365 Days of Stories - Day 24: Team Ramp-Up Strategy – Hiring Fresh Talent Quickly

As I continued to address the major issues with the project, I quickly realized I couldn’t run the show alone for much longer. We needed to ramp up the team fast, but there were several constraints:

💡 Hiring Challenges

⏳ No time to wait 3 months for hiring. 💰 We couldn’t pay above market rates. 🔍 We weren’t a big brand, so attracting top talent was a challenge. So, I did what any startup would do: I got creative.

🏫The NCST Solution

I went to NCST (now merged with CDAC)—the same institute where I had completed my post-graduation. Just a few years ago, I had been declined to hire from there because I didn’t have my company registered, and my startup wasn’t well-established yet. But this time, things were different.

I approached the placement officer and said, “I represent a private limited company with 200+ people, and we’re looking to hire 5 people immediately.” She agreed and told me, “You can come anytime. We have over 100 candidates about to pass out in 2 weeks.”

📄 Interview Strategy

My approach was simple and focused on the basics, as I was the only one conducting interviews. Here’s the strategy I followed:

  1. 📑 No Cut-off Percentage – Don’t worry about backlog in engineering or strict criteria on percentage. Everyone was welcome.
  2. ✏️ Programming Test – 2 questions on paper, no computers. Just raw logic, no need to worry about cheating or extreme test cases.
  3. 💻 Any Language – Candidates could use any programming language of their choice.

In just 2 hours, I conducted the test, and within 1-2 hours, I reviewed the papers, shortlisting around 10-15 candidates based on the quality of their logic, regardless of whether the solutions were fully correct.

🕒 The Interview Day

I interviewed all the candidates until 9 pm that day and selected 4 who showed promise. I initially offered them a 6-month probation with ₹15,000/month, transitioning to ₹3L/annum after that. To minimize risk and secure the talent quickly, I modified the offer to ₹3L/annum from day one, with no probation. Everyone agreed to join in just 1 week.

🧑‍🎓 The Freshers Strategy

I was clear: I would have 4 freshers joining in 1 week, and with some training, they could start contributing in 1 month. With the initial team sorted out as a helping hand, now I started thinking about hiring senior folks who could handle the heavy lifting. I’ll talk about that strategy tomorrow.

👉 Have you ever had to ramp up a team quickly under tough conditions? What strategy did you use to attract the right talent? Let’s discuss.

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