Richa Goel
- Programme studied: MSc International Employment Relations and Human Resource Management
- Year of Graduation: 2009
- LinkedIn profile
Richa Goel is our Alum of the Month for September. Richa took a two year career break to pursue her passion and became a Fellow for Teach for India. She then returned to work and was rapidly promoted through the ranks at Deloitte. Learn more about her incredible experiences and discover her advice for following a similar path.
What’s your current job?
I currently work with the Learning and Development team at Deloitte India. I work with the team to design and execute learning programmes, including leadership development programmes with a strong focus on coaching at the national level.
I also work with the Global Talent team on key talent priorities including well-being and inclusion.
Where have you worked previously?
Prior to joining my master’s course at LSE, I had interned with Deloitte in India in the recruitment, learning and development teams. Once I graduated from LSE, I returned to the firm in a full-time capacity as HR Business Partner for the Consulting function. In 2012, I took a two year sabbatical to follow my passion and worked as a Teach for India fellow, where I taught students in a low income area in Mumbai.
After completing my fellowship, I re-joined Deloitte and got an opportunity to work in the HR analytics space before taking up my current role.
What advice would you give someone who is looking to follow a similar career path?
My advice would be to volunteer with organisations that align with your personal mission. My long term goal is to work in the people strategy space in the non-profit sector, with a focus on education systems around the world. Hence, I have tried to gain experience in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. I have come to realise that it is critical to gain experiences outside of your core industry and job.
I used to volunteer with charities before coming to LSE. At LSE, I had the opportunity to volunteer once a week as a student tutor. This experience helped me identify my area of interest – the education sector. It was this experience that made me realise that I needed full time grassroots level experience in India. Hence I decided to work with Teach for India for two years.
Eventually, I hope to use my experiences in HR and in the education sector to create a wider impact.
What are some of your proudest achievements since graduating?
Joining Deloitte as an Analyst and progressing to Manager level within four years of my core HR experience is one of the achievements I am most proud of. I have worked on numerous projects with the firm and have found mentors and colleagues for life.
In the non-profit space, I got an opportunity to lead a project in which we developed a mobile app - SRISTI - which provided free science lessons in two Indian vernacular languages. This was a pilot project launched in 2014 and we received more than 500 downloads within three months by word of mouth. Some of my former students used the app and said that the free lessons helped them study better – which is something I am very proud of.
What motivates you?
Working on projects which create a positive impact on the people around me.
If you had to do it all again, what would you do differently?
If I could once again go back to being a student at LSE, I would leverage the numerous opportunities offered by LSE and try to be better with time management. Particularly, I would visit as many public lectures as possible, be involved in the Student’s Union and to be more proactive in reaching out to the LSE Careers service for advice. And of course, spend more evenings at Wright's Bar and less in my room.