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Within just 24 hours of sharing the hiring alert, Goyal revealed that Zomato had received over 10,000 applications
The job description mentioned that there will be no salary for the first year. (Photo Credits: X)
Deepinder Goyal, the co-founder and CEO of Zomato, recently stirred a debate after announcing a highly unconventional job opening for the role of Chief of Staff.
Within just 24 hours of sharing the hiring alert, Goyal revealed that Zomato had received over 10,000 applications. The job comes with an unusual twist: instead of a salary, the selected candidate must pay a Rs 20 lakh “fee,” which will be donated to the charity Feeding India, a cause the company supports.
The announcement drew mixed reactions. Some viewed it as a clever marketing strategy, leveraging social media buzz for publicity, while others, like industrialist Harsh Goenka, raised ethical concerns. Goenka argued that the Rs 20 lakh fee could exclude talented but underprivileged candidates, making the job potentially exploitative. He also questioned the lack of clarity regarding the second-year salary, calling the arrangement “innovative” but raising serious ethical issues.
On Wednesday evening, the Zomato boss had announced: “I am looking for a chief of staff for myself. However, this role is not a conventional role with the usual perks that such jobs come with. 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% of this ‘fee’ will be paid in the form of a donation directly to Feeding India.”
Also, to demonstrate that the company is not trying to save money, Zomato would contribute Rs 50 lakh (equivalent to a chief of staff salary) to a charity of the employee’s choice.
“Second year onwards, we will start paying you the usual salary (definitely more than Rs 50 lakh, but something we will only talk about at the start of the Year 2,” Goyal added.
On the other hand, listing the perks of the job, the Zomato boss said that the chief of staff would get “10x more learnings than a 2-year degree from a top management school, working with him and some of the “smartest folks in consumer tech”.
