Recruiting for Starups

A company by definition is a collection of people.

This means that every company, no matter how big or small, will always be looking for people. This was the very idea that made one of the biggest web companies in India – Naukri.com.

Now when you think about it, there are so many sectors where an internet company could have made its mark, then how come the job sector became one the biggest successes in the Indian Internet History?

The answer is easy. Looking for the right people, is hard. Earlier, there was no easy way to get them to come to you. You had to rely on your headhunters and friends to refer people. Jobs in the newspaper were not indexed. So if you missed a paper, you’ll never see that job again. You had to wait for The Ascent every week, the other employment magazines and what not. Naukri.com changed that drastically. Naukri.com was the ‘search’ of the Indian Internet Industry. And they laughed (are still laughing) all the way to the bank.

But if Naukri changed things so drastically, how come we still hear echoes about how it is so difficult to recruit in India. I just read up about it on startupdunia. So I thought that this was as good a time as any for me to talk about the hiring process at my company.

From the day that I decided to hire people (I was freelancing for over an year), I knew I had a few choices. One, was the good ol’ way to put out an advertisement in the newspaper and wait for the replies (Like I had done, to get my first job). Second, was to get in touch with a couple of headhunters. Third, was to post an ad on Naukri or Monster.

The first didn’t seem like a good choice. I was quite sure the kind of developers that I wanted were spending more time on the internet that reading a copy of the Ascent every Wednesday.

The second, seemed like a good choice initially. But then I realize they were a little too expensive than the option that I finally used. So I decided to drop that option too.

The last was to advertise on Naukri/Monster. So I decided to go with that choice. But as I was looking through the options, I realized that they were giving out a one week access to their database for less than a third of the amount you would pay a headhunter. And I just signed up for it.

In three long and tiring days with the database, I checked out over 500 resumes, took telephonic interviews with about 70, and then called 7 for a face to face interview. All seven were smart, knew a lot about working on the internet, weren’t too experienced, but quite made up for it in intensity. I’m sure that in a few years all of them would be doing really well on their jobs. All I had to do now was find out if they could code, and if they could fit in here.

In retrospect, I think I really found a great bunch of people. I can feel the energy growing in the company. And if god permits, soon we would have excellent products flowing out of the company too.

In the end, I think we should all try to be like Shane Warne. Never give up, create new ‘roles’. There are a lot of really smart people who were just born to work for startups. Just because we aren’t trying hard enough to reach them, they end up playing TT in the biggest company they get to. They good ones do well at bigger companies too, but being in startups is in their DNA. They would really blossom if they were here, and it’s our job and duty to make sure we find them.

Maybe we just need to look hard enough.

Update : I just read something interesting on Zoho Blogs about recruitment. Do check it out. Afterall, they are one of India’s biggest success stories, and they must be doing this right.