How to use this document
This is a working document, not a reading assignment. Each module has material to understand, tasks that produce something real, and a short set of questions you answer in your own words. Nobody expects you to memorise all of it. You are expected to know where to look, and to ask before you guess.
Work through two or three modules a day at a comfortable pace. Modules 01 to 05 come first and in order, because everything else depends on them. After that you can move at whatever speed the live hiring work allows.
| Part of a module | What you do with it |
|---|---|
| Material | Read it once end to end, then again slowly, writing down every word or step you did not follow. |
| Practice tasks | Do them on live work, not made up examples. They produce sheets, boards and drafts we will actually use. |
| Questions | Answer them in your own words in the daily log. Copying sentences from here defeats the purpose. |
| Shadowing | Sit in on any live interview, call or stand up that is happening while you are on that module. |
The one rule that matters most
In HR you handle other people's salaries, personal documents and career decisions. A wrong guess said confidently does far more damage than a question asked. If you are unsure, the correct reply to a candidate or an employee is "let me confirm that and come back to you today". Then actually come back the same day.
Qurious Click: what the company is
You should be able to explain what we do to a stranger in sixty seconds, and get the name, the markets and the branding right every single time.
The basics
Qurious Click is an AI first software agency founded in 2014, headquartered in Ahmedabad, with presence in Spain and Canada. We build software for other companies, including mobile apps, web platforms, backend systems and AI or ML products, and we also build and own products of our own.
Get the name right
- The company name is Qurious Click, written as two words. Not QuriousClick, not Qurious click.
- #QuriousMinds is only a hashtag we use on social media. It is not a second company, not a brand we sell under, and it should never appear in a candidate email, a job description or an offer letter.
- In writing, first mention is Qurious Click. After that, QC is acceptable internally but never with candidates or clients.
Who we sell to
Two facts about our market that you must never get wrong in a conversation:
- Our clients are in the US, Canada and Europe, mainly the UK, Spain and Germany. Time zones matter, because a client's morning is often our evening.
- We do not take on Indian clients. If an India based company enquires about services, promise nothing and pass the enquiry to the founder, saying we will revert.
Candidates are a separate matter. We hire in and around Ahmedabad, and every role is in office.
Two kinds of work we do
| Type | What it means | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Client work | A client pays us to build or maintain their software. Deadlines and priorities come from outside and they shift. | Graffos,Smart Quote (OTC), KC International, Viswambi, India Machinery Export |
| Our own products | We build, own and run these ourselves. Slower deadlines, higher long term value. | HoldIt (iOS focus app), BaggageClaim (flight compensation) |
Task 1.1: the sixty second pitch
Write, in your own words, what you would say if a candidate asks "so what does your company actually do?". Maximum 120 words, with no buzzword you cannot define. Show it to your reporting manager before you use it on a real call.
Answer these in your log
- How is the company name written, and what is QuriousMinds?
- Which markets do we sell to, and which do we not?
- Name two client projects and two of our own products.
The team and who does what
An HR person who cannot map a name to a skill cannot schedule an interview, route a query, or represent the team. Learn this chart.
Roster to memorise
| Name | Role | Currently working on |
|---|---|---|
| Bhavik Rathod | CTO & Sr. Project Manager | Day to day operations of all projects, client updates, next steps for the team |
| Sakshi Bhavsar | Project Coordinator | Project scheduling, follow ups, meeting notes, keeping delivery details moving between people |
| Dhairya Khant | Sr. Flutter Developer | HoldIt, Graffos issues, BaggageClaim analytics |
| Satish Surani | Jr. Backend Developer | Graffos, Tenarai, First Star Energy, and takes technical interviews |
| Dipesh Sojitra | Jr. Backend Developer | Smart Quote (OTC) backend, KC International revamp |
| Purva Patel | Jr. Product Developer | Graffos backend algorithm, QC website revamp, coordinates with AI and ML |
| Om Vaghani | AI and ML Intern | Graffos model training and detection optimisation |
| Kalindi Bhimani | Design | Graffos tablet app and backend redesign, OTC website, QC website assets |
| Jay Kalsariya | QA Intern | Graffos testing, App monitoring, Smart Quote, HoldIt |
Task 2.1: sit in on a stand up
Attend one team stand up. Write down which project each person spoke about, and every word you did not understand. Those words go into module 03's glossary, which you now own.
Answer these in your log
- Who takes the technical round for a backend candidate?
- Who would you route a question about a project deadline to?
- Name every person and one thing each of them works on.
The language of IT
You do not need to do any of this work. You need to understand what the words mean so you can read a CV, ask a sensible question, and route a query to the right person.
People and roles
Technologies you will see on CVs
Process words used in stand ups
AI words, because we are an AI first agency
Task 3.1: read two real CVs
Ask for two CVs from the current pipeline. For each, write down which role it fits, three technical terms you had to look up, and two questions you would ask that person. Attach it to your log.
Answer these in your log
- Explain API to someone with no technical background, in one sentence.
- What is the difference between staging and production, and why would HR ever care?
- A CV says "Flutter, Dart, Firebase". Which of our open roles does that person fit?
Where candidates come from
Five channels, in the order we actually use them. Spending your day on the wrong channel is the fastest way to waste a week.
| Order | Channel | Best for | What you do there |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indeed | Freshers, interns and junior roles across all functions | Post the role, review applications daily, message applicants, move qualified ones straight to the JD share step |
| 2 | Experienced developers, designers, coordinators, and passive candidates who are not applying anywhere | Search and filter, connection requests, InMail, reply to applicants, post the opening on the company page | |
| 3 | Internshala | Interns and freshers, especially design and QA | Post the role, filter applications, screen quickly by volume |
| 4 | Referrals | Highest quality and fastest closures | Ask the team every single time a role opens, and record who referred whom |
| 5 | Inbound and careers page | Anyone who found us on their own | Reply within 48 hours, always, even to reject |
| 6 | Naukri | Volume hiring in India | Not in use currently. Do not spend time here unless the founder reopens it. |
Searching properly, which saves you hours
On Indeed and LinkedIn, do not type a plain sentence into the search box. Use operators:
Quotation marks keep a phrase together, OR widens the search, AND narrows it, NOT excludes. Save every search that produces good profiles, because you will reuse it for the next similar role.
Location filter first, always
Every role is work from office in Ahmedabad. Filtering for location before you read a single profile removes most of the wasted conversations. If a strong profile is outside Ahmedabad, you can still proceed, but the relocation question goes in your very first message, using the outstation template in module 06.
Task 4.1: build three searches
Write three searches for our currently open roles, run them on Indeed and LinkedIn, and add ten relevant profiles to the candidate tracker.
The hiring process, start to finish
Every role moves through the same stages. Your job is to keep candidates moving and never let anyone sit in a stage silently.
How our process actually works
We deliberately do not run a long screening call before the candidate has seen the details. Instead, the job description does the heavy lifting. It carries the role, the responsibilities, the compensation and the working conditions, and the scheduling link sits in its last section. That means a candidate who books a slot has already read and accepted the terms, which is why our interviews are far shorter and far less likely to collapse over money.
What happens at stage 4, in detail
- Experienced candidates. Send the standard qualifying questions first: current salary and expectation, reason for leaving, notice period, and for anyone outside Ahmedabad, willingness to relocate. Wait for the answers before spending any more time.
- Check the answers against the band. If the expectation is outside our budget or the location cannot work, send the matching rejection reply the same day. Do not go quiet and do not string anyone along.
- If it fits, share the JD with a brief text. Do not summarise the role in chat and do not quote numbers yourself. The document carries all of it.
- Freshers skip the questions. Send the JD straight away with the short covering message.
- The candidate reads the JD and books their own slot using the cal.com link in the last section. The booking page repeats the document link, so nobody arrives at an interview without having seen the role and the compensation.
- For the HR role only, the JD also asks for a form submission. The form link is in the last section of the same document.
- If nothing happens in two days, send follow up 1. If nothing happens two days after that, send follow up 2. After that, mark the candidate as unresponsive and move on.
Why this order matters
Because the compensation is written in the JD and repeated on the booking page, a candidate who turns up has already accepted the terms in principle. If you start describing the role over chat, or quote numbers from memory, you break that and we are back to candidates disappearing after the money conversation. Always send the document.
Before you send any JD, check
- It is the right document for the role and the experience level. There are separate JDs for fresher and experienced UI and UX, and for fresher and junior QA.
- The link opens for someone outside the company. Test it in a private browser window.
- The cal.com link in the last section is the right one for that role and is still live.
- For outstation candidates, the covering message says work from office in Ahmedabad.
Task 5.1: walk the process as a candidate
Open one JD from the list in module 06 as if you were an applicant. Read it end to end, find the scheduling link, open the booking page, and note anything confusing, broken or out of date. Report what you find.
Answer these in your log
- List the ten stages in order and mark the ones you own.
- Why do we send the JD instead of explaining the role over chat?
- What are the four qualifying questions, and which fifth one is added for outstation candidates?
- What do you do when a candidate has not booked a slot after four days?
The standard replies library
These are the exact messages we send. Using them consistently is what keeps our communication stable across everyone who handles hiring. Change the name, never the structure.
Qualifying questions for experienced candidates
Candidate in Ahmedabad
Candidate outside Ahmedabad
HR role
Fresher, sharing the JD
Fresher, outside Ahmedabad
Form link, when asked separately
Scheduling link, when asked separately
Follow ups
UI and UX Designer
Fresher, direct JD
Experienced
Fresher, outside Ahmedabad
Experienced, outside Ahmedabad
QA and Software Tester
Junior, around 1 year experience, in Ahmedabad
Junior, around 1 year experience, outside Ahmedabad
Fresher, in Ahmedabad
Fresher, outside Ahmedabad
Project Coordinator
Fresher, in Ahmedabad
Fresher, outside Ahmedabad
Rejections
Every rejection goes out. A candidate who never hears back tells ten people, and we hire from a city where that matters.
How to use this library
- Always personalise the name. A reply that opens with "Hi," reads as a mass message.
- Never edit the compensation wording or invent a number. If a candidate pushes, point them to the JD.
- If a situation is not covered here, draft your reply and get it checked, then add it to this library so the next person has it.
- Keep this library in one place, with the JD links, and check every link is live at the start of each month.
Task 6.1: use the library on live candidates
Take five real candidates at different stages and draft the correct reply for each from this library, choosing between local and outstation, fresher and experienced. Have your manager check which ones you picked wrongly before anything is sent.
Interview conversations and the money question
The JD carries the numbers, but candidates still ask. This is how we answer, and what you are never allowed to say.
The HR round
By the time someone books a slot they have read the role and the compensation. The round is not for re-explaining the JD, it is for finding out whether this person can and will actually join, and whether they are someone we want in the office every day.
| Min | Section | What you are trying to learn |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Introduction | Set the agenda and confirm they have read the JD |
| 2 to 8 | Their background | What they actually built or studied, in their own words, not the CV read aloud |
| 8 to 12 | Intent and fit | Why this role, what they want to learn, how they handle being corrected |
| 12 to 16 | Terms confirmed aloud | Timings, in office, training period, compensation, commitment. Confirm they understood what they read. |
| 16 to 20 | Their questions | Answer, or promise to confirm. Never invent. |
| 20 to 22 | Next step | An exact next step with a date, confirmed in writing the same day |
Confirm the terms out loud, even though they are written down
Plenty of candidates book a slot without reading carefully. Two minutes spent confirming the timings, the office requirement and the compensation structure saves three rounds of everybody's time. If they are hearing it for the first time in your round, that is a signal about how they will read a client brief later.
Explaining the trainee compensation structure
For fresher roles the structure has parts that sound harsh when they are compressed into one line, and reasonable when they are explained. Use plain numbers, never vague phrases.
| Element | How to say it |
|---|---|
| Training phase, 6 months | "For the first six months you are in a paid training phase. We are teaching you the work, so the stipend reflects that. It is [amount] per month." |
| Employment phase, next 12 months | "After six months, if the training goes well, you move to the employment phase and the salary steps up to [amount]. By year two, people on this track are typically at 3 to 4 LPA." |
| Commitment deposit | "We ask for a refundable security cheque, like an apartment deposit. It is returned when you complete the commitment period. It is not a fee, we do not encash it, and you get it back." |
| Forfeiture clause | "If someone leaves during the training phase, two months of the training stipend is forfeited. Anything you earn in the employment phase is entirely yours. It exists because we invest six months of senior people's time in training you." |
| Trial window | "You get the first two weeks to decide this is not for you, with no penalty at all." |
Make it concrete
Never say "double the cheque". Say the arithmetic. "If your training stipend is 13,333 a month, the refundable deposit cheque is 26,666. We hold it, we do not deposit it, and you get it back at the end of the commitment period." Vague terms create suspicion, numbers create trust.
Objection handling
| They say | You say |
|---|---|
| "Why do I need to give a cheque? Is this a fee?" | It is not a fee and we never encash it. It works like a rental deposit and comes back to you at the end of the commitment period. We introduced it because we invest six months of senior developers' time in training freshers. |
| "The salary is lower than what another company is offering." | During the training phase, honestly, yes. What you are paid for elsewhere is output. Here you are trained by seniors on live projects for clients in the US and Europe. The step up at six months, and again at year two, is the part worth comparing. |
| "Can I work from home?" | No, this role is in office, and for a trainee that is deliberate. You learn by sitting next to people and getting feedback in real time, which is the whole value of the training phase. |
| "What if I do not like the job after joining?" | You have two weeks to walk away with no penalty. After that, if you leave during training, two months of the training stipend is forfeited, but nothing from the employment phase. |
| "Will I definitely be made permanent?" | It depends on your performance in training, and we review it openly with you at three months and six months, so it is never a surprise. |
| "I need to think about it." | Of course. Which part do you want to think about? I would rather answer it now than have you guess. Can I call you on [day] at [time]? |
Never do these
- Never quote a salary number you have not been given in writing, and never negotiate one yourself.
- Never promise a joining date, an increment, or a permanent conversion.
- Never discuss another candidate, another employee's salary, or internal problems.
- Never say "I think" about a policy. Confirm, then revert the same day.
Task 7.1: role play the money conversation
Role play the compensation section with your manager playing a suspicious candidate. Repeat it until you can give the deposit explanation without hesitating and without reading.
Answer these in your log
- A candidate asks whether the cheque will be encashed. Write your exact reply.
- Why do we confirm the terms aloud when they are already in the JD?
- What are the four things you must never say in an interview?
Recording every interview, and running the board
An interview that is not recorded did not happen. Within thirty minutes of any call ending, the record must exist.
Interview record: required fields
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Date and time | 02 Sep 2026, 11:30 AM |
| Candidate name, phone, email | Full contact, spelled correctly |
| Role applied for | Jr. Software Tester |
| Source | Indeed, LinkedIn, Internshala, referral (name the referrer) |
| Round | HR, assessment, technical, founder |
| Interviewer | Who took it |
| Current and expected CTC | Figures, plus notice period in days |
| Outcome | Selected, rejected, on hold, or candidate withdrew |
| Reason, mandatory | Two lines minimum. "Not good" is not a reason. "Could not explain the test cases she wrote for her own college project" is. |
| Next step and date | "Technical round on 04 Sep, 4 PM, with Satish" |
Trello: what it is and how we use it
Trello is a visual board. A board is one process, a list is a stage in that process, and a card is one item moving through the stages. For hiring, the item is a candidate, and moving a card means the real world situation changed.
What goes inside a candidate card
| Element | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Card title | Name / Role / Source, for example Riya Shah / Jr. Software Tester / Indeed |
| Description | Contact details, current and expected CTC, notice period, CV link, which JD version was sent |
| Comments | Every interaction, dated. This is the candidate's history, so never delete a comment. |
| Due date | The next action's deadline, always set. A card with no due date is a card nobody chases. |
| Labels | Fresher or experienced, local or outstation, waiting on candidate or waiting on us |
| Checklist | JD sent, slot booked, documents collected, offer sent, deposit received |
| Attachments | CV, assessment submission, signed offer |
| Members | Who is responsible right now, usually you |
Board hygiene routine
- Every morning at 10:00: open the board, look at overdue due dates first, and act on those before anything else.
- After every message or call: add a dated comment. One line is enough. "04 Sep: JD sent, follow up 1 due 06 Sep."
- Every evening at 6:45: no card should sit in a stage with no next action and no due date.
- Weekly: archive closed out candidates so the board shows reality, not history.
The delivery team is also moving on to Jira, which gives management project level visibility. You do not need to run Jira, but you do need to read it, because that is where you will spot someone on leave, blocked or overloaded before it becomes an HR problem.
Task 8.1: rebuild a board and write two records
Create a board for one open role with the six lists above and five real candidates, complete with descriptions, labels and due dates. Then sit in on two live interviews and write the interview record for both, without help, and compare them with what the interviewer wrote.
Answer these in your log
- What does moving a card to the right actually mean?
- Two cards have no due date. What is wrong and what do you do?
- What are the three things that make an interview record acceptable?
Employee records and the sheets that run HR
Where information lives, who updates it, how often, and what happens when it is wrong. This is the least glamorous module and the one that decides whether you are trusted with responsibility.
The four master sheets
You own all four. Column names are fixed, so do not invent new ones without asking, and never delete a row. Mark things closed instead.
1. Candidate tracker
| Columns |
|---|
Date added / Name / Phone / Email / Role / Source / Referred by / Current CTC / Expected CTC / Notice period / Stage / JD version sent / Slot booked / Last contacted / Next action / Next action date / Outcome / Reason / CV link |
2. Interview log
| Columns |
|---|
Date / Time / Candidate / Role / Round / Interviewer / Duration / Result / Feedback notes / Next step / Scheduled for |
3. Employee master
| Columns |
|---|
Employee ID / Full name / Role / Reporting to / Date of joining / Employment type / Confirmation due date / Official email / Personal email / Phone / Emergency contact / Address / Documents received / Asset issued / Status |
4. Attendance and leave register
| Columns |
|---|
Employee / Date / In time / Out time / Status / Leave type / Approved by / Balance remaining / Remarks |
Personnel file: what we must hold for every employee
- Signed offer letter and signed appointment letter
- Government photo ID and address proof
- PAN card copy
- Educational certificates, meaning the final degree or marksheet
- Previous employer relieving letter and last three salary slips, where applicable
- Bank account details for salary credit
- Passport size photograph
- Emergency contact details
- Signed commitment and deposit acknowledgement, where applicable
- Signed NDA and IT or device usage acknowledgement
Confidentiality, which is not negotiable
- Salary information is shared with exactly two categories of people: the individual, and the founder. Nobody else, not even the range, not even roughly.
- Personal documents never leave the official Drive folder. No downloads to personal devices and no forwarding over WhatsApp.
- Never discuss one employee's performance, warning or exit with another employee.
- Restrict Drive folders to named people. Never use "anyone with the link" on a folder that holds IDs.
- If you make a mistake involving someone's personal data, tell the founder the same day. Hiding it is the only unforgivable version.
Task 9.1: build the tracker and audit the files
Build the candidate tracker from scratch with the exact columns above, with data validation on the stage column so only valid stages can be entered. Then produce a one page gap report on the personnel files, listing which employee is missing which document. This is real work, not an exercise.
Answer these in your log
- A developer asks you what the new joiner's salary is. What do you say, word for word?
- Name the four master sheets and one column unique to each.
- Which documents must exist before someone's first salary is processed?
Communication standards and representing the company
Every message you send is the company speaking. This module covers response times, checking history before you answer, LinkedIn, and what you may never put in writing.
Before you reply to anything
Most mistakes in HR communication come from replying without context. Follow this order every time and it takes ninety seconds.
Response time standards
| Message type | Acknowledge within | Resolve within |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate applying or replying | Same working day | 48 hours |
| Interview confirmation or reschedule | 2 hours | Same day |
| Rejection after an interview | Not applicable | 48 hours, always sent |
| Employee query about leave, letters or slips | Same day | 2 working days |
| Anything involving salary or a dispute | Same day, acknowledgement only | After the founder confirms |
| LinkedIn message from a real person | 24 hours | 48 hours |
Email templates beyond the replies library
Interview confirmation, once a slot is booked
Assessment sent
Rejection after an interview
Offer intimation
Employee replies
What not to write
| Do not write | Write instead |
|---|---|
| "Your profile is not up to the mark." | "We are moving ahead with candidates whose experience is closer to what this role needs right now." |
| "Sorry for the delay, there was a lot going on internally." | "Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Here is where things stand." |
| "HR team will get back to you." | "I will get back to you by Thursday evening." |
| "Salary is negotiable, we can discuss." | "The band for this role is in the job description. Where you land depends on the technical round." |
| "Please do the needful." | Say what you actually need, and by when. |
LinkedIn is both a hiring channel and the company's public face. Everything you send from your profile is associated with Qurious Click.
Connection request to a passive candidate
Replying to someone who applied
Replying when there is no suitable opening
Company page basics
- Read before you post. Look at our last ten posts before publishing anything, so tone and format stay consistent.
- Job posts carry the role, the location, the in office requirement, the experience needed and a real application route. Never post a compensation figure without approval.
- Comments and direct messages get a reply within 24 hours. Sales pitches get no reply, genuine candidate questions always get one.
- Never post client names, screenshots of client work, internal metrics or team problems without explicit approval from the founder.
- Culture posts, meaning new joiners, team moments and celebrations, are the ones worth doing consistently. Get the person's permission before you post their photograph.
- #QuriousMinds belongs on social posts only. It never appears in candidate or client communication.
Always
- Use the candidate's name and reference something specific to them
- Give dates and times, never "soon" or "shortly"
- Close every loop, including for candidates who were never interviewed
- Sign with your name, designation and phone number
- Keep one thread per topic so the history stays readable
Never
- Commit to a salary, joining date or policy without written confirmation
- Share client names or project details with candidates before the offer stage
- Discuss internal issues, other candidates or other employees
- Send anything about money over WhatsApp only, it goes in email too
- Use slang, emojis or one word replies in company communication
Task 10.1: write four live emails and clear the inbox
Draft an interview confirmation, an assessment mail, a rejection and an offer intimation for four real candidates, and send them to your manager for review before anything goes out. Then go through pending LinkedIn messages on the company page and draft a reply for each, sorted into candidate, irrelevant, and needs the founder.
Answer these in your log
- What are the four places you check before replying to a message?
- Rewrite this properly: "Hi, your profile is rejected. HR will contact you if anything comes."
- A candidate asks on LinkedIn which client they would work for. What do you reply?
Onboarding, IT requirements and exits
Both flows are checklists with dates attached. The most common failure in a growing team is access that is never revoked.
Before day one
- Signed offer letter received and filed
- All personnel documents collected, per module 09
- IT requirement raised: laptop with the right specification for the role, charger, mouse, headset
- Official email account created and the password shared securely
- Accounts created: Slack, Jira, Trello, GitHub for developers, Figma for designers, Drive folders
- Seat allocated, and the team told who is joining and when
- Buddy assigned, meaning one existing team member responsible for their first two weeks
- First week plan written by their reporting manager, chased by you
- Welcome message sent two days before, confirming the time, the address and what to carry
Day one
- Received at reception and introduced to the whole team by name and role
- Laptop handed over and recorded in the asset register with its serial number
- Email, Slack, Jira and Trello logins verified working, not assumed
- Policies walked through: timings, leave, attendance, confidentiality, device usage
- NDA and IT usage acknowledgement signed
- Employee master sheet updated the same day
- Photograph taken for records and, with permission, for the announcement post
Week one and month one
- First real task assigned by day two, because nobody should sit idle in week one
- End of week check in by you: what is unclear, what is missing, is the buddy responsive
- Day 30 feedback conversation scheduled with their manager and recorded
- Confirmation date and review dates entered in the employee master
IT requirements you will be raising
| Role | Typically needs |
|---|---|
| Backend developer | Laptop with 16 GB RAM, GitHub access, database and server credentials, API documentation access |
| Flutter developer | Higher specification machine, Android and iOS test devices, TestFlight or Play Console access, Firebase |
| UI and UX designer | Figma seat, asset and brand library access, a larger screen |
| Software tester | Test devices, bug tracker access, staging environment credentials, test case sheet templates |
| AI and ML | Higher memory machine or cloud compute access, dataset storage permissions |
| Everyone | Official email, Slack, Jira, Drive, attendance system, VPN where applicable |
Offboarding checklist
- Resignation received in writing and acknowledged the same day
- Last working day confirmed in writing by both sides
- Founder and reporting manager informed before anyone else hears it
- Handover document created, with a named person taking over each responsibility
- Client facing handovers communicated by the PM, not silently dropped
- Exit interview conducted two or three days before the last day, with notes recorded
- Assets returned and logged: laptop, charger, devices, ID card, keys
- Access revoked on the last working day: email, Slack, Jira, Trello, GitHub, Drive, Figma, servers, and shared passwords rotated
- Commitment deposit cheque returned and acknowledgement taken
- Full and final settlement processed, relieving and experience letters issued
- Employee master updated to exited, personnel file archived rather than deleted
The access revocation rule
Access is revoked on the last working day, not "in a few days". A former employee with live access to client code, client data or the company Drive is a real security and contractual risk for an agency working with US and European clients. Keep a written revocation checklist, signed off, for every exit.
Task 11.1: run a full onboarding on paper
Take the next confirmed joiner and produce their complete onboarding plan: dates, IT requests, access list, buddy, first week schedule and the welcome message.
Answer these in your log
- A new developer joins on Monday. What must be finished by Friday of the previous week?
- List everything that must be collected or revoked on someone's last working day.
KPI, KRA, feedback and growth
These two terms get confused constantly. Learn the difference properly, because you will be writing both.
| KRA, key result area | KPI, key performance indicator | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The areas a person is responsible for | The measure that shows how well they are doing in that area |
| Answers | "What am I accountable for?" | "How will we know it is going well?" |
| Form | A description, usually four to six per role | A number, percentage or time, with a target |
| Example, HR | Recruitment closure | Positions closed within 30 days of opening, target 80 percent |
| Example, developer | Delivery quality | Bugs reported after release per sprint, target under 3 |
Your own KRAs and KPIs
| KRA | KPI | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Sourcing | Qualified candidates added per open role, per week | 15 |
| Qualification speed | Applications answered within one working day | 100 percent |
| JD to booking conversion | Candidates who book a slot after the JD is shared | 40 percent or more |
| Funnel efficiency | Interviewed candidates who clear the technical round | 30 percent or more |
| Closure | Time from role opening to offer accepted | 30 days or less |
| Candidate experience | Candidates left without a final response | Zero |
| Offer conversion | Offers accepted against offers made | 80 percent or more |
| Joining reliability | Accepted candidates who actually join | 90 percent or more |
| Records accuracy | Personnel files complete and current | 100 percent |
| Onboarding | New joiners with full access working on day one | 100 percent |
Giving feedback that works
Use the situation, behaviour, impact structure. Describe what happened, what the person did, and what it caused. Never describe the person.
- Give it privately, close to the event, and never in a group channel.
- Ask before concluding, because there is usually a reason you do not know about.
- Agree one specific change and a date to check back on it.
- Positive feedback uses the same structure and is given at least as often.
Tracking behaviour and growth
Keep a short monthly note for each person. This is a growth record, not a surveillance log. Managers forget the details by appraisal time, and this is how reviews stay fair.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Month | The reporting month |
| Delivered | What they completed, factually |
| Strengths seen | Specific, with an example |
| Area to improve | One, not five, with the example that prompted it |
| Support needed | Training, tooling, clearer ownership, mentoring |
| Manager's note | From the one to one |
| Action agreed | What changes, and by when |
Task 12.1: write your own KRAs
Write five KRAs with one KPI and a target each, in your own words, then discuss them with the founder. These become what you are measured against.
Answer these in your log
- Explain KRA against KPI using your own role as the example.
- Give one piece of real feedback in situation, behaviour, impact form.
Automations and flows
Anything you do more than five times a week in the same way should be automated. You are not expected to build all of this immediately, only to spot the candidates for it.
| Repetitive task | Automate it with |
|---|---|
| Collecting candidate details | A Google Form feeding straight into the candidate tracker, so nothing is typed twice |
| Sending the same message fifteen times | Saved replies and Gmail templates built from the module 06 library, with placeholders you fill in |
| Interview scheduling | Already solved by cal.com. Keep the availability, the durations and the linked JD on every event type current. |
| Reminding yourself to follow up | Trello due dates plus Butler automation: when a card moves to "JD shared", set a due date in two days and add the follow up checklist |
| Interview feedback collection | A Google Form the interviewer fills in immediately after the round, writing into the interview log |
| Document collection from a new joiner | A form with file upload into a Drive folder named for the candidate |
| Onboarding checklist | A Trello card template copied automatically when a candidate moves to "Joined" |
| Weekly hiring status for management | Sheet formulas producing a summary tab, so you send the same view every Friday |
Rule for automating anything
Do the task manually at least ten times first. You cannot automate a process you do not yet understand, and an automated wrong process only produces mistakes faster.
Task 13.1: build one automation
Build the candidate intake Google Form that writes into the tracker sheet, and test it with three dummy entries.
The hiring drive you are starting on
Three positions, opening on Indeed and LinkedIn. This is your first live workload, and the process in modules 04 to 08 applies to all three.
| Position | Level | What to screen for |
|---|---|---|
| UI and UX Intern | Intern, fresher | A portfolio that exists, even if it is college work. Figma familiarity. Ability to explain why they made a design choice, not just show the screen. |
| Jr. Software Tester | Fresher to 1 year | Understands what a test case is, has manual testing exposure, attention to detail, and writes a clear bug report. A tester who cannot write clearly cannot do the job. |
| Jr. Flutter Developer | Junior | Flutter and Dart on real projects, not just tutorials. Ask what they built, whether it shipped, and what broke. Firebase exposure is a plus. |
How to open each role
- Confirm the JD version with the founder before posting. UI and UX and QA have separate fresher and experienced documents. For the Flutter role, confirm which document to use.
- Check the cal.com link in the last section of each JD is live and points to the right calendar for that role. Fix any mismatch before a single post goes out.
- Post on Indeed first, then publish the same role on the LinkedIn company page and share it from your own profile.
- Create one Trello board per role using the structure in module 08.
- Source actively on LinkedIn as well as waiting for applications, particularly for the Flutter role, where good juniors are usually not applying anywhere.
- Review applications daily, at a fixed time. Applications that sit for three days are effectively lost, because the candidate has already accepted elsewhere.
- Reply using the module 06 library, choosing local or outstation, fresher or experienced.
- Report weekly: applications received, replies sent, slots booked, interviews held, offers made, per role.
What good looks like in week one of the drive
All three roles live on Indeed and LinkedIn, three Trello boards running, every application answered within a working day, and at least a handful of booked slots on the calendar. Volume of applications is not the measure. Booked slots are.
Your daily learning log
How your progress reaches management, and how it will be judged.
Send this on Slack to the founder and your reporting manager (Bhavik Rathod) every day, with the subject line HR Learning Log, [Date]. Keep it short and honest. A log that says everything went perfectly every day is neither believable nor useful.
Why section 4 matters most
It is the section management reads first. Someone who names three specific gaps every day is learning. Someone who reports no gaps for a week is either not being challenged or not being honest, and both get corrected.
After the programme
You take over the candidate tracker and the Trello boards independently, run the three open roles end to end, handle one full onboarding, and send the weekly hiring status to management every Friday. The learning log becomes weekly instead of daily.