Deepinder Goyal backtracks on 'no salary, pay Rs 20 lakh' job after 18k applications, says 'rejecting all who have money'

Deepinder Goyal certainly knows how to rule the trends. After posting a job listing for a Chief of Staff role, where the selected candidate would have to pay Rs 20 lakh and receive no salary for an entire year, he's been dominating headlines. Whether the attention is good or bad, it¡¯s still attention. Now, in the latest twist to this job saga, Goyal has announced, after receiving 18,000 applications, that he will reject all candidates willing to pay the amount, leaving audiences thoroughly confused.

In his third update, Deepinder Goyal shared, "We have closed applications for my Chief of Staff role. We have received more than 18,000 applications."

He added that the company would be reviewing the submissions over the next week to identify candidates who "exhibit their hunger for learning and constant improvement, over short term constraints and their current reality of life."

But more importantly, Goyal revealed that the Rs 20 lakh fee was never meant to be collected. He shared a screenshot of a DM with a X user, saying, "Between you and me, we will not eventually ask for 20 lacs, and pay the right person anyway."

The original job posting, which required candidates to pay Rs 20 lakh and work for free for a year, sparked controversy and criticism from industry figures, including Harsh Goenka, who called it "potentially exploitative."

Addressing the backlash, Goyal clarified, "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."

The company now plans to reject applications centered around money, with Goyal stating, "We are going to find genuine intent and learning mindset from the sea of applications we have received."

Goyal wrapped up his update by emphasising that this was a one-off experiment, writing, "Something like this can only be pulled off once in the world."

He added, "I really hope that 'pay the company to get a job' doesn't become a norm in this world ¨C that's not cool. Money is an essential thing to keep people's lives running, and I believe in paying more than market rate."

How did people respond?

The reactions to this were nothing short of wild.

One user said, "Imagine, they were just testing the 'neeyat' of potential candidates, and 18,000 hands went up."

Another hilarious post suggested Infosys founder Narayan Murthy as a potential candidate for the role.

Credit: LinkedIn

Meanwhile, some pointed out the irony¡ªhow the entire hiring post revolved around the Rs 20 lakh fee, yet now Goyal is rejecting applicants who are willing to pay.

>application literally is about money 20L
>rejected if "even talks about money"

?

¡ª techno sapien (@techn0_sap1en) November 21, 2024

Why exactly did you need the 20L filter? Pretty sure there must be many out there who have the right intent but money would be a deterrent. So essentially you've filtered out most of India that isn't as privileged.

¡ª Tina Gurnaney (@TinaGurnaney) November 21, 2024

Others offered suggestions, with one simply saying, "Just hire a better PR team."

Does this mean we trust you more on your word going forward?

or less?

maybe just hire a better PR team?

¡ª amul.exe (@amuldotexe) November 21, 2024

A few skeptics even speculated that this move might be a distraction from Zomato's ongoing drug case in Chandigarh.

This was a brilliant play in online reputation management to distract attention from the drugs case in Chandigarh.

Kudos to you & your PR team.

¡ª Suraj Balakrishnan (@SurajBala) November 21, 2024

One user summed it up perfectly, saying, "This entire exercise was quite needless."

Irrespective of whether updates 2 and 3 were afterthoughts or planned in advance, this entire exercise was quite needless. I don't know why marketing and PR people are so obsessed with making anything and everything dramatic nowadays.

¡ª Zucker Doctor (@DoctorLFC) November 21, 2024

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