Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal recently stirred a controversy by announcing a Chief of Staff job role requiring selected candidates to a fee of Rs 20 lakh. He advertised for the job position under unusual conditions: No salary for the first year and a Rs 20 lakh payment to Feeding India, Zomato's non-profit initiative. This announcement sparked a discussion online, with many slamming the CEO for exploiting candidates with the donation demand. However, one former Zomato employee who worked for the company for a year spoke in Mr Goyal's defence, saying that the selected candidate would learn more on the job than any MBA could teach.
Taking to X, Arnav Gupta, who served as Zomato's Engineering Head of Consumer App until 2024, shared his experience of working with Deepinder Goyal. "I know people are commenting various stupid things about 'paid internship'. Leaving this note here as someone who got the chance to work 1 year with @deepigoyal, if you're looking for a career in Management Consulting / Strategy, this is worth waaaay more than Rs 20L!" he wrote.
In a separate post, Mr Gupta also pointed out that there is no MBA course in India that charges less than Rs 20 lakh as a fee.
However, social media users slammed Mr Gupta for supporting Mr Goyal. "Absolutely deranged a** take. 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, given that this requirement is not tied to the responsibilities of the job," wrote one user.
"Working here will not be compared to a degree from a real college which will be valued across the globe," commented another. "This is a publicly advertised paid post so zero prestige - and as a fresher it's very unlikely you'll be given any responsibilities worth the title. So frankly this is pretty worthless on a CV - the only thing it says about you is that you have 20L to burn," said a third user.
"Stop glazing him and promoting this things. He is going to use someone's skill and not pay him/her and do charity. And if you can't explain to people why it is better than an MBA from IIM, maybe you should shut up," wrote a fourth user.
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Meanwhile, Mr Goyal has clarified that the company never intended to charge Rs 20 lakh for the Chief of Staff position. Taking to X, he expressed that he wishes that the practice of paying companies for job opportunities does not become a widespread trend. "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," he wrote.
"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," Mr Goyal added. He said the company will go through the applications over the next week and reach out to people who "we think are the right fit for an organisation".
