Startup direct hiring platform Hirect let go 40% of its workforce

• ByStartupStory     |    November 29, 2022

In what the company described as an organisational restructure and a strategic change in its business model, Hirect, a chat-based direct hiring platform for startups, has laid off 40%, or about 200 individuals. Co-founder and CEO Raj Das stated that the business model of the company is undergoing a strategic transformation. Das acknowledged that Hirect had let go about 40% of its personnel but added, “We still have hundreds of employees.”

Following a boom in employment during the pandemic era of cheap money, startups are letting go of thousands of workers as investors have become warier due to the rising cost of capital. The worst impacted businesses are those like Hirect that target the startup market specifically as new hiring has slowed to a trickle. The Bengaluru- and San Francisco-based firm has about 472 employees, according to its LinkedIn page. According to two persons with knowledge of the business who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the company once employed up to 600 workers.

At least three impacted workers claimed they were requested to resign in the middle of October but had not yet received letters of release. One of the workers claimed that the management broke its promise to offer severance pay and job search support. Das replied to emails with, “Clearing dues is our priority. We are making every effort to move the procedure along quickly and pay off any pending settlements. Before the layoffs, according to the employees described above, management requested that the majority of the crew relocate to Bengaluru.

Hirect was aggressive with its marketing initiatives in Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune last year. Recruitment, particularly for tech-based employment, was a hot subject in the startup environment. Posters were displayed in front of business parks, cars, cabs, skywalks, cafes, and bus stops. The advertising campaign “Hire directly without consultants” featured the films “Mai Ban Gaya, Tu Bhi Banjayega,” which celebrated the ups and downs of job seekers from their struggle to find a job to becoming successful.

Additionally, Hirect had started a $1 million startup initiative where a selected firm may get free social media promotion to obtain a million impressions. Selected CEOs and founders are invited to attend virtual hiring events sponsored by Hirect and partners as part of the initiative.

Hirect, a platform for hiring high-growth startups and small businesses without consultants, was established in September 2018 by Das. With its built-in audio and video calling feature, the platform enables recruiters to hire candidates directly from the application. Elephantjob Pvt. Ltd. manages the Hirect entity in India, while Hirect One, Inc. is in charge of the Hirect entity in the US. The platform received over 8 million downloads from both the Android Play Store and the Apple App Store. While over 140,000 verified startups are actively hiring on the platform, over 3 million verified job seekers are actively looking for work. Startups are not charged by Hirect for the first three job postings, but there is a small fee after that.

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