If you would have met me just out of college, you would have hated to hire me as an HR. Meek, underconfident, introvert and an absolute noob. So, naturally, I took up a desk job which required minimum to no human interaction.
I was a political analyst for 3 years of my career. To be honest, political analyst is a fancy term for someone who writes articles, crunches data and never looks up from their laptop. And that was me, in my little comfort zone preferring homeostasis forever.
Initial Days
But then like a lightning struck COVID and lockdown. Fortunately, I was locked down with my dear friends, the co-founders of DashHire. Apart from all the fun and games, we had numerous insightful conversations. At that time a lot of the blue-collar workforce had lost their jobs and we wanted to do something for them.
Thus Pragti was born in my living room as the first version of the now-successful DashHire. We tried our hands at hiring Business Development and Sales executives and were quite successful in that. The founders managed their jobs and DashHire quite well. And as for me, I became a mute spectator of their journey, often doubting and frequently questioning all their endeavours.
For a couple of months, they hired quite well and all was going smoothly, but then they pivoted to tech recruitment as that was a burning problem for the startups they hired for. And as for me, I was finally bored and done with my desk job. While they pivoted to tech hiring I pivoted to a blue-collar unicorn because well I thought maybe I should explore that domain first.
Transformation
Boy, oh Boy was that tough! I was getting companies to hire from our platform and the amount of coaxing, calling, and following up it required was unimaginable. I think nature had its way to compensate for my muteness at work for three years. This experience changed me, as a person and my personality. It helped me understand people better and learn to find a sweet spot which works for either party.
But that job got monotonous way too soon. The days started looking mundane. You wake up, call clients, and convince them to post a job. To be honest, I had given my pitch so many times that I even got bored of it. In organisations as big as the one I was working for, there is little to no opportunity for either innovation or experimentation. So, I felt that my cognitive senses weren’t tickled enough. When I was contemplating what next, I received a call from Tanmay (Lovingly Darips) to join DashHire.
We had a call for an hour, and he promised me just one thing, “You can do what you want in DashHire because this is your company as well.” I was scared to take the plunge from a settled well-paying secured job to a startup whose revenue at that time couldn’t cover its cost. But, I decided to believe in DashHire and myself and took the leap of faith.
Initial days in Dash Hire
The first few days of DashHire were just me figuring out various roles, and understanding where my expertise lies. Is it sales? Is it negotiation? Is it client management? As an onboarding process of DashHire, we all are supposed to manage a client, end to end. So, from reaching out to the candidates, scheduling interviews, and managing stakeholders, one must do everything. Unless you understand the business first-hand, how can you be a part of it? Just as a side note, all of our co-founders have been Account Managers and Tech Recruiters for various clients. They still do, now and then!
As an introvert, I always observed people. I have always observed how they react to various external stimuli (situations) and my strength lies there. I can pre-empt reactions and behaviour of individuals, well mostly! Of course I am not God, but my analysis is pretty spot on! Coupled with my experience in my previous stint, I did learn the art of negotiating and stakeholder management.
While managing one of our high-profile clients, I placed a candidate with a package of 1 crore. The highest ever to date for DashHire. The boost it gave me was unimaginable and this happened just a month into joining. And that’s when I figured out what I am good at. I am good at being the bridge between techies and the company.
How techies think?
Techies, mostly are introverts like me. Their days look mundane writing and pushing codes, so in their free time, they don’t want to negotiate with HRs or fight to get their deserved salary. Hence they shop to get what they want or if possible probably outsource the entire process.To date, I have almost 20 placements for my kitty and here is what I found out as a tech recruiter:
Be friends with your candidates: They will tell you their problems, and they will also tell you if they are going to join or not. If they receive any other offer, you are the first ones to know.
Fight for your candidate: If you feel that a candidate deserves a certain hike, negotiate with the company till you get it. If a candidate gets his desired salary, exposure and position, his likelihood to shop is extremely low. P.S: We have a higher than average market rate for joining which is improving by the day!
You are the recruiter for your client: Ultimately, your client and you both benefit from a techie joining them. That’s a win-win situation. So, do what it takes to achieve that. If the company HR has a lot on their plate, you befriend the hiring manager and schedule interviews if need be. Make sure you are on top of your game at all times.
Know your tech: You must be well-versed with the common terms in tech recruitment and should be able to screen candidates well. Sending irrelevant candidates spoils client experience to a point of no return.
Conclusion
As I complete a year in DashHire, I know I have come a long way and a longer way needs to be covered. From one joining a month, we now are in double digits. I feel like a proud mama bear seeing DashHire grow. This blog is unfinished and so shall it be as I keep learning and growing in DashHire.