Syed Hurr Abbas — Talent Seeking Missile

What I Do

Areas of Expertise

From SCB to Cialfo Singapore to VP at AKBL — 12+ years of recruiting across banking, fintech, and global tech with a consistent focus on people, data, and brand.

🎯

Talent Acquisition

End-to-end recruiting across Branch Banking, Consumer Banking, CIB, IT, Risk, Compliance, Marketing, Legal, and Finance. Boolean sourcing, batch hiring, and pipeline design at institutional scale.

📣

Employer Branding

EVP design, digital community management, social presence strategy, and candidate experience architecture. Brand ambassador with a track record of building institutional credibility.

📊

Data & Analytics

Custom MIS dashboards, recruitment analytics, workforce forecasting, and predictive talent intelligence. Translating data into decisions that leadership acts on.

🏛️

Stakeholder Management

Directly reporting to VPs and Heads of TA across SCB, Cialfo, and AKBL. Executive presentations, cross-functional alignment, and hiring programs built for C-suite sign-off.

🚀

Program Design

Flagship talent programs including the Askari Elevate MTO 2026 — 35 trainees, 60% female target, structured assessment pipeline with Pulsifi and Narejo HR as vendors.

🤖

AI & HRTech

Applying AI to recruitment workflows, prompt engineering for HR use cases, psychometric tools like Pulsifi, and digital sourcing strategies across ASEAN, AME, and Pakistan.

Career

The Journey So Far

From a bookstore at 14 to VP at one of Pakistan's top banks — every role built on the last.

Jan 2026
Present

Current Role

VP — Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding

Askari Bank Limited · Islāmābād

Leading talent strategy and employer brand at AKBL. Spearheading Askari Elevate — the bank's flagship 2026 Management Trainee Program for 35 trainees with a 60% female hiring target. Directly reporting to the Head of Talent Acquisition.

Program Design Employer Branding Executive Presentations

Jan 2024
Dec 2025

Senior Manager — Talent Acquisition

Askari Bank Limited · Islāmābād

Recruiting across Branch Banking, Consumer Banking, CIB, International Banking, IT, Risk, Compliance, and more. Led digital sourcing strategies, selection process design, and employer branding activities.

Volume Hiring Digital Sourcing Assessment Design

Nov 2021
Dec 2023

Manager — Talent Acquisition

Askari Bank Limited · Islāmābād

Built and executed sourcing, assessment, and closing approaches across multiple locations in Pakistan. Led recruiting team, improved candidate experience, and contributed to retention strategy.

Team Leadership Candidate Experience MIS

May 2021
Oct 2021

Global Talent Sourcer — Technical Recruitment

Cialfo · Singapore (Remote)

Recruited software engineers and managers for Singapore, Pakistan, and India. Sourced across AME and ASEAN for full-stack, mobile, data, BI, and cloud roles. Reported to Global Head of TA.

Tech Hiring Boolean Sourcing ASEAN / AME

Sep 2016
May 2021

Resourcing Officer — Talent Acquisition

Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan · Lahore

Supported two VPs and Head of TA. Sourced for multiple positions across Pakistan and worked globally on talent projects. Built retail banking pipelines, acted as brand ambassador, created custom analytics dashboards for leadership.

Global Banking Analytics Talent Pipelines

Dec 2015
Sep 2016

Sales Coordinator

Bank Alfalah Limited · Central Region Pakistan

Supported a team of 100+ in processing sales applications for unsecured lending products. Introduced daily sales reports and MIS, administered management information systems.

Nov 2014
Dec 2015

Sales Processor

Silkbank Limited · Pakistan

Managed sales processing for Lahore region. Managed 100,000+ customer database with data analytics. Reduced RTS and rejection ratios through policy compliance tracking.

Education & Certifications

Credentials

Academic foundation in social sciences, layered with professional certifications, and continuous skill development.

Certification — In Progress

CHRP — Human Resources Management & Services

National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST)

Oct 2025 – Apr 2026

Certification

Job Evaluation

Mercer

Certification

Data Literacy for Business Professionals

Skillsoft

Certification

Effective Digital Community Management

Skillsoft

Certification

Ensuring Onboarding Success & Communicating with Confidence

Skillsoft

Academic

Masters — Social Sciences

University of the Punjab · 2016 – 2018

Academic

Bachelor's — Social Sciences

University of the Punjab, Lahore · 2012 – 2014

Academic

Intermediate — Business / Commerce

Government College Lahore · 2010 – 2012

Skills & Languages

Toolkit

Top LinkedIn-endorsed skills, functional capabilities, and languages spoken.

🏆 Top Endorsed Skills

Team Management MIS Banking Job Evaluation Branding & Identity Analytical Skills

⚡ Functional Capabilities

Boolean Sourcing Batch Hiring Psychometric Assessment Employer Branding Talent Analytics EVP Design Project Management Social Networking Data Literacy Stakeholder Management

Urdu

Native

Punjabi

Native

English

Full Professional

Arabic

Elementary

Chinese

Elementary

Beyond the Desk

Values in Action

Giving back is part of how I operate, not an afterthought.

🏦

Regional Coordinator

State Bank of Pakistan — National Financial Literacy Program. Driving financial awareness at regional level across Pakistan.

🩸

Long-Term Blood Donor

Fatmid Foundation — since 2010. Committed donor for 15+ years to Pakistan's leading voluntary blood donation organization.

🧠

Mental Health Advocate

Public writer on resilience and personal growth. Actively destigmatizing mental health in professional circles.

📚

Lifelong Learner

Fan of Angela Duckworth's Grit. Interests in emerging technology, philosophy, and books. A diverse background — started work at a bookstore at age 14.

Get in Touch