Her Story
About Amisha
Amisha Punja serves as Recruitment Manager at Kraft Heinz, where she leads recruitment efforts for North American early careers programs, focusing on the undergrad population across the U.S. and Canada. With four years in the HR field, she started as an intern in the HR space and joined Kraft Heinz through its management leadership program as an HR business partner in Toronto. There, she gained broad exposure in a nimble environment and later created a unique role overseeing centers of excellence, including talent management, engagement, retention, and early careers initiatives that helped turn around the Canadian business's engagement scores. Her move to the Chicago headquarters allowed her to expand these efforts on a larger scale. Punja earned her Bachelor's of Arts in Political Science and Criminology from the University of Toronto's Innis College, which equipped her with strong research and communication skills that support her leadership and influence in corporate settings. She attributes her success to building professional relationships and her go-getter approach of finding ways to get things done.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Amisha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say it's leaning into the professional relationships that I've been able to build, and being okay with being guided by those relationships has been very, very useful. And then I would say it's just being a go-getter and, you know, not saying no to anything, and finding a way to get things done, I think has been, I think it's become my tagline. If I ask people around me, I think that is very common. To for folks to say about me is you just get things done, and I think that is a critical reason why I've been able to do all the things that I do, because I find a way to make magic happen.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think taking the opportunities you get in front of you and being okay with letting go with what you thought your plan was gonna be. I think that's very emulative of my own career, and already making a pivot from wanting to be in the legal space to being an HR professional now, and even in, like, moving a country, because it was an opportunity that presented itself for me. I do think just letting things if things are happening and they're there in front of you. I think not being afraid to take that leap, instead of focusing on the plan that you have on a page, and being, of course, intentional about it as much as you can, I think is a really good, piece of advice that I've gotten from a few of my mentors that I really try to keep In my mind, especially when I'm circling through, okay, this is my plan, I need to get I need to make sure I'm doing all of these things. I constantly have to remind myself that, you know what, things are gonna happen when they're gonna happen, and when it's right for you, you just kinda have to Do your best at doing what you're doing, and also be okay with writing the ways that you're writing.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, I'd say be open to the different options that are, and spaces that are available in HR, I would say so that means coming in with a curious curious and, learner mindset, I think is really important. And then the second thing is just making sure that your whatever is assigned to you, unless you take on, or want to take on, is done to the absolute best that you could you could do it as. I think those are the two things. Be open, be curious. Be willing to learn, and just deliver what it is that is in front of you to your best that you can do.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There's so much going on in the world of of HR, I think a lot some of it is, like, legislative and and things that we have to be reactive to because that's just the nature the nature of our job. Other things are how we are manufacturing organizations. How do we think about ensuring that we have a consistent talent pipeline in our manufacturing facilities from young to mid to senior, in all the different roles and facets that we're playing? How are we some of the things we're thinking about is how we're including, different tools in our systems to help us. do more of the business partner and the partner work with our business, versus, like, just get stuck in the processes and the and the and the boggle of it all. And then, particularly into my current role, I think it's really important for us to think about how we're shaping what this new generation of employees Wants, and how we're we're giving them their wants and needs for their first stop in their career or their kickoff in their career, but also combining that with who we are as an organization and keeping that authenticity alive as well. And trying to find, you know, the gems out there in this new generation is it's really hard because they're so tech-enabled, and our application systems are so overwhelmed. with how much we get, that trying to make sure that we're finding innovative ways to ensure that we're, keeping up with, finding the application processes to find the right type of talent that we need.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say that Trust is really important in both, especially in your workspace when you can build that trust with your partners, your colleagues, your executives, whoever it really is. that can get you such a long way in ensuring that not only are they delivering for you, but you are delivering for them as well. I think trust is important, as well as just getting things done. I think that's an important value of mine, where, making sure that what you say you're going to do is something that you do deliver to your fullest and to what is in your control. And I think that goes hand-in-hand with trust, because if you can do that, people will trust you more as well. So I think those two things are really important.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.