‘We look for analytical, reasoning, out-of-the-box thinking ability’

Interview of the Day: ‘We look for analytical, reasoning, out-of-the-box thinking ability’

Dhivik Reddy, Founder and CEO, Go GreenBOV

Go GreenBOV, a Bengaluru based company, aims to reduce India’s carbon footprint. In conversation with TimesJobs.com, Dhivik Reddy, Founder and CEO, shares the talent agenda and future goals…

How did Go GreenBOV happen?

It all started with my father, Ashok Reddy, who was the first person to bring the LPG conversion kit to India. He was pro green, pro environment and pro saving on fuel costs. He started out from scratch when he came to Bengaluru and got involved with the service centers that he set up. At the time when he started the petrol-gas conversion revolution in India and I was finishing my Electronics Engineering, he asked me if I wanted to do something that would bridge the two. The idea of Go GreenBOV was conceived from the simple idea of making a better environment and to contribute more towards fuel saving.

How diversified is your team in terms of talent and skills?

We do have a diversified and focused team. We have seven engineers, 21 foremen who work in the factory and about another 36 workers and mechanical workforce. What I know is that 99% of them, when they work, give in their 110%. One of our engineers has come in to our team simply because he was engrossed in the going green movement. The team that we have is mostly in structural engineering, electrical engineering and DSP (Digital and Signal Processing) as well as mechanical engineers. We also have a marketing team and finance team who has come to us with over 4-5 years experience.

We have a diverse team with a lot of mechanical engineering experience, finance, franchisee operations experience and more. We also have a few retired personnel who hail from backgrounds like BHEL and Pratt & Whitney. Our board of advisors includes professors from premier science and technology institutes. For our research and design we have been working with a lot of institutions and young talent.

What are some of the best practices implemented by you to attract, engage and retain talent?

Since we’ve been working with a lot of institutions we’ve actually been attracting a lot of young talent. Since this is a product based company we have seen a surge in applications to us, but we are being very selective about whom we hire. We are definitely keeping it very youth oriented when we hire. We have a hierarchy system where the people need to get approvals from their higher-ups. As it goes higher the work and selection gets refined – we think of it like a sedimentation system. Retaining talent depends on how we engage with our employees. We have training programmes for managers on how to handle their teams. I know every single person who’s working in the office and who’s working on what. It’s a great thing when everyone is approachable. Our attrition rate is really low, it would be too high if I said three people quit every year, which makes us feel nice that people are here with a mission and a vision.

What are the skills that you look out for in a candidate while hiring?

Technical is a vast area to cover and this is more specific to what the candidate has to offer in terms of how he understands the subject best. In terms of soft skills we look for analytical ability, reasoning, out-of-the-box thinking and more on product refining. During our interview we usually give candidates something that is imperfect and ask them to make it perfect. What they have studied is not absolutely important to us, but what we look at are reasoning skills and the ability to create and define. We look at verbal aptitude and do an IQ test and some assessments that we think bring out the best in candidates.

Where do you generally source your talent from?

We give importance to referrals and skill sets. We don’t look out for the best grades really. We look at how passionate the candidate is. People usually write to us on our website to apply for a job and we ask them to come in for interviews.

Your advice for young aspiring entrepreneurs…

Entrepreneurship is one of the best journeys that anyone can take. What you learn on running a start-up for two years might be something that you will learn in 10 years working in a company. I would advise young entrepreneurs to take that leap of faith, whatever the idea is. You might end up losing everything that you have or you might gain something out of it but one thing that can’t be taken away from you is the experience you gain in that process of losing or gaining.

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