From Turning the Car Around to Taking the Wheel: How Sukriti Singh Built Her Place at Cyntexa

Have you ever been told you wouldn’t last in a role and felt every part of you say, “Watch me”? Meet Sukriti Singh, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Cyntexa, who went from a UPSC study desk in Jaipur to running high-speed hiring with the CEO as her direct mentor. Her route had a packed bag in Delhi, a loss at home, and a five-hour interview that rewrote her plan. This is her story of taking ownership before anyone asked.

Sukriti grew up in Jaipur as the student everyone recognized. Outspoken and effortlessly popular, she thrived in the heart of every conversation. With a sharp mind and an unshakable curiosity, she chose Psychology as one of her core subjects in high school, emerging among the top of a highly competitive batch.

Her goal was set early. The civil services- this was one of her grandfather’s dreams, and she had made it her own. A dream that comes from someone you love carries extra weight, because letting it go can feel like letting them down. Delhi University was the next stop, the college she had wanted for years. She got in.

Then the plan met reality. She moved to Delhi, found a PG and set up her room. And then the room went quiet. Sitting among her unpacked bags, she realised that earning a place and wanting to live there are two different things. Her family and her city were too much a part of who she was. She called her father, who was already on the road back to Jaipur, and asked him to turn around, collect her bags and bring her home.

“I am very, very attached to my roots, to my family and as a person… I had reached DU and put my bags down, but I felt, ‘ Let’s go back home. I called my father back from halfway and told him to pick up my bags and take me back to Jaipur.”

It takes honesty to walk away from a dream college without a better plan in hand. Many people would have stayed and hoped to grow into it. Sukriti chose to be true to what she felt, even when it looked like a step back. That quiet courage would be tested again, and much sooner than she expected. Back in Jaipur, she enrolled at a local college, joined a coaching institute for UPSC coaching, and kept Psychology as her backup. She had chosen her roots over her first plan, and she was still working out what came next.

Then 2022 arrived. Her father passed away unexpectedly, and he was the only earning member of the family. Overnight, the question in the house changed from what Sukriti wanted to become to what the family needed next. Years of full-time study with no income suddenly looked like something they could not afford. Letting go of the UPSC plan was not a small decision. She made it quickly anyway, because there was no version of this story in which she sat and waited. There was grief in that moment, and there was arithmetic, and she had to hold both at once.

“I have always carried a basket of responsibility on my head. When Dad passed away, the eldest daughter syndrome kicked in. I did not want to sit at home and only study. I had to step in immediately.”

Her brother is seven years younger, and she thought of him first. Everyone around her had the same line: he is a boy, so it should be his job. She disagreed. She did not want him learning about bills before he had finished being a child, so she decided the weight would sit on her shoulders instead.

“My brother is seven years younger. I did not want to put that burden on him. I told him, ‘ Live your life, live your childhood.”

Work was not new to her. While preparing for the competitive exam, she had worked part-time at a BPO because she never wanted to ask anyone for money. She had learned early that independence is built, not handed over, and that lesson suddenly had a purpose.

Ask her what she wanted from life, and you will not get the answer everyone else gives.

“When we sat in a circle, and everyone was asked what they were looking for in life, they all said learning. I said it straight: money. I need money for my home.”

In July 2023, a LinkedIn post led her to an opening for a Student Counselor at Cyntexa. She walked into the Maharani Farm office expecting a routine interview. It ran for five to six hours with the leadership team and covered far more than one role.

Somewhere in those hours, CEO Shrey said something she had not prepared for. He did not think she was built for student counseling, and he believed she would be bored within days of calling leads all day. Imagine hearing that when you need the job.

“In the interview, Shrey said, ‘I don’t think you can become a student counselor; you will get bored.’ My ego was hurt. How can I not do it? I will!”

Her ego took the hit, and she said it so plainly. But notice what the hit did. It did not shrink her. It sharpened her. What Shrey saw in that reaction was not stubbornness. It was leadership. Instead of the counselor role, he offered her a three-month rotation internship across HR, counseling, and Sales, an arrangement with no precedent at the company.

“He assured me, ‘Just put in the effort, and whatever you’re asking for will follow in terms of growth. The deal was sealed right there.”

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A few weeks into the internship, one of her seniors was no longer a part of the HR operations. Picture the timing: a fresher with no formal HR background, and the person who was meant to guide her suddenly gone. The recruitment work was hers to carry. In an early review meeting, Shrey asked for recruitment numbers. She did not have them.

“I was so disappointed in myself that I decided next time I would have all the answers.”

That sting is where her real growth began. Disappointment is a useful teacher when you let it be one. Sukriti made a rule that day: she would not walk into that room without her answers again. She stopped being someone who was learning the job and became someone who owned it. Keeping that rule meant knowing every open requirement and every number before anyone asked. It was unglamorous discipline, the kind that never appears in a promotion letter but decides whether one arrives.

Then the work arrived in volume. Salesforce developers, software engineers, and volume freshers were all being hired at the same time, and planning windows were a luxury. There was no practice round. Every drive was live, and every miss was visible.

“We usually didn’t have a week-long execution window. At 4 pm, we were asked, ‘Set up interviews for tomorrow,’ and we would execute a 12- to 13-hour drive”

What surprised her was how much she enjoyed it. Speed, accountability, and the authority to decide and execute suited her. The competitive exam books and the Psychology career path stayed behind. HR stopped being a stop on the way and became the plan.

The results moved as fast as the work. She was converted from intern to full-time HR in two months, a timeline Cyntexa had not seen before. By Month 3, in November 2023, she was managing her own team members, which brought a new kind of test. Doing the work well was one skill. Getting others to do it well was another, and she had only months to learn it. Authority arrived faster than comfort, so she earned her team’s trust through results, not rank. Within one year, she earned her first designation promotion, ahead of the standard two-year tenure rule. Across three years she has received three major internal awards and recognitions.

Behind the pace was a method. The subject she once kept as a backup became her sharpest tool for reading candidates. Her interviews rarely feel like interviews. She starts casually, asks how the candidate is doing, and then gradually tries to understand where the candidate’s natural interest lies. The reason is simple. 

“I never take an HR interview like an interview. I start casually so they put their guard down, and I can understand whether they are a culture fit or not.”

Relaxed people show who they are, and that is what a hiring decision needs. Mentorship from Shrey shaped the rest. He taught her how to assess a candidate, how to align hiring with what the business needs, and how to take a decision and own it. As she began leading people, she set her own standard

“When I am having fun, I have a lot of fun. But when there is work, everyone works. Rapport should always stay.”

Praise did come often. But some of the most memorable ones she remembers were one moment of direct appreciation from her CEO,  ” I got praise from Shrey Sir once: ‘You are doing well, keep going.’ That little bit was my motivation.”

It was small, and it was enough. She also added, “Whenever I hit a low phase in my career, I go back and think, why I started this and why I am here.”

Look back at the route. The Delhi room showed her where she belongs. The loss at home showed her what she is willing to carry. The five-hour interview taught her that being told no can be the start of a better yes, and the first review meeting taught her that being caught unprepared once is enough.

Today, Sukriti runs hiring at high speed, leads her own team, and sits across from candidates with the same disarming style that helps people show who they are. Sukriti did not wait for a title to start owning outcomes. She took the responsibility first, and the designation followed. The girl who once asked her father to turn the car around now takes the wheel, and she has never lost sight of why she started.