Recipe of an Incredible Team, Team Pumpkin Style

When we started TeamPumpkin 4 years back, like any other startup, our dilemma was to figure out the 'Team' in 'TeamPumpkin'. Trust me, when others say that startups have difficulty in finding suitable team members, they are grossly understating it.

Today, we are a strong 73 members team and I am often asked by my Peers & clients equally, "How do you manage to find such awesome team members, at every single level?". The answer lies in a secret recipe that we at Team Pumpkin perfected, dishes after dishes!  Let me spill the beans for you:

1. Arranging for the ingredients : Naukri, LinkedIn, Shine, Headhonchos, Referrals, Seminars, Tech Meets, Campus placements and more - we have tried them all. All show different patterns and there is not one platform that gives you a 100% solution. In our case, Employee Referrals, our social media post promotions and Naukri have worked well for creative and content positions. LinkedIn / Headhonchos is good for management positions, Strategy and Operations. We even have people who got introduced to us during seminars and we were not shamed to pop the question - will you work with us ? Though, whenever we are stuck with a vacancy, we try them all, one after the other. The Icing on hiring cake was when we first selected a person who cold called us into securing an interview.
2. Put the gas stove on : Respecting every individual who shows up for an interview is as important as putting the gas stove on. Some individuals may be way different than what their CV showed. Some individuals may not deem fit in first conversation itself. But, we have always wanted our prospective Pumpkins to be honest with us and thus we respected them from the first time phone rang, so we know each other well without any pretensions. The fact is that they have taken an effort to show up, in anticipation of landing up with a job. Making them comfortable, offering them a cup of coffee and having a heart to heart conversation with them, makes them respect us back and be honest about what their strength and weakness are!
3. Saute the onions and tomatoes: We, at Team Pumpkin, have put together a small and fun test, which highlights an individual's aptitude. The time crunched test consists of questions from general knowledge, comprehension abilities and basic maths to understand whether the individual will be able to handle pressure at testing times and if there is something unique about any individual. The test does not serve for disqualifying the candidate - only to understand them better. We also test whether an individual is sensitive to society by having them answer some long form questions on "issue of water shortage" or "the causes they care for". We even test their imagination with questions like "If you were an animal, which animal would it be?" Some answers, I cherish and keep them in my drawer for long!
4.  Add the Main Ingredient : The Interview - My favourite question is - "What is your Big Dream in life?". This helps us know how clear an individual think, in his or her life, whether we at Team Pumpkin are suitable to make that dream come true or are we just a stepping stone. This open-ended question often triggers discussion about life and we get to know how passionate an individual is - Trust me, this question helps me understand the candidate at so many different levels. I also like to put individuals in trick situations, where they are expected to pick one option, where both the situations have their own cons. People have discussed the answers of these questions with me, long after they were hired by us!
5.  Seasoning & Salt : We finally take a look at whether the skill set and past experience of the person is suitable. Yes we do this towards the end of talk because it only serves in augmenting the dish - it doesn't define it. If you are not skilled, we will help you learn and we will train you. But if you do not have the right attitude, we are not the right place for you!
6.  Cook Well : Only the ingredients do not make the magic, you have to cook them well with proper training, regular motivation, showing them the bigger picture and making them a part of the family - genuinely! We love working with people and we want them to succeed in life and not just few years at a company - TeamPumpkin or otherwise

In our teams we have inducted Drop outs, Pregnant women, New Moms, Entrepreneurs and People from varied Backgrounds, Hobbies - all having common traits - the right attitude, zeal to learn & grow in life. This makes our team heterogeneous, yet so homogenous about outlook towards work and that makes us proud! Today, we service some of the best brands in the country with an unimaginable turnaround time and creative work, which becomes the talk of the town - All because the 'Team' at 'Team Pumpkin' has done the magic!

We would love to share our experience and some more secret sauce! Let me know in questions / DM.