A lot of you might be wondering how we managed to get ourselves amongst Asia’s top talent acquisition firms for startup hiring, and we’re nothing if not mind readers. So, we went ahead and did what we do best – made an infographic about hiring for startups in India!

SutraHR has always taken pride in the efficiency and result-driven mindsets of all of its employees, and this has played a major role in our success for startup hiring. Another reason behind our success is our loophole-free work process.

At SutraHR, we always aim to achieve the best results, because there’s nothing we hold closer to our hearts than startup companies – our beloved clients. It can be a difficult task to juggle between running your startup and overlooking the entire hiring process. Here’s where SutraHR has your back! Knowing you might be apprehensive about working with us, being completely unaware of what goes on on the inside, we tried to make it as simple as possible for you to understand exactly how we help you hire the best employees for your startup.

With this simple 7-step process, we assure you will end up with nothing less than the best possible workforce for a startup company. SutraHR’s incredible workflow is designed to cater to your specific needs, no matter what the hiring requirement may be. Getting rid of any hesitations you might have about associating with us for your startup hiring needs is important to us. And to do this, we could think of no better way than to put our hiring process for startup companies out in the open.

We hope this eliminated any doubts about SutraHR’s hiring process for startups in your mind and gave a clear cut view of our workings. We aim to set the bar for startup hiring in India higher than it already is and are always taking things up a notch. With SutraHR, you always get exactly what you were promised and the promises we make to startup companies hiring in India have proved to ease hiring struggles that startups face these days.

Are you looking to expand your business, got some doubts, or just want to talk about startup hiring? Give us a call at +91 87 67 427 427 or drop us a mail at buzz {at] sutrahr.com and we’ll help you out! 🙂

“A company which delays salaries every month”
“Where certain set of employees are given preferential treatment”

Well, guess what? You may be doing all that is needed for employee engagement and motivation and yet you open your company page on Glassdoor to find all this and many more negative reviews written about you. Started a little less than a decade ago, Glassdoor has become the TripAdvisor of workplace reviews, so to say.

Boasting of about 30 million users, 10 million company reviews, Glassdoor is growing big, one anonymous review at a time. Like a TripAdvisor and a Zomato, Glassdoor relies on user-generated content that the employees (present, former and potential) post on the website.

Hence, when companies start freaking out by a slew of negative reviews on Glassdoor, it is very understandable. The possibility that their future hire is checking them out on Glassdoor is very real.

When we got hold of what was being talked about SutraHR on Glassdoor, it wasn’t one of those pleasant web pages to look at. Beyond some well-intended good, honest reviews, there was a barrage of negative, often venomous and of course anonymous posts, showing nothing but a disgruntled and harassed ex-employee. Took us a couple of days and drinks to really make sense of the larger picture coming out of the reviews that we were the monsters (pun intended, obviously).

But finally, we decided to take charge of the situation and write back the Sutra perspective. The answers didn’t come easy, a lot of points asked for a debate internally and then we wrote it all, in our voice, with all our heart.

Not that we are a pro, but here are 7 key lessons we learnt from replying to all the negative reviews on Glassdoor (in no particular order):

1. Good or bad, take it head on.

When we took notice of the reviews, our ratings were in red. From recommending to a friend to approving the CEO, there was a lot to deal with in between those negative reviews. But we took a call to take those up and reply to every negative comment.

What we learnt was very simple. We can’t just sit and let the world talk. If they are talking bad, don’t give it back in their language but answer them nonetheless.

2. The reviews don’t represent majority opinion.

Yes, as much as every single review looked like distressing and when added to a string of those, it felt like earth-shattering. Well, almost. However, like it always happens, wisdom prevailed. We learned that the negative posts were just a handful of our strength and did not in any way represent the entire Sutra. The reviews were by a minuscule percentage of disgruntled employees and our 100-plus strong team working across our offices seemed very distant from all that chatter. The reviews are definitely skewed towards the negative side and that’s something you need to accept.

3. Honesty is the best policy.

Elevators don’t work during evenings? Employees forced to work late hours? Whatever it is, just be honest. You have no idea what questions we have fielded on Glassdoor but we were sure to be explicit and honest. There was no point in camouflaging the facts or truth. If we were wrong, we admitted it. Honesty goes a long way and people can see through the fake, done-up responses by the employers.

4. Encourage current bunch to leave a review (but don’t be/look pushy).

In fact, Glassdoor also suggests this way to increase your number of reviews and that way, improving your overall rating. Your HR person can ask people in various departments to write their opinion. The idea here is for them to be honest and fair. And more importantly, as an employer, don’t force people to write. You just need to encourage people to do it and at no point be pushy.
Why are we asserting on ‘don’t be pushy’ so much? Well, for we were accused to be one, that too when our Marketing head had only politely spoken to people about it. So you never know what can come and haunt you on Glassdoor.

5. Take time and tact to reply, for you are being watched.

Oh believe us there will be moments reading those reviews that you would want to answer some of those in a very not-so-gentle way. But have patience. Read through them all, discuss the reviews with HR and write the replies tactfully. You are not doing it for the ones who wrote it, you are doing it for your brand image and for the prospective employees who are looking you up at Glassdoor.

6. Why so serious?

Okay, we said write tactfully. But don’t lose your sense of humor. Retain the firm, professional tone and at the same time, keeping a lighter tone isn’t that bad. Take it with a pinch of salt and don’t be preachy. While replying, we kept our tone just as what we want to be perceived as. That we could deal with some of the nastiest posts with a wit is what we came about at the end of the exercise and we aren’t complaining.

7. Bring in the change offline to score a positive goal online.

Pest control, repairing the computers, sprucing up the infrastructure, looking in to performance records for complaints of incentive not being paid and working on the free flow of communication in-between teams, we have learned that the best way to get good points online is to work offline on issues you feel need improvement.

In this day and age, any company, big or small, cannot just ignore the power of social media and Glassdoor reviews are just one way to keep your brand flag high, stay abreast with all the points being raised there, keep answering every review and be seen as a company that is earnest in handling such sticky situations despite being thrown on the back foot.

We would love to hear your learnings from Glassdoor too.

One of the best ways to have a great culture is to hire great people for your startup. SutraHR can easily help you do the same, the way we have done this for hundreds of startups & digital agencies across Asia.

Feel free to reach out to Waqar at buzz@sutrahr.com or +91 87 67 427 427.

[mashshare]

A while back we decided to give ourselves a little makeover, so to say. This was something we had to do for a couple of reasons at SutraHR.
1. Space of startups is changing fast and thick in India and hence the hiring is becoming more new-age.
2. Perception about HR needs a change when the surroundings are changing.
3. We are anything but the ostrich that refuses to accept the reality.

SutraHR has been a pioneer in the startup talent acquisition space for a little less than a decade and if a leader doesn’t evolve with the changing times and lead, who will? So we decided to make a start with some things that inherently define us. Shaking up the things a little never did anyone any harm, right?

If you’re a go-getter and believe in getting shit done, #ComeToSutra

We wanted to be seen as what we exactly are. When we sat down to define ourselves in one word, the unanimous choice was “SutraHR is badass”. We thought long and hard and the more we thought about it, the more it made sense. The more it clicked.

In common parlance, badass is someone who is true to himself, who doesn’t give up, who is brutally efficient, tough and a no nonsense person.

If you know us, you probably know a few things about us. SutraHR is a company that:
– Takes risks.
– Is a tough taskmaster.
– Is brash when it comes to not settling for mediocrity.
– Always strives to set highest performance standards.
– Unabashedly rewards top performers.
– Worships doers and achievers.
– Believes in ‘get shit done’.
– Is bootstrapped because it wants to work on its own terms.
– Unwinds like life’s one big party.
– Has its heart in the right place.

And hence, calling ourselves as ‘the Badass HR Company with a Heart’ makes us extremely proud. This is what we are. Now came the next part. The manifestation of this little makeover came in the form of our website transformation because that is our face to the world.

After months of hard work, after pulling off many a late-nighters at a stretch, after additions-deletion-some more additions and after a collective team effort, we are delighted to announce the new and revamped version of SutraHR’s new website.

What’s the new place like? To start with, it is equipped with all the necessary information needed to resolve all sorts of talent acquisition query that an organization may have. We have dedicated pages on your specific hiring requirements like Bulk Hiring, CXO Hiring, Dedicated Resource model, hiring Hotshots and you can straight away sign up for these services by a click of a button. Yes, we have simplified it to give you the best customer experience.

There are also dedicated pages on the domains of clients SutraHR works with, some handy information about why we are so awesome (no, really) and why working with us is the best career move you’ll ever make. And obviously, it loads quickly and looks beautiful even when you open it on your smartphone. Try it, go ahead!

Click here to visit SutraHR’s new dotcom home and get yourself acquainted with what a new-age HR company looks like and what it brings for your organization.

A new website is just the beginning. Being badass is the new cool and we are very happy to lead the way. And like someone wise in Bollywood once said, “picture abhi baaki hai mere dost”.

Think you can survive at the most badass workplace in Mumbai? Visit our career page.

Walk-in for an interview anytime between 10:30am – 7:30pm, Monday to Friday or call +91 92222 13194.

To new beginnings!

Choosing a career is the hardest decision ever. If you take one wrong decision, it can jeopardize your whole life. Commonly, people look for good pay, incentives, career growth, and stability in a job. With the advancement of technology and time, we’ve seen an evolution in the job industry with more and more new companies coming up and creating a job space in the market.

Let’s begin with explaining what is a ‘consultancy’ firm and a ‘corporate’ firm.

A consulting firm is a company with experts (consultants) providing professional advice to an organization or an individual for a fee. Consultancies have become a talent source in recent times for companies looking to hire people for leadership positions.

And a corporate is a legal entity that is separate and distinct from its owners. Organizations seeking to transform themselves are hiring talent with a consulting background to boost performance.

When it comes to choosing a job in a consultancy, people usually prefer to work at a ‘corporate consultancy’ over an ‘HR consultancy’. This is because they feel corporates are better employers than a consultancy. Today, let’s resolve the doubt on the difference between consultancy and corporate.

Working at any niche consultancy could also give the same job satisfaction which people usually expect out of a corporate job. In reality, there is actually a very thin line in between working at a corporate and a consultancy. As a matter of fact, a consultancy can operate like a corporate as well.

Let me walk you through the realities of working at a consultancy and the perks that the employees get, which most corporates usually do not give to their employees.

1) Generation of incentives and higher wages: Consultancies, in general, pay higher salaries to its employees. With the advancement of work and growth in the work process, appraisals also tend to increase. A consultancy is often considered as an incentive-driven sector, which implies that one gets to earn more incentives in a consultancy than a corporate. Consultancies have limitations when it comes to their workforce and that is why pay hikes are more frequent in such companies. Bigger the company, smaller the hikes.

2) Learning and gathering skills: A consultancy arms its employees with more skills. Consultants work on projects that are complicated for other companies to complete themselves. In addition, consultants have to meet deadlines and complete critical work with ease. They learn and gather new skills every day. In a corporate setup, an employee usually specializes and becomes an expert in a single area within a company and thus the area of growth stays limited.

3) Opportunity to work and grow: Any niche company dealing in consulting gives its employees the benefit to work with many different types of organizations and also across vast number of fields. This helps in increasing expertise across various domains. These experiences take an employee to great heights and help in accelerating career advancement, thus offering greater flexibility.

4) Organizational structure – climbing up the ladders in a consultancy: The clichéd idea that a consulting firm does not have any growth ladder and everybody working in there does not get an opportunity for promotion is actually wrong. A consultancy does have hierarchies. The basic structure of any consultancy comprises of an Analyst, Consultant, Senior Consultant, Engagement Manager, Partner and Managing Partner. All of these have subheads divided into teams. Apart from these, there is staff in support for functions such as HR, Administration, Marketing and Finance.

When choosing an area of work or a job sector, a candidate should concentrate on a few important things:

1) Role of the employee in the organization: The degree of independence which the organization is offering and how diversified one’s role is.

2) Employee satisfaction: Proper growth, learning, incentives, and also the area to improve.

So food for thought, people should always choose the company when making a career decision and not restrict themselves to small debates such as, if it is a corporate or a consultancy. Now that you know enough about the difference between consultancy and corporate, we would like to know your views on what you think is a better choice, and why? Leave your comments below and let us know:

SutraHR needs a few skillful and smart people to join them. Drop by any day to have a quick chat.

#cometosutra

601 B, Annapurna CHS, Above Delicacy of China, Adarsh Nagar, Oshiwara, Andheri (W), Mumbai 400 053.

We understand that you might be a little busy to drop by. No worries, just mail us your resumes to careers@sutrahr.com or call us on +91 922 221 3194.

Recruiting can get monotonous and tiring. Whenever we talk about jobs and recruitment, we consider it to be a serious notion. But let us take some time off today and look at recruiting in a new light. Job seekers consider recruiters nothing less than devils standing at the door of hell and they believe whatever the recruiters say is right. But sometimes even experienced recruiters blurt out funny things during interviews, which do not make sense.

As Asia’s top recruitment company, we have interviewed a lot of recruiters and candidates and thought of shedding some light to the situations which usually occur during an interview.

1. “We are looking for someone with the insight of a 50-year-old, knowledge of a 40-year-old, drive of a 30-year-old and remuneration of a 20-year-old.”

Recruiters inadvertently look out for the best of candidates with the least amount of salary expectations and remain oblivious to the facts that are important to everyone including the people who work for them.

2. “We provide opportunities for growth and development.”

Wow, is that true? I was actually in search of a job where there is no room for growth or progress. I really wanted to work here, but growth? No, that isn’t in my itinerary. So, are recruiters lying? Not really but saying redundant things like offering growth could be a waste of time because candidates are most often looking to grow and most companies offer that.

3. “We need a Rockstar employee.”

I’m at a complete loss of words. Yes, I do love my own daily set of performances during my showers, but that’s about it. Rockstar and employee together? Contradicting, isn’t it? Honestly, I have noticed that recruiters use these terms a lot of times without realizing that most candidates would not understand such jargons.

4. When interviewing a fresher: “You have no experience, how can we hire you?”

So, you are saying I have to get experience before I get experience? Sure I have experience in making resumes and looking for jobs every day. I owe all my experience to recruiters like you, who wouldn’t take me due to my lack of industrial knowledge. Recruiters usually miss out on good candidates, who mightn’t have much experience but can bring in a lot of difference to the company.

5. “We seriously mean business and there is no time to waste.”

Recruiters often tend to get pushy with an expectation of getting the job done efficiently. Creating a sense of urgency can be a good sales tactic, but in this instance, employers can make prospective candidates wriggle out.

6. “We believe in a balanced work life”, immediately followed by “Would you be flexible with working extended hours, and on weekends?”

Didn’t you just contradict yourself? How can a balanced work life comprise of extended work hours? Recruiters might want to avoid the labor love and come to the point. This can save a lot of misunderstandings in future.

7. “We believe in the motto work hard, play harder.”

Seriously? With the amount of work you are going to pile on me, I am expected to work on weekends. The only thing I will be playing is, playing fake in front of you! Such things just make us wonder, do recruiters lie during interviews? Companies have the tendency to use such phrases when in reality the situation might not be so. A recruiter needs to be honest when recruiting a candidate.

8. “Do you think you could have performed better in your last job?”

Now, that is a million dollar question. Why would anyone answer this question with honesty? Who does everything perfectly? Given an opportunity anybody would want to perform better on their last job. Questions such as this are unnecessary. No particular outcome would come out of this.

9. “What are your weaknesses?”

My weaknesses? Well, I am a victim of procrastination. Plus I tend to get bored fast, I fail to complete my targets on time and I am pretty fickle-minded. No employee would reveal his/her weakness in front of a recruiter with the fear of failing the interview. So why ask?

10. “What were you making on your last job?”, “What is your salary expectation?”

Well, I would be comfortable with anything that you offer me, provided it pays off my insurances, loans and the weekly parties that I splurge on. The recruiters should do some research and always offer employees a competitive wage rather than paying the employee what their last job paid. Can I get an Amen?

Recruiting can be a grave task. Interviewing so many candidates each day is taxing. So sometimes it is justified on the recruiter’s part to make mistakes and say funny things during recruitment. But they have to keep in mind that “you can’t teach employees to smile, they have to smile before you hire them”. The key to successfully tackling such questions is to stop whining about how most recruiters lie and speak your mind.

Looking for an amazing career opportunity? Drop in your resumes at careers@sutrahr.com or call us now on +91 922 221 3194.

Channel News Asia interviews Waqar Azmi of SutraHR on challenges faced by recruiters in the Indian eCommerce sector.

The Indian eCommerce sector is booming and the market is getting even more competitive for both the customers and the businesses.

Singapore’s leading news channel, Channel News Asia decided to cover this industry, where competition for employees in the Indian e-commerce sector is on a high. Waqar Azmi, Founder & CEO of SutraHR shared his valuable insights on the same, in an exclusive interview with the channel.

To find out about what Mr. Azmi had to say, check the video excerpt of the show featuring SutraHR given below.

In order to increase the usage of internet, businesses need a lump sum amount of workforce. Due to this major competition for employees brewing up, employees tend to swap jobs more often, for better offers. Employers are facing a challenge to find prospective new hires. The problem is that it usually takes more than two months for an employer to hire one skillful candidate. There is a risk involved where the candidate might deny the job offer. In this case, the business loses two months of their valuable time and has to start all over again.

The competition is worse when the quantity of talented candidates is handful. Most companies are usually on a look out for the best performer, because of which majority of the quality candidates have various offers to pick from.

What kind of challenges do you think the work sector in India, especially in the eCommerce arena are facing today? Leave a comment on and let us know your views on the topic. https://www.facebook.com/SutraHR

If you want to build a team for your startup, then click here or call us on +91 87 67 427 427.

Looking for an amazing career opportunity? Why don’t you ask us?

Most students these days choose an out of the box career option over the traditional courses or 9-to-5 jobs. Over the years there has been a significant growth in the number of students opting to study media or management with courses like Bachelors of Mass Media (BMM) or Bachelors in Management Studies (BMS) particularly in Mumbai, and other courses like BBA, Business Studies, etc. An essential aspect of these courses is that the student has to start rallying work experience right from the second and third year of college. Meaningful jobs for BMS freshers can be a pretty difficult thing to find. Most of them tend to worry if they will end up working in a place they will enjoy or be a part of just another monotonous cycle of work-life.

It’s an era of selfies, belfies, iPhones, Dropbox, foodgasms, game of thrones and what not, where orange is the new black and HR is the new cool. BMS students seek to work in an atmosphere which is fun, challenging and inflaming, which would make them jump out of their beds each morning. They need an environment where they will be free to play, create, learn and grow. (Have a look at our workplace!)

Fortunately, for all the BMS students out there, I am listing down a few reasons for how working at SutraHR could be the best decision of your life.

1. As it was once said by Confucius “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” is what Sutraites aim for. Working should bring with it new challenges and not stress. This could only be achieved if you really do what you love to do. SutraHR swears by this policy. An employee is required to do what they love to do by choosing their comfort zone at work.

2. If you have an entrepreneurial side to you or you are curious to learn about great ideas and their executions, then you will love this place. SutraHR frequently places its employees in other startup companies as dedicated resources till project completion. This way our employees gets to work at brilliant startups companies and learn the entire business manifesto from its inception. For a BMS graduate, this kind of experience is a wonderful opportunity to learn about ideas and its potential market (if going forward you are looking to start out a venture on your own).

3. I bet every BMS student would love to experience these things. SutraHR is undoubtedly one of the best company to work for as we have the best jobs for BMS freshers in Mumbai. It’s common for Sutraites to walk into their office and see founders of innovative big potential startups visiting our office. SutraHR works with a varied number of startups and our employees get to meet a lot of founders and CEOs of well-known companies. Most days Surtraites get to plunge in with them over candid discussions. Employees at SutraHR get to learn new skills and techniques every day.

4. Working with a startup can help develop people’s business skills. Startups don’t really stay startups for very long, with good planning and execution a startup can grow to become a multinational. Employees who choose to kick off their careers with a startup not only get to learn and experience new things but also be part of their growth story. We all are a part of SutraHR’s growth story and any new employee would be too.

5. Incentives act as an important motivation for employees. Grad students, who want to make something out of themselves need resources along with learning. There are very few companies that offer good incentives to its employees. SutraHR has one of the best incentive plans in the industry. So far SutraHR has rolled out incentives amounting to 1 crore rupees since its inception in 2007.

6. A good mentor is a necessity to learn about the nitty-gritty’s of the work and its methods. A good mentor will take a keen interest in the employee’s professional development. A fresh graduate requires an earnest and motivating mentor for guidance. SutraHR has one of the best talents from the industry to mentor their employees. The best part is that nobody behaves like a boss in SutraHR.

7. At SutraHR, employees don’t go hungry. We have kitchens dedicated to stock up tons of free food, starting from chips, cookies, juices, chocolates and more. Sutraites get free evening snacks, yes they are spoiled! Every evening has a new menu for the SutraHR employees with the likes of croissants, burgers, chaats, vada pavs, idly-sambhar, dabelis etc.

8. SutraHR believes that its employees should be given a chance to brainstorm to bring about something new and exciting. A healthy and active mind is the key to a balanced work life. We encourage our employees to implement ideas and innovate. But what if some Sutraites fail? Well, who doesn’t? The team at SutraHR believes that mistakes are a part of the process. As long as you realise and commit to improve, it’s all good!

9. A traditional 9-to-5 job is in itself a huge challenge. Flexibility at work is what every employee looks forward to, and also appreciates. Sutra gives its employees the flexibility to walk in at a reasonable time for work. Sutraites also enjoy frequent outdoor picnics, office parties, hookah sessions and paid leaves.

10. SutraHR gives immense freedom to its employees to work the way they feel comfortable with. They often use the phrase “own your work” which stands true for each of our employees, starting from our interns. They refuse to have a push hard attitude toward their employees because they realise the maturity of each Sutraite.

The best career bet for a BMS graduate should indefinitely be SutraHR. Life is fun and challenging. We get to do what we love. The work is so refreshing that it makes us jump out of bed each morning. So screw the traditional 9-to-5 job. Instead, get to play, create, learn and grow. And imagine getting paid for all of this 😉 Come to Sutra and create your own light.

SutraHR needs a few skilful and smart people to join them. Drop by any day to have a quick chat.

#cometosutra 601 B, Annapurna CHS, Above Delicacy of China, Adarsh Nagar, Oshiwara, Andheri (W), Mumbai 500 053

We understand that you might be a little busy to drop by. No worries, just visit Our careers page to check out openings of jobs for BMS freshers in Mumbai  or mail us your resumes to careers@sutrahr.com or call us on +91 87 67 427 427