Speed test
BENGALURU: It all started with a meme featuring the Godzilla and King Kong face-off which symbolised the current competition between the 10-minute grocery and food delivery initiatives in the quick e-commerce ecosystem. However, the meme also put up a challenge to conduct a 10-minute internship hiring process on the same lines of the delivery process. Subash Choudhary, co-founder of Dukaan, which helps startups launch businesses online, actually accepted this challenge.
On April 1, Choudhary and his team pulled-off a unique feat where they hired 12 interns – out of the 40 candidates – who applied for the 10-minute internship hiring slot for the role of a front-end developer. Although netizens thought this was an April fool’s prank, the startup worked in real-time to take on the challenge. They even gave the offer letter to the selected candidates post the interview. While some joined the team on Monday, some are expected to join in the coming days. The first intern to be hired hails from Kashmir, and will be moving to Bengaluru for the summer internship.
Choudhary explains that with lack of time and just three members in the hiring team, the company was not ready for a long-haul internship process that would extend to multiple rounds over several days. With deadlines closing in and the demand for jobs increasing, the team had no choice but to fast-track the hiring process equal to the viral quick e-commerce trend. “We are not obsessed with the 10-minute catchword. This was an experiment. It was more about making the recruitment process quick and efficient. We announced hiring on a short notice, but the number of candidates who applied were 40, overshooting the 24 slots that were scheduled. We had a tech team in place which ensured that the candidates passed their virtual interview process without hassles,” says Choudhary, who adds that selected candidates will be paid a stipend of Rs 35,000 or more each month depending on their performance.
The interview process was held in three phases, between 11.30 am and 9.30 pm on April 1. Candidates were first introduced to a set of three members comprising the HR team. The three-member team spent about four minutes briefing the candidate about the internship process and going through the candidate’s profile and project works. The second phase, consisting of two tech-lead members, reviewed the project of the candidate, which took about three minutes. After which, Choudhary took around three minutes to interview the candidate and accept or reject them based on the rankings submitted by the members of the first two phases.
“I would select or reject the candidate based on the assessment of the technical team. It is of course not fair to judge a candidate in 10 minutes. If we find that we went wrong in hiring any one of the interns, it is absolutely okay. It would be a learning for us. In fact I spent more than 10 minutes with candidates who I felt would make it to the team,” says Choudhary.