The Career Development Center (CDC) meets the 1link Management
June 10, 2021: The Career Development Center (CDC) meets the 1link Management to discuss their Graduate Trainee Program and its modalities. Mr. Najeeb Agrawala, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Azeem Ahmad Siddiqui, Chief Shared Services Officer and Ms. Rashna Spencer, Manager Human Resources Shared Services Department joined the meeting from 1link Private Limited. Mr. Danish Imtiaz Gangani, Manager, Career Development Center and Mr. Ebbad Qureshi, Executive Corporate Relations CDC represented IBA. Following are the highlights of our discussion:
- Concerns about the terms & conditions and low salary bands with regards to this program were shared with the 1link team
- Our recent placement statistics were also shared for better understanding about our employability and marketability trends
- Team CDC also shared its concerns about the dilution of brand equity, backlash from graduates, and the negative perception about 1link as an employer.
- Mr. Danish also mentioned that most of the companies are focusing on developing their strong brand presence and are striving to remain employer of choice; particularly among youth. He suggested that 1link should pay close attention to their Marketing & Communication aspect and move away from the status quo.
- It was further suggested by the CDC team to reconsider their GT program for the top tier universities like the IBA. 1link team have agreed that they will rethink on their program for the next year and may consult IBA/CDC wherever they require any input during the design phase.
- Team CDC inquired about the thought process behind this program structure, to which following reasons were provided by the 1link team:
- 1link recruits trainees from all across Pakistan and hence their structure is designed uniformly for all universities across the board to avoid any disparity after the recruitment process.
- They further added that 1Link believes in transparency and clear communication. They communicate the salary bands quite clearly as part of their marketing plan so that only those candidates who are passionate about working with the fintech or technology pioneering company are inclined towards it without concerning much about the initial salary offered to them.
- They further added that apart from base salary, they offer multiple benefits of a regular employee to all their Graduate Trainees such as quarterly bonuses, performance bonuses, carpool incentive, employee educational support, subsidized lunch and gym/club facilities, flexi-hour/WFH, WFH incentives to equip homes for office work etc.
- The compensation & benefits are structured keeping in view the company’s internal dynamics.
- Due to nature of their business, the main focus of its recruitment is geared towards technical graduates and more than half of their GTs are non-business graduates; who are historically ready to join them on these conditions. Similarly, retention is also important for them hence they introduced the bond signing process. The purpose of having a bond signed is to ensure that they not only retain their employees but also to invest in them (trainings and technical exposure) during their entire training period with a comfort that they will remain with the company for a significant time in order to give back to the organization as well.
- Mr. Najeeb also informed that 1link GTs are highly employable once they complete their trainee period; as many players outside remain in continuous look out for them. Some of them eventually move on to establish their own startups after learning the tricks and techniques of the business.
- 1link and CDC ensured their continued to support and will also collaborate on various interventions in future.
