Our Head of Talent Acquisition shares his journey of building diverse teams at Swiggy. Our Head of Talent Acquisition shares his dynamic journey as a Swiggster.
In 2016, Vipul Mehrotra joined Swiggy with a mammoth task ahead of him – building talented teams for the business, at scale. Relying on his rich experience across multiple industries, he dove headfirst into the challenge, bringing a fresh perspective that took Swiggy’s Talent Acquisition strategy to the next level. From hiring thousands of people in just six months to developing a sustainable talent ecosystem, eight years later, Vipul’s journey is a masterclass on navigating a profession filled with challenges and unexpected shifts.
He recounts his journey into the world of talent acquisition, the twists and turns that shaped his role, and how Swiggy’s team has expanded, evolved, and thrived over the past eight years. Here’s a story that’s both deeply personal and inspiring.
1) Tell us about what led you to the field of talent acquisition.
Having lived across different cities in India, the first few years of my professional life were about figuring out my career path. Back then, Talent Acquisition was not a well-recognised function in the Indian ecosystem. I began my career with sales-based roles, starting with a company that was building an online jobs-listing and hiring portal. On the job, I interacted with many HR and consulting professionals, and one of them offered me a business development role at a consulting firm in Ahmedabad. After a year, I joined a larger, Chennai-based consulting firm, where I explored multiple verticals like Customer Retail Services, FMCG, and Lateral Hiring. During the global recession in 2008, my role evolved to focus on contract staffing and volume-based hiring. Dealing with a massive inflow of talent, I built a team and experienced what it means to hire at scale. By the end of my seventh year with the company, I had gained significant experience in the talent acquisition space.
2) How did E-Commerce and Swiggy happen?
In my early 30s, I was yearning to do something different. So, after spending seven years in a consulting firm, I joined a food & hospitality company as the P&L Head. After working there for three years, I joined an e-commerce company in 2014. There, I was given certain last-mile responsibilities around one of their big shopping sales for which we had to hire approximately 8,000 delivery partners within six months. I applied my learnings and tried out new things, including BTL campaigns, and ultimately my team actually surpassed the target. From volume to lateral to tech, I learned multiple forms of hiring in the next three years.
Then in 2016, Girish Menon connected with me for a Talent Acquisition Head role at Swiggy. At first, I recommended someone else for the position. However, Swiggy wanted a person who could solve for scale-hiring, and Girish thought I was the right fit for the job. So, I joined them in August 2016.
We were a team of around 500 people at the time, and had a presence in just seven cities. Our expansion plans for the near future were set. This involved hiring for tech-based roles and building leadership teams. For this, I expanded my team of four and split it into tech and non-tech divisions. As we expanded to over 350 cities, we also started massive hiring drives in 2018. And there’s no looking back ever since.
3) How has your perception of Swiggy as an employer brand evolved with time?
It’s been a long journey. I knew we had to solidify our online presence to attract the best talent. Back then, we did not have a proper LinkedIn page. To change that, I hired someone from the marketing communications space not just to build the page but also to create content. We started properties like Hackathon to help tell our brand story and Swiggy Bytes to showcase how we are constantly solving challenges in the tech ecosystem. At the time, our values were also taking shape, and we incorporated them into the hiring journey to identify the best talent fits. If I look at it from a then-and-now lens, Swiggy’s employer brand has evolved significantly. And this has been further strengthened by an array of employee benefits, right from learning to well-being.
4) During your Swiggy journey, did a particular hiring interview stand out to you?
There have been many that stood out! Each hiring process has been unique. Bringing the best talent on board wasn’t always easy. There were negotiations that could go either way, especially while hiring for remote locations across different levels. However, I was able to explain Swiggy’s vision to candidates in a way that reflected the needs of the business team. We also had this unique initiative called Espresso Chats, where our founding team would have no-strings-attached conversations with talent across product, engineering, leadership, and non-tech domains. We even succeeded in hiring from this cohort when relevant roles opened up. Such results show the power of persistence, as top talent would often remember Swiggy when considering their next career move.
5) How would you explain Swiggy’s vision while hiring for leadership roles?
Four years ago, things were very different. We were attracting talent from industries that had only a surface-level understanding of what Swiggy does. When explaining our vision to candidates, I would share the changes we aimed to make and the pain points we targeted. Today, as a well-known brand, we focus less on explaining what we do and more on how we are driving convenience by building scalable solutions. We also talk about Swiggy’s culture and core values.
6) Which Swiggy value do you connect the most with?
‘Move Fast, Break Barriers and Deliver Results’ and ‘Never Settle’ are the values closest to me, simply because my journey and the challenges have revolved around putting these values into action.
7) What is it that made you stay with Swiggy for around eight years?
It’s because I found a good manager in Girish, who has always been there for me, pushing me to do better. I’ve loved the real-life challenge of hiring good quality talent at scale. It’s given me an adrenaline rush and plenty of thrills along the way. Taking on employer branding responsibilities has also been a fantastic addition to my portfolio. Now, with data-driven hiring processes, things are a lot easier. Overall, the right support and the lessons I’ve learned from overcoming challenges have really kept me going.
8) What challenge are you most proud of overcoming with your team?
Every challenge has been close to my heart. Right from scaling to more than 500 cities in a short timeline, to ensuring continuous improvement in our leadership hiring processes. Hiring for tech-based roles in 2021-22 was a big challenge in particular, as we had to attract quality talent in a challenging market. The stakes were high, and the team had to work relentlessly to scale quickly and push boundaries. It was a challenging time for the entire industry, and a lot of strategic thinking went behind the execution. Despite those challenges, my team overcame all obstacles and we performed exceptionally well.
9) Who has been a constant source of motivation or mentorship throughout your Swiggy journey?
Girish has been a constant pillar of motivation and support from the very beginning. I’ve also been fortunate to have the larger HRBP Team and the Leadership Team backing me every step of the way. When you work with intellectually sharp minds, you push yourself to achieve more. The challenges throughout my journey have always taught me something new. The entire Talent Acquisition Landscape has changed in the last few years, and I look forward to working with the team as Swiggy moves into the next decade.
10) Tell us about your hobbies and interests beyond work.
I have two daughters, who define the latest Generation Alpha! They always keep me on my toes and I love spending time with them. Other than that, I also like to read books.
11) From a Talent Acquisition perspective, how is Swiggy offering Unparalleled Convenience to its employees?
I think Swiggy makes things flexible for employees in multiple ways. From provisions like the Learning Wallet to wellness subscriptions, Swiggy invests in the growth of its people. As an industry-first benefit, we are proud to give employees the luxury to pursue side hustles along with their primary jobs. Moreover, the leave policy, remote hiring, and Blended Ways of Working also add immense value.
12) If you were to swap your role with someone in Swiggy, who would you choose?
I am okay with not swapping my role. In fact, there is now an extension to my role where I get to observe the entire employee lifecycle up close. My job keeps me excited and energised, complete with numbers, data, and everything I like to do.
13) What advice would you give someone who wants to make a career in Talent Acquisition?
Understand the business well. To be a good fit, you must be well-versed in both the business and talent aspects of the ecosystem, while possessing the ability to connect the two. Excelling in Talent Acquisition requires great focus on quality, diversity, and speed while matching it with right timing. You must know how to marry the candidate’s aspirations with the organisation’s purpose. Also, while hiring talent, there will be rejections and unforeseen scenarios, so you must be patient throughout your journey.
14) What are your thoughts on Swiggy’s vision for the next 10 years?
With time, I like how Swiggy has seamlessly become a part of our daily routines. Going forward, as we expand to new categories and build new solutions, convenience will continue to remain at the crux of what we do.
