COMPANY SPOTLIGHT By Sikta Samantary
Special
journey came in mid-2008 when an the students right from the pre-place-
Strategic Points for
angel investor, who had committed ment to the post placement stages.
$400,000 for investment backed out at “The challenge we encountered was Engagement with Youth
A
CoCubes.com the last stage, leaving them in debt. That
is when the parents again supported the
venture and all the team members stood
the huge disconnect, which exists be-
tween the three entities (college, compa-
nies, and students) in India and there is a
Engage youth directly with
college
Sustained and measurable en-
Connecting Colleges & Companies by the company.
What also toughened the challenge
need for an online and SMS-enabled in-
teractive platform,” says Goyal. Since re- gagement is essential
for CoCubes’ team was the need to cruiting companies are mostly located in Technology as an enabler
stimulate awareness among colleges the metros, the Gurgaon based startup re- holds the key to scale and
s part of his responsibil- disguise to address this disconnect.” blogs, and content for over a year, edu- that going online was a better and an alized a need for an online and SMS-en- cost effectiveness
ities, Chhabra, Training cating them about the sector in general easier way to connect with companies abled interactive platform to connect
and Placement Officer in The Current Scenario and specifically about their company. for increasing the placement rate and colleges and companies. For instance, a is where CoCubes.com comes in.
a college in Punjab had Currently, campus recruitments work on Also, whenever they might want to stat managing students. Grover affirms, “I BSc student in a city 50 km from Jaipur Also, we are cheaper than internal al-
to go around the metro an offline model. Companies don’t have hiring they can get going, as interested believe, it is about persistence. Nobody may not have an Internet connection, but ternatives; we can get started by next
cities and knock the door of companies the means to get their message directly and evaluated students are ready and is going to get through in a day or year he can type ‘Yes’or ‘No’on his mobile to morning and keep improving 24x7
and persuade them to come over for to authenticated students and get re- available,” says Grover. to all colleges of India. It requires en- confirm his interest in a job posted by from our multiple client feedback.”
campus recruitments. Though he spent a sponse as well as stay in touch with of- ergy and patience. And our belief was some company, which will be automati-
lot of time and money visiting compa- fered candidates till they join. Colleges Starting Up that rather than the others (like compa- cally updated in the candidate’s status in The Way Ahead
nies, he was failing to pool in compa- still use their notice boards and circulars Initially Grover and Goyal had a tough nies and assessment and training firms) CoCubes.com. Moreover, for HR man- CoCubes.com is currently India’s only
nies to his campus. His IITian nephew to reach out to students and brochures time to make it work in terms of busi- doing it, why don’t we do it and posi- agers in companies, the tools available on student engagement and campus recruit-
Harpreet Grover sensed the opportunity to invite companies. What this finally ness model as well as technology plat- tion ourselves as a channel to them.” ment platform. The team has success-
and called up his old IIT-Bombay room- results in is a lower opportunity for stu- form. It was not easy to start on the And yes, with this passion of moving The online SMS-enabled fully reached out to about 56,000
mate, Vibhore Goyal, Co-founder and dents and high cost for colleges and vision of bringing 17,000 colleges, in- ahead in this online recruitment space, students, 300+ colleges, and more than
CTO of CoCubes, who convinced him companies. “That’s where we want to cluding those in the tier-2 and tier-3 the team of 19 people has managed to interactive platform 30 companies across the country. Some
that technology was the solution to crack down using technology to bring cities and scattered across India, to en- capture its clients’ satisfaction. More- of the clients they work with include
Sapient, Evalueserve, Feedback Ven-
connects the students,
bring about a paradigm shift in the In- the process online,” says Grover. gage with the companies on a realtime over, the unique business model got at-
dian campus recruitment scenario. They Campus recruitments have slowed basis in an authenticated manner. tention, which helped raise capital from colleges, and companies, tures, VIT University, Vellore, Birla In-
went on to build a platform to connect down significantly in the last one year. While capital was scarce, they pooled Ojas Ventures in March 2009 to expand stitute of Management and Technology,
colleges and companies, thus helping So, are companies still interested? in their own savings to start off and the sales and operation team India wide. School of Planning and Architecture of
and brings them together
colleges manage and increase place- “Well, campus is a strategic priority for later took a couple of rounds of angel to efficiently help the job Thapar University.
ments and companies bring their entire most large and medium companies. It investment to build a seven people Leveraging Technology to make To execute the well laid out future
campus process online. gives them a chance to interact with the team and the first 20 clients. it Work plans they are looking to bring in new
seekers
Goyal recalls, “Ten years ago, when graduating students through contests, One of the toughest times in their The CoCubes.com team works with faces in the area of sales and operation
Harpreet and I joined IIT-Bombay, our large and medium companies to bring the platform lets them get a gist of the re- along with enhancements of features in
hostel had three computers and we used their campus recruitment process on- cruitment process the company has un- the existing product line-up. “We are
to walk down to a STD booth to call line. One of the unique value proposi- dertaken over a period of time. The looking for exceptional people who are
home. When we graduated, it was diffi- tions is to bring any college in the platform also provides the realtime em- in quest of a fast paced and exciting ca-
cult to find three rooms in the IIT with- country online in less than 2 days. ployment status of the candidate. “The reer and are willing to put their heart and
out computers and everyone had a They only register colleges and get platform has helped us in planning effi- sweat to get there,” says Goyal.
mobile. Now, by 2009, even students in data directly from them. Only students ciently before visiting any campus, With its subtle and unique approach,
tier–2 and tier-3 cities have a mobile and whose names are on the rolls, are mes- which eventually led to minimize the ef- the enthusiastic employees, and the verve
regular access to the Internet. We be- saged their logins and passwords on forts and costs and achieve more targeted with which the company has begun mov-
lieve that during the last decade, while their mobile phones. They can then results,” affirms Siddarth Tyagi, Recruit- ing forward, the founding team promises
the target student population became come online and fill their standardized ment Strategist, Evalueserve. a glorious path ahead - not just for the
{ {
different, campus hiring and engage- resume and can also choose to com- We asked Goyal if there are any company but also for its customers. The
ment methodologies remained same and plement their profile with video corporates that have built something manner in which the IITian founders are
are now in a disconnect with the current footage, but do not have access to the on the same lines. “A couple of com- charged to revolutionize the campus
crop of youth. And in the last few years fields containing their academic scores, panies have their internal platforms in space simply brings back the nostalgia of
“We help companies get their mes- “We have found engaged students
of growth story one has not had the time which are uploaded by the college au- use; but in the end we believe that a Naukri’s success as a job portal by a then
sage directly across to authenti- to be 400 percent more responsive
to reflect and change. The current thorities. The platform allows the com- student in the campus cannot have 20 unknown entrepreneur – Sanjeev
cated students through college” and that is fundamental to what we
downturn has come as an opportunity in panies as well as the colleges to engage logins for as many companies, and that Bikchandani way back in the 1990s.
– Harpreet S. Grover are doing” – Vibhore Goyal
The Smart Techie
|32| October 2009 The Smart Techie
|33| October 2009