My company is taking advantage of the current hiring scene

I have for the past couple of months gone through really pathetic and exploitative behaviour of the Indian companies (especially startups). > They ask to do extensive assignments, wasting a lot of time, just because they have an upper hand > Then they completely ghost candidates with no response (most times) / delayed response This is really pathetic. Lack of empathy just shows how immature and under-developed you are. If you ask someone to invest their time, you have the responsibility of timely and proper communication. ALMOST ALL STARTUP HIRING MANAGERS AND HR TEAMS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS.

In the buzzing tech hub, beneath the facade of innovation and progress, lies a silent struggle that often goes unnoticed—the battle against work stress in the IT, sales, and software fields. For many professionals aged between 35 to 45, each day brings forth challenges that extend far beyond coding and development. One of the most daunting foes faced is the relentless grip of office politics. Adding fuel to the fire is the unyielding pressure of high-stakes projects and tight deadlines. Working over weekends and stretching beyond regular hours have become the norm rather than the exception, leaving little room for personal time or restorative breaks. Compounding these challenges are the grim realities of stagnant career growth. Despite dedicating years to their craft, many professionals find themselves stuck in a rut, with no significant salary hikes or promotions in sight. The once-promised ladder of success seems elusive, raising questions about job stability and fueling fears of sudden layoffs. This toxic cocktail of factors is taking a toll not just on careers but on health as well. The once youthful faces are now marked with premature grey hairs, and the constant stress is a ticking time bomb for heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues. Mental health struggles, from anxiety to burnout, have become all too common, silently plaguing the minds of those who bear the weight of these burdens. After all these real struggles, then come the layoff's and questions: Why did you leave your last job? Stop office politics and unnecessary pressures; learn leadership skills first before you manage someone. This post is written in light of the recent incident where a fellow quit his job with "Dhol and Dance" to start his own venture into fitness training. I am not supporting the act or trivializing his pain. I am just trying to make the point that office pressure is real and unbreable. Be human first.

I have been working at EY for the past 3 years (joined after the pandemic) and there's been suddenly a shift in their policies. Last FY has been really slow for the company and now they're doing all in their power to make people leave the company. For example, compliance about things which no one was bothered a single bit in the past 2 years has suddenly become an issue at every possible level. Be it to being in office twice a week or even missing to fill out your timesheets. There have been no replacements for everyone who's left the company in the last 6 months. At the start it seemed like they valued talent but all rules and ethics seem to be thrown out of the room this year. Attrition is the mantra. With the upcoming appraisal season there are minimalistic hopes from the company. And all of the above seems like an effort to have excuses for poor ratings. All of this seems like a tactic to make you quit yourself before they start firing ! I plan to leave this place ASAP

Sharing frustrations with starting up a business. In my career I have raised over $30m over multiple rounds. Co-founders in non-business roles get pushed out by politics. Sharing control with co-founders is messy, inconvenient, time consuming. Money lets you hire people who have to answer to you. If you are not the main ‘Business person’ in a startup high chance you are disposable, no matter what skills you have. And it sucks to spend so much effort only to get bullied out and left with nothing. Some investors will follow you on social media, if your business is not growing QoQ don’t post anything on social media that implies you are not working every weekend. They will ask why you are not working. If you are CEO, be ready for every random person to tell you how to run your business. Not in a ‘friendly advice’ kind of way, if you are the CEO you have a target on your back. Investors don’t know about your industry or have very dated knowledge. Some will just say random tips like ‘try web3’ or ‘try SaaS’ and blame you for following their advice when it fails. Your progress is measured against fraud companies who fake numbers, or the 1 in thousands who succeed. Get made to feel like you are failing to live up to super high expectations constantly. Employees work half your hours, off sick usuall one day a week, deliver next to nothing and expect 20% hikes every year because that’s what their friends make, or they read some dumb startup hires freshers at 20LPA. Smooth talking people with the same idea as you, no traction, never shipped a product in life, will raise a huge seed round due to 'pedigree' and spend it all on self promotion. You will always be compared to these clowns who find ways to lecture others while building nothing of value.

Quoting from The Ken (which btw I would highly recommend). How many of you think this is true for Bangalore and problems that we are facing now with this generation. +++++++++++++ Between 2020 and 2022, investors pumped billions of dollars into startups whose founders and leaders offered up the mythical “hypergrowth” narrative. Those startups, in turn, pumped money to hire and grow a layer of mid-level and senior-level executives whose job was to deliver on that hypergrowth narrative. And salaries went through the roof. Hikes of 50% and above were par for the course. Cut to the present. If overvalued startups are widely recognised as a problem, can overvalued employees escape the same fate? A CEO of a prominent company estimates that “in product and tech, 20-30% are in this category”. - Extract taken from Ken

I am highly annoyed by double standards and hypocritic behavior of companies while hiring for Notice period. Almost every company wants immediate joining or asap joining and they will definitely ask or encourage you to negotiate notice period, etc. However they themselves would not have allowed a single employee to leave early or waive off notice period. I sometimes feel to ask them, that i am sure the employee who's replacement or position i am being hired for would have also asked to waive off notice period, did you allow him/her? If no, then why do you expect another employer would do something different. I mean, my current employer asked me to negotiate notice period when i was leaving my previous organization, now if tomorrow i resign, i know they won't waive off a single day. If anyone else have good experiences, answers around the same. Please do share.

Is anyone else facing difficulty finding a new job? I have been trying for 2 months to no avail

I believe it is extremely difficult to judge exact level of an individual during an interview. It is better to also use past salary as some indication of value to last company. Having said that, the company needs to get to the correct salary range depending on performance in first 6 months. Thoughts?

Recently seeing alot many posts on LinkedIn about companies and startups are hiring interns in large numbers for core functions like tech, product, biz etc. Am I the only one who is thinking that companies simply want to get the work done using these interns and avoiding hiring full time employees? Signs of not to good days. Also winter internships were not these common or were they? 🫤

I've noticed a pattern where HRs from mediocre companies are extremely arrogant and ask unnecessary questions. Whether it is from their tone of voice, to asking ridiculous questions about a candidate's personal life and things that are already on the resume, why do they act so holier than thou? Now FAANG adjacent companies and their HRs/ first point of contacts are always empathetic and very clear in asking sensible, relevant questions. Why don't companies realise that their first point of contact is what affects their brand and hiring unqualified folks makes it worse. Have you ever noticed this? What do you think can be done to make this/ candidate experience better?