Zomato's Deepinder Goyal receives 10K applications for chief of staff role

Rs 20 lakh fee was a filter, says Zomato's Goyal

After sparking a buzz on social media over hiring his chief of staff, Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and chief executive officer of Zomato, said the fee of Rs 20 lakh was merely a filter. While the chief of staff is yet to be appointed, Goyal received a total of 18,000 applications.

 

“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 said in his post on X.

 

He added that Zomato would reject most applications, including those from people who had the money or even talked about it. “We are going to find genuine intent and a learning mindset from the sea of applications we have received,” he said.

 

Goyal also highlighted that such an act could only be pulled off once and added that paying the company to get a job shouldn’t become a norm.

 

“Money is an essential thing to keep people’s lives running, and I believe in paying more than the market rate so that money doesn’t come in the way of great work,” he said.

 

Earlier in the day, Goyal said he had already received 10,000 applications for the role of chief of staff.

 

“We have over 10,000 applications, a lot of them well thought through, mixed between: those who have all the money, those who have some of the money, those who say they don’t have the money, and those who really don’t have the money,” he posted on LinkedIn as update 2.

 

On Wednesday, Goyal shared a job description for the chief of staff role, which required the candidate to pay Rs 20 lakh as a donation to Zomato’s charitable initiative, Feeding India.

 

He had also stated that the candidate would gain 10 times more learning than a two-year degree from a top management school. The candidate would receive a salary only from the second year onward.

 

In his second update, Goyal said the application process would close at 6:00 pm today. He also mentioned that there would be a third update.

 

Many on social media termed Goyal’s attempt a marketing gimmick. On Wednesday, Goyal said he was looking for a chief of staff, although this role was unconventional and lacked the usual perks associated with such jobs. “In fact, we are making this job unattractive for most people. There is no salary for this role for the first year. You will have to, in fact, pay Rs 20 lakh for this opportunity. 100 per cent of this 'fee' will be paid in the form of a donation directly to Feeding India," he said.

 

He also added that the company would contribute Rs 50 lakh (the equivalent of the chief of staff’s salary) to a charity of the employee’s choice.