputation for industry-relevant education. Her goal was clear. She wanted to deepen her technical knowledge, broaden her capabilities, and take her first real steps towards HR leadership.

The Questions That Followed

Starting her postgraduate studies brought a fresh wave of challenges. Nikita knew she had strengths in recruitment. But she was less sure how that would translate into other areas of HR.

What did she already know that applied to strategic roles? Where were the real gaps? How did her previous experience stack up against what employers were looking for in Australia?

These were not just her questions. They are the questions of thousands of skilled international professionals who arrive in Australia with deep experience but little clarity on how that experience fits the local job market.

Finding Confidence in Community

In the middle of this uncertainty, Nikita found a sense of stability by giving back. She began volunteering at UC, running peer workshops and supporting new students in settling into campus life. She saw it not just as community work, but as an extension of her HR values.

“I want to build workplaces where people feel welcome,” she says. “That starts with the way we show up for each other every day. Especially for people from diverse backgrounds.”

The experience of mentoring others, designing student events, and collaborating across cultures helped sharpen her communication and leadership skills. But it still left one major gap unanswered. How could she clearly explain her strengths in a way that employers would recognise and trust?

A New Way to See Her Skills

That clarity came when Nikita discovered VelvetGrowth. The platform helped her see her own experience through a structured, professional lens. It did not just show her what she was missing. It showed her what she already had.

Her work at Deloitte was not just recruitment. It was evidence of stakeholder management, recruitment data analysis, workflow improvement, and communication across diverse audiences. These mapped directly to national HR frameworks used by Australian employers.

Her hospitality background was not irrelevant. It demonstrated strengths in customer service, conflict resolution, team supervision, and operational planning. These were not just soft skills. They were foundational to managing people and systems.

Her volunteering at UC was not just good citizenship. It showed facilitation ability, training experience, community engagement, and leadership in cross-cultural environments.

VelvetGrowth aligned all these experiences with capability models like the AHRI standards and with real job descriptions in the market. It highlighted where she already met role expectations and where she needed targeted development. It made her capabilities visible. And it made her next steps specific.

“I can see now that I am not starting from zero,” Nikita explains. “I already have skills that belong in strategic HR. VelvetGrowth helped me identify the technical areas I need to strengthen, like payroll systems or policy design. And now I know exactly how to do that.”

What Comes Next

Today, Nikita is still studying. She is still volunteering. She is still aiming for a future where she leads HR strategy with purpose and clarity. But something fundamental has shifted.

She now understands the full value of her background. She can explain her skills with precision. She can match her lived experience to industry frameworks. She applies for roles with more confidence. And she connects with other students who are on the same journey, building momentum together.

For international students across Australia asking themselves whether their experience matters, Nikita’s story offers a clear answer. Your experience counts. Your skills are real. You just need the right lens to make them visible.

She is looking forward to celebrating her first Diwali in Canberra. And we are looking forward to celebrating her next step — wherever it takes her.

If anything in Nikita's story resonates, please reach out and say hello: partners@theredvelvet.ai