Manohar Kakade

As Head of Talent Acquisition for India at HPE, I lead the strategic direction and execution of hiring to align with the company’s growth and innovation goals. I drive end-to-end recruitment operations, build and mentor a high-performing TA team, and collaborate with business leaders to translate workforce needs into impactful hiring plans. I focus on data-driven sourcing strategies, employer branding, and enhancing candidate experience while delivering on critical TA metrics. I also provide market intelligence insights, champion AI-driven hiring practices, and foster a people-first, performance-oriented culture. My goal is to build a skilled, diverse, and future-ready workforce that fuels HPE continued success.

At Amazon, I led one of the biggest businesses under Stores TA, known as G&A. In this role, I drove TA strategy and executed technology hiring for the entire business across the India region. I was deeply involved in people and stakeholder management while driving various metrics to track TA performance. Prior to this, I also led businesses under the Stores TA umbrella—namely International Consumer and E-Commerce Foundation, and eCommerce Services—where I was responsible for TA across both the India and US regions.

At Flipkart, I led and managed the strategy and execution for the TA function. I was deeply involved in driving effective TA strategies, processes, talent research and market intelligence, metrics-driven TA delivery, strategic sourcing, and in leading a strong TA team.

At Honeywell, I embraced multiple roles with a global outlook across APAC, Europe, the US, and Latin America. As the Director for India, I spearheaded strategic initiatives from ideation to execution for Honeywell India. By closely collaborating with HR and business leaders across diverse SBGs and locations, I significantly enhanced HR/TA processes by identifying key priorities and optimizing delivery through innovative HON vendor partnerships. Key responsibilities & achievements include: • Made 3500 hires for consecutive 2 years FY 2018-19, 2019-20 Conceptualized and implemented digital hiring process for technologies like AI, ML, IOT, Data Sciences, Mobility, Cyber Security etc. to hire best talent Acknowledge and met business AOP by designing TA initiatives to improve net fill rate • Implemented RPO in India region as a core team member and drove improvement/new initiatives • Masterminded Internal leadership hiring team to attract best talent Improved the speed of execution by 51% from 58 days to 30 days, thus saving cost & time for business • Reduced the hiring cost by 66% from 2300 USD to 1000 USD and later to 800 USD • Improved external diversity hiring from 10% to 30% • Partnered with Business & HRBPs to create leadership pipeline through market intelligence to bring in the best talent • Strategized & implemented campus branding & engagement to attract the best talent • Mentored and developed team members for career progression

I was responsible for leading and facilitating the global HTS HR-TA strategy by partnering with business leaders to secure, understand, and manage both immediate and long-term workforce requirements across HTS globally. I stayed abreast of industry and regional talent intelligence to ensure timely and accurate insights were shared with business leaders. I provided expertise on current and future talent trends and market supply, guiding HTS in maintaining clear visibility on HR/TA strategy, improvement and re-design projects, and key deliverables across businesses. In addition, I was responsible for the global differentiated skills mapping and acquisition strategy, working closely with SBG leaders and driving University Relations strategic plans to support long-term talent needs globally. I played a key role in identifying opportunities to enhance business partnering, workforce planning, talent management, employee engagement, and talent acquisition process initiatives, integrating them into the broader HTS HR strategy as well as regional HR/TA improvement plans.

As Head of Talent Acquisition, I led a large team in the India region and built the function into a high-performing unit that consistently delivered against all critical recruiting KPIs. My focus was on enhancing recruiter productivity, improving quality of hires, and meeting aggressive business headcount demands, while successfully reducing time to fill (TTF) and cost per hire (CPH).

At Geometric, I created and developed a high-performing hiring team for the India region to propel delivery of PLM and technology hiring with a quicker turnaround time. Key responsibilities & achievements include: • Made 1500 hires for the year 2012 & executed Talent Acquisition Strategies across all business verticals • Steered recruitment of Director/Exec level • Instrumental in bringing Psychometric in selection process & aligning with desired competency framework • Introduced GET/MT programs (Campus Hiring) Introduced competency-based interview. (BEI) • Masterminded strategies for hiring PLM and engineering candidates for different BUs and positions Highlights: • Hired 50 PLM (Teamcenter and Enovia) professionals within 2 months • Implemented SAP E-Rec tool for streamlining hiring processes and faster output

My tenure with TCS was a rewarding one. During this period, I took on to the opportunity to excel and handled different roles and responsibilities in Talent Acquisition & BPHR space. The most challenging amongst all was of handling a dual role of heading a TA function in Latin/South America and as a HR Specialist for Ecuador. It gave me an opportunity to work at onsite in the multicultural and multilingual environment of Latin America (Ecuador). • Headed Talent Acquisition function as a TA Leader for the entire LATAM region (from Ecuador) between Oct 2009 to May 2012 • Designed and deployed strategy for hiring across the Latin American Countries and US

• Headed as Deputy Head Talent Acquisition for TCS Mumbai and met volume hiring targets set for the region (Niche/Generic technologies) • Masterminded & deployed strategy for large hiring numbers and walk-ins across the locations all throughout the year • Conducted Sessions on “Interviewing Skills” for Lateral and Campus technical panel • Designed and executed campus hiring strategy for west India.

• Masterminded end to end recruitment process for the toughest accounts in Zensar (Fujitsu & Migration Account) • Executed the requirement for Niche / Generic technologies

• Led Campus Recruitment for the India region • Devised strategy for Campus Recruitment as per business needs. Highlights: • Successfully delivered 25 ITP Batches of 30 each within 10 months. • Recruited 2 batches of 100 B. Sc. students each within a short span of 4.5 months • for the BITS Pilani Program