What's the business value that this team (the one you're interviewing for) provides to the company? Revenue? Cost savings? 
  
 Whether it is a cost-centre or a profit-centre is something that we need to judge. I would avoid joining cost centres in the current economic situation.

Great points, going deeper on your points, how you get to know revenue numbers from outside, that is always forged in almost all the organisations i have ever worked for. 
  
 Can you give me a deep dive into what do you mean by cost centric org?

Growth Manager

Software Developer

Ofcourse Work, Pay, Location are basics however lately i have started asking:  1. How much Runway you have and what is the key reason you are not profitable (in case they are not) 2. Is this a newl...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Ofcourse Work, Pay, Location are basics however lately i have started asking:

1. How much Runway you have and what is the key reason you are not profitable (in case they are not)
2. Is this a newly opened position, if not, why did the last person left?
3. What’s your attrition rate, and how open are you in terms to taking feedback?

I know there are ways to just pass these questions however it gives you a better picture about the org, what are you some questions that one should start asking?

Let’s make this a good playbook for all the folks :)

What are signs of a good work culture? Things you can notice before you join a startup?

Corporate Strategist

AMA about what actually goes behind those rangolis in the HR dept and work that better compensated people in HR do.

HRBP AMA

Human Resources

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

When the recruiter or HM opens up for questions, are you inclined towards asking them tough questions related to the organisation?

Lately I've started asking:
- How were people who were impacted in the latest lay-offs decided?

- Do you believe the team is at risk of lay-offs? In the overall org, where would you place this team in terms of business criticality.

- In case of downsizing how will you ensure that your team is going to be least impacted.

- Questions on talent being fungible, coding practices, knowledge organisation and sharing (hoarding/individual level, team level, org level)

- How does the manager ensure equity in workloads (especially useful for startups).

- Team agreements like stand-up timings, in-out timings, and most importantly, how often were  these changed in the last 6m-1y.


Folks, feel free to add to the list! Would love to hear your thoughts.

Managers are supposed to manage teams and be technically competent. Everyone is a champ when times are easy. The true colors are shown only when the going gets tough.

Most of the answers are gonna be template/standardizations. The key is to read between the lines.
If the manager is clueless or the body language doesn't inspire any confidence, then it's a red flag.

Asking tough questions to Hiring Managers

Software Engineer

What questions would you ask to evaluate if you should join an early stage startup in this market?

The objective is to ensure job longevity, avoid getting laid off and experience a reasonable amount of growth.

Is there anything else that we can do apart from asking questions to the company folks?

Evaluating early stage startups in this market

which one would be better to join and how to evaluate:

 fairly old startup (~10 years) with extremely competent folks (Top IITs) VS 2 year old startup in Seed Stage with friendly team but team size <10

getting similar comp but much higher stocks in the seed stage. extremely confused because I think it’ll be similar work life balance in both. don’t know if it’s right time to take risk so early in my career (my YOE: <1)

I also think the work might be hectic in the first than the second. learning curve might be more in the first. from another standpoint, the first company is much more well recognised and more "stable"

also- for folks who have been in the job for a while, how important would it be to stay close to your home eventually? do you feel lonely in cities away from home?

sometimes I feel I should go for stability and other time I feel it’ll be fine at max the early startup will give me atleast one year experience so very confused

Need Help: Mid Stage vs Early Stage Company

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

Im currently working at McKinsey and want to understand if working at a startup in a strategy.growth role is better. What are the factors i should be thinking about before making the switch?

High growth startup or Consulting?

PM here with 3.8 YoE, got an offer from a B2C/B2B company for PM position. Full time wfo, based out of Mumbai. Offering 20 lpa fixed. Verbally said will be starting ESOPs from next month and eyeing to go public in the next 2 years.

Yay or nay?

Offer Evaluation

Product Manager

As a software engineer considering joining a startup or company, what are the essential questions you recommend asking HR or the CEO to gain insights into the company culture, growth opportunities, and overall work environment? And whether to join there or not. 

Please share your experiences or any red flag you noticed, would be very helpful for our community.

Thanks in advance

Things to enquire before joining a startup/company

Almost every founder these days is lying about or in fact just plain wrong about their runway. How to actually evaluate this as a prospective employee?

This is very crucial as a 2 year runway might just be a 1 year runway practically.

Dealing with runway liars

Everybody wants to join a good team where you have positivity and your learning is great. But after going through the interview, before joining a company, how would you know the team you are going to join is a good team in that company?

How to know a good team before joining?

Welcome to IT Company Discussion's Private Community

I applied for the opening at JPL (Jio Pvt Ltd) in June of last year. Received the interview call on 4th July and concluded the entire process with the final HR round on 17th August (already painfully slow).

This was followed by a period of complete silence from the HR's end, which finally broke on 30th September (after probably 30+ follow-ups) when they gave me a verbal offer and gave me confidence for the final offer release within a few days.

Well, the final offer came on 27th December 2023, close to 3 months after the verbal offer (again, after probably 40+ follow-ups). Joined on 16th January 2024 (due to some emergency), and was treated to a GREAT campus in Navi Mumbai. --And this is probably where everything good with JPL ends.

After spending 2 days, I understand that things are not what I expected from any Product organisation, and that I made the wrong decision. 

Gave myself 30 days to ensure the feelings were backed by more experiences, and I'm not acting impulsively. Day 31, I started interviewing with other organisations, and fortunately was able to get in touch with the HR from another organisation that I rejected for Jio, and they were kind enough to resend the offer letter.

Dropped the bomb on 8th March 2024, startling everyone because people usually don't like leaving their comfortable lives at Jio. My L1 and L2 aligned on a 14 days notice period, but the "smartasses" in the HR department thought its a great idea for me to serve the entire notice period of 60 days, and thus I'm stuck here till 6th May 2024.

Opening the forum for people with any amount of experience to ask questions about the hiring process, the culture, the turn-off, the decision to quit, ANYTHING.

AMA: Quit my job as a Product Manager at Jio within 2 months

How many folks here 100% refuse to share last salary and are adant that HR state their budget. How do you guys do it and also has it ever happened that you needed up losing a great opportunity coz of this???

Refusing to tell last salary

Everyone is raising questions about why startups are losing money so heavily

But on the other aspect, do people see that the sectors which are the highest loss making have become a crucial impact of our lives?
Example
Hospitality, Ed-Tech,Food Tech, Logistics and Ride hailing

Can we imagine our lives to go back where we were 10-12 years ago without such services?

I think the bigger game is going to be get more people to use the platform, make them high intent users and get them so used to to the platform that it becomes a necessity
Hence I feel they are spending money to grab the audience and then build on it
I am quite sure a lot of companies are going to fall, but that is how a the world of business behaves
Would love to know thoughts

Are loss making startups good or bad?

Business Development Manager

You can mention your top 3-5 priorities that you plan to do after joining the new job to be not in the same position of getting laid off

If you plan to join a new company after the current layoffs, what do you prioritise the most?

Analyst

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Have received an offer from a start up of about 50 people, recently got funded. 

My current role is APM , from past almost 2 years and while it's not perfect, Its reasonably okay. 

What considerations should be taken before deciding to make the switch?

Top 3 questions to ask before choosing your new role.

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