Zomato Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Deepinder Goyal, facing criticism on social media, clarified on Thursday that the company never intended to charge Rs 20 lakh for the "chief-of-staff" position following the controversial job posting.
Goyal claimed that the posting, which had attracted over 18,000 applications before being closed, was meant to serve as a filter to identify candidates who could "appreciate" the unique career opportunity, rather than a genuine request for payment.
"This wasn't just another hiring post. As some people pointed out, the 'you have to pay us 20 lacs' was merely a filter, to find people who had the power to appreciate the opportunity of a fast track career, without getting bogged down by constraints in front of them," Goyal said in note shared on his X profile.
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November 21, 2024He expressed hope that the practice of paying companies for job opportunities does not become a common trend. "We are going to reject most of the applications, who have money, or even talked about the money. We are going to find genuine intent and a learning mindset from the sea of applications we have received," Goyal said.
He also shared a screenshot of a private conversation with a user on X, who had defended the controversial idea, further explaining that the charge was intended as a filter.
Supporting the unusual recruitment post, he said, "something like this can only be pulled off once in the world. Now that everyone knows the real intent behind this, we won't be able to get the desired outcomes if we do it again".
In the job posting shared previously, Goyal had said the whole amount will go as a donation directly to the company's Feeding India programme.
On the salary details, Goyal wrote, "There is no salary for this role for the first year. You will have to, in fact pay Rs 20 lakh for this opportunity. 100 per cent of this 'fee' will be paid in the form of donation directly to Feeding India (if you are offered the role, and you accept it)."
"At our end, we want to demonstrate that we are not trying to save money here -- we will contribute Rs 50 lakh (equivalent to a Chief of Staff salary) to a charity of your choice," he said.
Second-year onwards, Goyal said: "We will start paying you the usual salary (definitely more than Rs 50 lakh) but something we will only talk about at the start of Year 2)."
Goyal had asked aspirants to apply for the role only for the "learning opportunity it presents, rather than for a fancy well paying job which will make you look cool in front of yourself or the people you want to impress".
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