Social media is often flooded with stories about candidates dissatisfied with their salary hikes. However, a startup founder is receiving massive applause for offering an engineering candidate a significantly higher salary than what he had requested, as the company chose to stick to its pre-approved budget.
In a video that has now gone viral, the founder shared that the candidate, who was earning ₹30,000, had asked for a modest increase of ₹5,000, taking his expected salary to ₹35,000. However, the company offered him ₹50,000 instead.
“Candidate asked for 35k/month, but we offered 50k/month because for that role we have approved 50k,” the founder wrote on Instagram while sharing the video on the company’s page.
In the video, one of the founders revealed that during the hiring process for an engineering role, the candidate requested a salary of ₹35,000 per month despite earning around ₹30,000 in his previous job. However, since the company had already allocated a budget of ₹50,000 for the position, the management decided to offer the full amount and hired him.
The founder further shared that a few days after joining, the candidate asked why the company had agreed to offer a higher salary than what he had demanded. Recalling his response, the founder said he simply replied, “Why would I not?”
“I have accepted that budget. According to me, that work has value. That budget is approved,” adding, “If I can solve that problem for you, where you don't have to think whether it is ₹30,000 or ₹35,000, then I should solve that problem for you," the IITian shared.
At this point, another founder joined the conversation and said, “People don't realise this, but the guy has been with us for the last 3 years, and if he had gone in between, then our cost of rehiring would have been very high. So, I think this is our way of working. We always prefer quality over cost optimization.”
How social media users reacted
One individual commented, “Dream recruiters”. Another wrote, “Being an HR, I totally support this, but meri company karne nahi degi mujhe ese (My company won’t allow me to work like this).” A third joked, “My HR says it’s AI”.
A fourth user added, “Real. Spending more when budgets have been approved is the best thing possible.”
Another sarcastically said: “My HR said it's an AI video.”
A sixth user wrote: “Manifesting these kinds of bosses.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
