Karan Sandhu to put in his papers at JSPL

EVP and group chief learning officer at Jindal Steel and Power, Karan Sandhu will be officially resigning from his current position on May 31^st, 2020. Speaking to HRKatha, he says that he was recently offered an elevation from his current role and it required him to relocate to another location.

“While I was grateful for the expanded role professionally, the relocation it would entail wasn’t possible at a personal level. Difficult choice to make, but rather simple and straightforward as well”, says Sandhu.

Sandhu joined JSPL in September of 2019 where he was responsible for developing and shaping a learning strategy based on the Group’s business strategies and supporting the learning initiatives at the company by focusing on the JSPL learning academy (JLA).

When asked about the journey forward, he says, “I am taking a little time to reflect on what’s next – continue with being more of who I am professionally or pivot to an all new professional avatar that allows me to embrace who I may become from here on out.”

Apart from being an experienced learning professional he is also an entrepreneur and had led the entrepreneurial life for eight years prior to joining JSPL. He co-founded HeadStart, a learning solutions company in 2011, which later became BrainPlay learning solutions, and catered to clients such as OYO rooms, The Lemon tree Hotels and Genpact among others.

I am taking a little time to reflect on what’s next – continue with being more of who I am professionally or pivot to an all new professional avatar that allows me to embrace who I may become from here on out

Sandhu began his career in 1996 as a management trainee at Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, Mumbai, right after passing out with a diploma in Hotel Management from Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), Chandigarh. Over time within a course of three years he rose to the position of Manager and reported directly to the General Manager at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi.

Post Taj, he joined GE in 2000 as the assistant manager, operations training – insurance vertical. At GE he spent the longest stint of eight years of his professional career working for any organization. Within a period of three years he was promoted to the position of assistant vice president for learning and development, which he occupied for the next five years before joining InterGlobe Aviation as the chief learning officer (CLO) in 2008.

In his role as the CLO he as responsible creating the learning function for IndiGo from the ground up and reported directly to the president of the company. He stayed there for little more than three years before going the entrepreneurial way and finally joining JSPL in 2019.

Sandhu also has a bachelor’s in Economics and Political Science from the University of Delhi.