Start-ups take social media route to tap talent

When Pankaj Chaddah, co-founder of Zomato, wanted to hire fresh talent for his online food discovery platform, he couldn’t think of a better place than social media.

Chaddah, who has hired 70 per cent of Zomato’s workforce through social media platforms, put a post on Facebook and Twitter seeking applications from engineers, sales and business development personnel. The company got nearly 1,000 applications in just two days. Similarly, US-based caller identification app Truecaller, which has a big presence in India, uses only online platforms to post job openings and receive applications. It uses head hunters and the internal network only for very senior positions.

Companies, such as Zomato, Snapdeal, Truecaller, Amazon, Zivame and Uber, are increasingly adopting the social media route to recruit talent. This practice, called social hiring in start-up lingo, not only saves recruitment costs but also on time.

Saurabh Sengupta, Senior Vice-President Recruitments at Zomato, said, “We often use social media to attract the best talent as it is easy to amplify messages on these channels.” For some of the start-ups, social media also allows them to get a glimpse of who the candidates are outside the confines of a resume.

“A candidate’s social media profile could reveal a lot about him,” says Prashant Chaudhary, Co-Founder, Mr Right, an online platform for home service professionals such as plumbers, carpenters and electricians.

While applications via social media helps companies do the initial vetting, short-listed candidates still have to go through the traditional selection process. “All our recruits must go through an application process where we first look to see if their qualifications, attitude and personality fit,” said Truecaller’s Chief Human Resources Officer Anna Fredrixon.

However, Satya D Sinha, CEO, MANCER Consulting, said social hiring may not be relevant for top level hiring and companies will continue to seek help from recruitment consultants.

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