Candidate demands ₹35,000, IITian founders offer ₹50,000 instead: 'My HR says it's an AI video'

Social media is often flooded with stories about candidates unhappy with salary increases. But the startup’s founder is getting a massive standing ovation for offering an engineering candidate a significantly higher salary than he asked for, as the company decided to stick to its pre-approved budget.

In a video that has now gone viral, the founder shared that a candidate who was earning ₹30,000, asked for a slight increase ₹5,000, while his expected salary will be ₹35,000. However, the company offered him ₹50,000 instead.

“The candidate asked for 35,000 per month, but we offered 50,000 per month because we approved 50,000,000 for this role,” the founder wrote on Instagram, sharing a video on the company’s page.

In the video, one of the founders revealed that during the recruitment process for an engineering role, a candidate asked for a salary of ₹35,000 per month despite earning around ₹30,000 in previous employment. However, because the company has already allocated a budget of ₹50 thousand for the position, the management decided to offer the full amount and accepted him.

The founder went on to say that a few days after joining, the candidate asked why the company had agreed to offer a higher salary than he requested. Recalling his response, the founder said he simply replied, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I accepted the budget. I think the work is worth it. The budget is approved,” he added, “If I can solve that problem for you where you don’t have to think ₹30,000 or ₹35,000, then I should solve the problem for you,” shared the IITian.

At this point, another founder joined the conversation and said, “People don’t realize this, but this guy has been with us for the past 3 years, and if he had been in the meantime, our re-hire costs would have been very high. So I think this is our way of working. We always prioritize quality over cost optimization.”

How social media users reacted

One person commented: “Dream recruiters”. Another wrote: “As HR I totally support it but company meri karne nahi degi mujhe ese (My company won’t let me work like this). A third joked: “My HR says it’s AI”.

A fourth user added: “True. Spending more when budgets have been passed is the best thing ever.”

Another said sarcastically, “My HR said it was an AI video.”

A sixth user wrote: “Manifesting these kinds of bosses.”

(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified and does not endorse these claims.)