Preety Vatvani, working out of Cloudera’s Singapore office, is Cloudera’s first lead development team lead. Her role is to recruit and work with a team of interns interested in a career in technology sales, and train them so they can field inside sales opportunities and gain valuable early career experience.
In this #ClouderaLife Spotlight we talked to Preety about how she got this program off the ground. But first we discussed Preety’s career journey from starting as a graduate in psychology, then becoming a recruiter, to finally, an inside sales representative (ISR), all of which prepared her for her current role.
A foundational family work ethic evolves into a passion for understanding people and team building
Preety’s ethnic identity is Sindhi, an ethnic group originally from Pakistan. During the 1950s many Hindus, like Preety’s grandfather, left the country to escape religious persecution. Like many immigrants, they had to start over in their host country. Out of these circumstances Preety’s grandfather passed down the value of hard work and the tradition of entrepreneurship. As Preety put it, “From my family, I learned valuable traits I carry with me: to be ever resilient, always curious, and to never turn down a potential opportunity.”
Growing up, Preety was always interested in the psychology of people. This led her to study the subject in college. “I learned that an individual’s conscious and unconscious beliefs directly impact their emotional states, the life they lead, the relationships they form, how they show up in life, and everything in between,” Preety said.
After graduation, Preety spent some time working in the mental health field but discovered the interpersonal relationships found in staff recruiting suited her better. While working as a recruiter in the banking industry she learned more about data warehousing and cloud computing associated with finance and banking. This ultimately led her to join Cloudera, as an inside sales representative (ISR).
Like recruiting, inside sales is about relationships and understanding others. Preety has been recognized by the company three times for her achievements. First, in 2019, she was recognized as the sales representative with the fifth highest sales globally, then in 2020, for inside sales rep of the year for the APAC region. Finally, in 2021 she was the finalist for Channel Asia, Women in ICT Awards, “Rising Star” category.
“Throughout all my roles at Cloudera, I would sum up the company culture as one of openness and authenticity,” Preety said. “The organizational hierarchy doesn’t play a role here. Everyone has a voice and they are encouraged to grow and contribute new ideas.” Preety added, “The company has been through a lot of changes from a merger, to going from public to private, and through all of it the culture has remained the same.”
On building a lead development team
It was while in her ISR role that the lead development team was formed. Preety had already been coaching new ISR hires for almost a year so it made sense to formalize the team.
Her task was to get the program to recruit the right interns and get them trained quickly. With both challenges, she put to good use her background and continued study of psychology.
“When interviewing candidates, I made sure I addressed the concerns I kept hearing about. There was some reluctance to work in the high technology industry because of the stereotypes that only highly technical and mostly male employees could be successful in the field. I worked on breaking down these stereotypes so as not to lose otherwise highly qualified candidates.”
Once an intern was accepted, Preety personalized their training to speed up the onboarding process.
Coming full circle: a renewed study of the human mind to help others
With her new role, Preety wanted to expand her skills and knowledge to be a better mentor to her team and potentially help family or friends in need. To that end, Preety found a certified professional transformation coaching program and completed the process. This program consisted of over 100 hours of experience applying cognitive transformative principles, enabling people to take action while inspiring positive change.
Also, through Cloudera sponsorship, Preety and other Clouderans participated in the First Aid in Mental Health Program at Singapore Emergency Responder Academy. As a Mental Health First Aider she is now trained to identify warning signs around depression, anxiety, and suicide, and then take appropriate action.
“My passion lies in helping others tap into their beliefs and the barriers that often hold them back from reaching their highest potential,” Preety said. “I coach my team members to challenge and/or remove their limiting beliefs, and inspire them to move past their inner critic. I often keep in mind this quote from Henry Ford, ‘If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”
An inspiring note to end on. Thank you, Preety, for sharing your story, leading, and mentoring. We look forward to hearing about the next step in your journey.
Interested in working with others like Preety? Check out our current job openings.
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