Kerala Man Shares Experience About Applying For Chief Of Staff Role At Zomato

It all began when Sanjay Krishna, a product manager at Entri App, applied for a post of Chief of Staff at the online food delivery platform Zomato, leaving him with one of the best interview experiences of his life.

The Kerala-based professional revealed that the application was sent out of sheer curiosity and despite not making it to the final cut, he described the interview as one of the best experiences of his career. Moreover, the conversations and feedbacks he received during the interview helped him tremendously over the past few months, enhancing his understanding of leadership, business strategy, and challenges in a fast-growing company.

His shared his experience when Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share about the overwhelming response to the Chief of Staff position. He posted that the company has received about 18,000 applications for the role. From this vast pool of candidates, more than 150 individuals were invited for the interview process.
Among those interviewed, 30 candidates stood out as "exceptional" and they were extended offers to join the company in key roles. As per Goyal, eighteen of these candidates have already started working at Zomato and its associated companies including its quick-commerce service provider Blinkit.

The update further noted that two of these selected participants have taken up the role of Chief of Staff, a coveted position that involves directly working with top executives to prepare strategies and boost operations. The CEO assured that each participant will be rewarded generously to match their contributions. He further clarified that no one was required to pay any fees to secure a position at Zomato, countering previous speculations about the hiring process.

The role of Chief of Staff, based at Zomato headquarters in Gurugram, amassed criticism on social media last year due to its unconventional terms of employment, such as the applicants were expected to work without salary during the first year of employment and pay a substantial fee of Rs 20 lakh to be considered for the role, which will be directly donated to Feeding India. Additionally, Zomato will contribute Rs 50 lakhs, equivalent to Chief of Staff's salary, to a charity of choice of the final selected candidate.

However, Goyal later clarified that the fee was just a part of the screening process designed to filter out non-serious applicants. Despite the initial backlash, the opportunity garnered curiosity of thousands of professionals to work at Zomato, where Goyal described that the role will be a fast-learning experience to the candidates - both personally and professionally.