Zomato's Managing Director and CEO, Deepinder Goyal, clarified today that the company never intended to charge Rs 20 lakh for the Chief of Staff position, following an unusual job posting that caused controversy.
Goyal expressed that he wishes that the practice of paying companies for job opportunities does not become a widespread trend. Before the Zomato closed the vacancy, more than 18,000 applications were submitted for the highly sought-after position. Goyal's explanation attempts to address the worries expressed by numerous people about the unusual nature of the job posting.
"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 wrote.
He further said, "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 charging people Rs 20 lakh "was never part of the plan", while sharing a screenshot of a private conversation between him and a user on X, who had defended the idea.
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In the conversation, Goyal said "...we will not eventually ask for 20 lacs, and pay the right person anyway".
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."
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In his post, Goyal further said, "And I really hope that "pay the company to get a job" doesn't become a norm in this world -- that's not cool."
Asserting that "money is an essential thing to keep people's lives running", Goyal said, "and I believe in paying more than market rate, so that money doesn't come in the way of great work."
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".
"We want to build a learning organisation and we now know thousands of people who exhibit their hunger for learning and constant improvement, over short term constraints and their current reality," he said.
