Mumbai: Kalpesh Khivasara, a student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here, knows he can get a job at a major company.
But faced with being a small fish in a big ocean, Khivasara passed on all the big names at campus placements earlier this year. He chose working for a start-up, where a mix of adrenaline, growth and coffee will likely keep him working past midnight.
In a few months, as his batchmates begin drawing eye-popping salaries, Khivasara will go to work for INI Consulting Pvt. Ltd, a company focusing on commercializing new technologies from academic and research institutions. He knows he will work crazy hours and many different jobs—that’s the point. “You may end up doing everything, but that’s the great thing about it,” he says.
To target students like Khivasara, IIT Bombay plans a start-up job fair at the end of the month. The event is recognition of two nationwide trends: More youth want to begin their careers with risks and feel like they are a vital part of an organization. And start-ups are formalizing their own human resources (HR) and hiring practices as they seek candidates who, more than the right skill set, have the right mindset.
“Freshers are the best people for a start-up because they are economical, loyalty is high and can be trained for any task efficiently,” says Vijay Anand, chief organizer, Proto.in.
Proto.in, which showcases start-ups to venture capitalists (VCs) and industry members, plans to start a forum called Start-up Alliance along with the National Entrepreneurship Network. This forum will arrange interactions with start-ups for students while they are still in college with hopes of recruitment upon graduation. So far, 15 start-ups have signed up and trial runs will start in April.
Besides students, start-ups also look to recruit from large, established enterprises. The main draw for most is that start-ups offer wide scope and lots of exposure, even as they offer great flexibility. Santrupta Bhatia, for example, quit her job as software engineer at a large multinational two years ago and never went back. Today, she leaves her start-up employer at 1pm every day, picks up her two-year-old from playschool and writes code from home as he naps.
Her colleague, Amoghavarsha, works three days a week and devotes the rest of his time to his passion—photography. Both work for Bangalore-based start-up Four Interactive Pvt. Ltd, which runs local information search site Asklaila.com.
At another start-up DimDim Inc., Sundar Subramanian’s official designation says head (business development), but his responsibilities include product management, developing reseller partnerships and building a global sales team.