Hiring and onboarding talent can often be tiresome for job seekers and companies. To streamline this process, Jaymin Bhuptani and Nital Shah founded Uplers, a talent outsourcing organisation to make hiring as simple and predictable as booking an Uber. 

However, the job market in the last year has been anything but predictable. Thousands of workers, particularly in the tech industry, have lost their jobs due to harsh macroeconomic conditions. Being part of the talent recruitment space, Uplers has been on the frontlines of the tightening job market. 

In an exclusive interaction with Outlook Start-Up, Bhuptani and Shah say that light is emerging at the end of this dark tunnel. They also talk about the future of work, the need for upskilling and their newly minted Mavlers brand. 

Edited excerpts:

Job markets worldwide have been busted after a wave of layoffs. How would you assess the current demand for talent in the market?

Jaymin: As we know, the demand for talent during the pandemic had surged quite massively, leading to the boom cycle we are discussing. The macroeconomic environment changed, particularly in the US, and we saw how it panned out with layoffs at several firms due to the funding winter. 

From what we see, the job market might start fully recovering from March. However, until we get clarity on the start-up funding scenario, the sector will have grey clouds. The silver lining is that many firms are seeing offshore destinations like India as a big hiring destination. 

Nital: Whatever corrections companies had to make, they have already made. Businesses are also routing a lot of their hiring towards India, so the demand for talent is still there, especially from Global Capability Centres.

There is a lot of talk about making Indian talent job-ready. Does there need to be a lot of focus on upskilling in the coming years?

Jaymin: With so much talent entering the job market everywhere, the job readiness factor is essential. From this perspective, upskilling is also very important. We do focus on some areas for upskilling. 

Our clients have appreciated the technical capability of the talent we provide, but what they usually point out is the softer skills of their style of professionalism. These include taking accountability for work, asking questions, etc. 

At the same time, there needs to be investment in improving technical skills and these softer skills, especially with the adoption of AI changing the dynamics of the job market. 

Nital: Major players have not focused on improving the technical skills of talents and making them job-ready to work with international brands. That’s a gap we are trying to fill. We measure success by assessing how long our talent can successfully work with brands. 

With the hype around remote work, what do you think will be the future of work?

Jaymin: In one of our surveys, we saw that two-thirds of total talents are willing to take a pay cut for remote work. While the Covid-19 pandemic has created a remote work market, most companies would call their employees back. They might have role-specific remote profiles, but broadly, the demand for remote work will be way more than the supply.

Nital: Companies who have not been able to adopt remote, I don’t think they will be able to do it now. The mismatch of demand and supply for remote work will be there.

When you started Uplers, what market challenges were you trying to solve?

Jaymin: We saw that many companies wanted to set up their operations in India and this could be a great opportunity. Secondly, the challenge Uplers aimed to address was the painful hiring process. We observed that companies faced difficulties hiring the right talent in an appropriate amount of time. 

That’s how we came together and started this venture. Our mantra is making hiring predictable and as easy as booking an Uber. 

Nital: No one has solved the hiring problem through a technology and platform-driven solution as we have done. We were confident of our ability to innovate and give feasible solutions. 

Why did you decide to create two separate brands, Uplers and Mavlers?

Jaymin: We realised that the two problems we solve through Uplers and Mavlers are entirely different. While Uplers solves the hiring process challenges, Mavlers helps global brands execute their marketing strategies. 

Doing both under the same brand created confusion within the ranks, so we created Mavlers. The advantage of Mavlers is that we have been in the marketing services game for long, so we know what to expect and how to address our target audience efficiently. 

In terms of growth of fundamentals, how has the business been for Uplers and what does your path to profitability look like?

Jaymin: The macro environment has been challenging due to the slowdown in global markets. Our business has also undergone many changes recently, so we are focusing on our fundamentals. It will take us a couple of quarters to put everything in the right place and then we will go for aggressive growth. 

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