What Does It Take To Get Hired By An Indian Startup A fresher needs to understand the potential of a company and not how and when it's funded.
By Sneha Banerjee •
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When IITian Akash Neeraj Mittal's product listing of his resume on Flipkart went viral, it showed the eagerness and lure amid youngsters to be a part of the startup bandwagon. Freshers and experienced employers are increasingly seeking opportunities at startups and move away from traditional job cultures.
Joby Joseph, CEO, Freshersworld.com, which also has startups like Flipkart, Practo, Uber, and others listed as clients, spoke about qualities that will help you get hired by a startup.
Joby said that startups are generally very particular about the applicant's knowledge about the product and operations of the company. Additionally, startups are often let down when they get to know that the applicant has applied to other traditional MNCs, apart from their company. This sends out an impression of disinterest and inconsistency to the employer.
Joby further added that if a one aspires to get hired by a startup he should work on problem solving ideas that are related to the startup. For example- If you want to work for an ecommerce startup, talk about ideas that can reduce their delivery time. Adding such solution based ideas in one's resume also draws the attention of hiring managers. Unicorn startups look for freshers who have wacky ideas.
According to the recent survey "Toughest Jobs to Fill-HR Survey 2016" conducted by the portal here are few things that act as deterring factors for a majority of companies from hiring freshers -
Lack of Talent
According to a recent study only 35 per cent of engineers, 20 per cent of graduates in finance or accounting and 10 per cent with generalist degrees from India, have the skills to work for an international company.
This also speaks volume about the casual course structure inclined more towards quantity rather than quality provided by Indian colleges. As India looks at having MNC's having their major development hubs set up in India through "Make in India" initiative this divide is only set to increase. By doing so we are only putting pressure on existing skills as we don't have the university systems to help replenish the talent shortage that is deepening.
Lack of Experience
It's bit of an anomaly that freshers are asked about their experience in job interviews. I mean, they are fresh out of college! Putting an end to this age hold HR question is the fact that trained freshers bring in a lot more onto the table than just experience. The job drive in fresh graduates is found to be 2X from people working in a similar profile with 1-2 years of experience.
Salary related issues
About 48 per cent of freshers in colleges across India prefer to work in startups. There are multiple factors involved here. The psychological as well as the financial goals of candidates make them take decisions.
The second best thing to starting a company is working for a startup. The entrepreneurial kick a person can get by working for a startup is second to none. Also decision taking capacity, instant gratification for work done, chances of promotion and hike gets increased while working in a dynamic setup. While many funded companies are able to provide exuberant salaries, others can't.
A fresher needs to understand the potential of a company, rather than understanding how it's funded. Based on the above three factors freshers need to understand the expectation put forward by companies and act upon it.
