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| Persistence is the cornerstone of building any company. |
AccioJob provides structured online learning programs for college graduates to start careers in Software Development and Data Analytics through our flagship products. These are career-focused long-duration LIVE training courses with limited seats.
Our journey with AccioJob has an interesting beginning – it actually began when we were college students ourselves. Coming from IIT Delhi, we had the privilege to guide students from tier-3 colleges and present at educational exhibitions in places like Pragati Maidan. Through these interactions, where we spoke with 100s of students every day, a realization struck us. We noticed that for many of these students, accessing high-quality education is the only way to improve their socio-economic status in India.
The primary hurdle they face is a lack of guidance and exposure to opportunities. With over 80 lakh students graduating annually, and a market size of 40k+ colleges, we recognized the enormous potential to address this need. And so, our journey began, and it's been an incredible five-year adventure since then!
2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?
Our journey began with a fundamental question: why were so many colleges struggling to provide their students with meaningful job opportunities after investing years in education? We observed numerous problems, including inadequate training methodologies, a lack of emphasis on skill development, and colleges primarily focusing on marketing for admissions rather than equipping students with essential skills.
Recognizing these challenges, we decided to address these issues by providing students with improved training and opportunities. This marked the inception of AccioJob. Our first FSD cohort began in October 2020 with just 45 students. The training was rigorous. At that time, it was just us 4 founders, with Harsh, our CTO, as instructor, and others managing various aspects of student support, including interview preparation, communication, confidence-building, resume building, and more.
In the early stages, when we saw 2 of our students getting placed in Amazon just 2 months into the cohort, we realized the high impact and value that AccioJob could provide to students who were facing challenges such as unemployment after college, preparing for competitive exams such as GATE with very less conversion rate, or looking to get into service-based companies such as TCS and Infosys as that is all the opportunity which is coming to their college.
For these students, landing a job at a product-based company with an average salary of 8 to 8.5 LPA was truly life-changing. They realized the value even more when some of our older batch students started switching jobs after a year, moving from a 9 LPA salary to a whopping 22 LPA. One student's jump to PayPal was particularly exciting. This showed us how career trajectories can change essentially and go on an exponential track.
This is the kind of impact we've always aimed for in our work. Today, when our placed students visit our office, they bring boxes of sweets as tokens of appreciation, which serves as the greatest motivation for us. We've been on this mission for the last 5 years now, and it's been a long journey. We firmly believe that persistence is the cornerstone of building any company.
Every day, we strive to improve our training, provide more value to our students, and better understand how to solve their problems. Every day we show up. We try to make our training better. We try to add more value to the students. We try to understand how we can resolve their problems better and that is why we are where we are now.
3. What has been the biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?
One of our biggest challenges is making students realize the importance of skill-building and helping them get a better understanding of what career paths are viable and lucrative. Most students are misguided and have an unclear understanding of future career paths and what they want to do.
Another challenge is getting students to avoid shortcuts. Students often want quick solutions and it need the motivation to stay consistent with learning. The learning journey can be difficult, and motivating students to stay the course is a challenge. Dealing with rejections and turning failures into opportunities for growth is also tough for many students.
Lastly, convincing students that learning doesn't stop after getting a job is another challenge. Some think that once they're employed, they don't need to keep improving and learning new skills.
4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?
Persistence is a critical quality for a successful entrepreneur, it takes time and effort to build a company. You're going to hit a lot of obstacles. You can't be the sort of person who gets demoralized easily.
Secondly, you need to have a user-first and problem-first mindset. You cannot be rigid with your solution or your product. Always keep in mind that you need to “make something people want” and not make something you want people to use. Being deeply focused on understanding and serving the needs of your users is fundamental for building a successful business.
5. AccioJob is always looking for experienced mentors passionate about teaching students. What qualities do you believe make a great mentor in the field of tech and job readiness?
AccioJob is constantly seeking mentors who are passionate about teaching and Tech in general. Essentially, we look for 3 qualities.
First, they must have deep technical expertise, being true masters of the subjects and technologies they teach.
Second, they excel in effective communication, making complex technical concepts clear and understandable.
Lastly, their ability to adapt is crucial. They keep up with the ever-changing trends in the tech industry, allowing them to adjust their teaching methods and content accordingly.
6. Looking ahead, what are your aspirations and goals for AccioJob in the coming years? Are there any new programs or initiatives you plan to launch to further assist job seekers and employers?
Our aspirations and goals for AccioJob in the coming years are aligned with the evolving job market and the changing needs of JOB SEEKERS as well as EMPLOYERS. As we have been continuously improving our learning methodologies and striving to enhance the learning experience for students in every batch, our primary focus has been on achieving higher placement rates, aiming for 85-90% placements for our batches.
We have just introduced our Data Analytics course as well which has seen significant growth recently. The target audience for this is mostly working professionals and anyone who wants to make a career in the Data field.
We are committed to launching innovative programs and initiatives to facilitate this transition, making the recruitment process for tech-based roles more inclusive and skill-driven. The positive outlook we've observed in the tech industry encourages us to believe that this shift towards skills-based hiring will extend to other sectors, and we are excited to be at the forefront of this transformation.
I hold a degree from the prestigious IIT Delhi, which helped me shape my personality to be able to lead a team, look for tech first solutions to real world problems.
With a drive to make a difference in the world, I founded AccioJob, a startup that provides innovative solutions for job seekers and employers. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and a deep understanding of the job market, we help candidates find their dream jobs and employers find the perfect candidate for their organisation.
Interviewed and Edited by - Arunangshu Chatterjee
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