Jobs usually come with salary and perks. Here’s a job offer with a difference: No pay for the first year. Instead, the chosen candidates must pay a fee to get the job. Weird, isn’t it?
Zomato, an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company, doesn’t think so. CEO Deepinder Goyal said the Chief of Staff job role in the Gurugram-based company is worth more than 200,000 rupees (about Dh8,700), he has demanded. Moreover, the money will go to Feeding India, Zomato’s non-profit initiative. Goyal insisted that the offer targets individuals with a strong desire to learn and grow.
In a LinkedIn post, he said, “This role is not about resume-building or financial perks. It’s for those who want to learn and contribute to building the future of Zomato, Blinkit, Hyperpure and Feeding India.”
A controversy erupts
The fee requirement is to ensure that applicants are motivated by the opportunity to learn rather than monetary gain, the Zomato CEO added, saying that he’s “trying to change the concept of professional growth within corporate India”. From the second year, the recruit will be paid 50 million rupees (about Dh217,500).
That didn’t stop the critics from skewering him. They said the fee put the job beyond the reach of most candidates while preferring the few with financial clout.
Goyal has some backers too. Some people praised the move as a rare chance to learn from the entrepreneur. Arnav Gupta, a former Zomato employee, was one backer. The former Engineering Head of Consumer App said, “The selected candidate would learn more on the job than any MBA could teach.”
But social media users came down heavily on Gupta. “This requirement effectively filters for people with inheritance or people who have a good amount of money saved up already that they can use. Which is highly unethical…” one user wrote.
“Working here [Zomato] will not be compared to a degree from a real college which will be valued across the globe,” wrote another. “This is pretty worthless on a CV — the only thing it says about you is that you have 20L [200,000] to burn,” a third user commented.
Goyal’s clarification
Amid the swirling controversy, Goyal said the company, which received more than 18,000 applications, never intended to charge money for the Chief of Staff position. Writing in X, he said he wishes that the practice of paying companies for job opportunities did not become a widespread trend and that payment sought was merely a filter to find the people who want a fast-track career.
“We are going to reject most of the applications that have money or have 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 added.
