Oyo is known for disrupting the hospitality industry since its inception. Oyo keeps experimenting with business models and keeps tech and data at the forefront of their decision making. It grew from 1 hotel to 23,000+ hotels, 1,000,000+ rooms and 125,000+ holiday homes and is spread across 800 cities in 80 countries.

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Securing an Software Development Engineer (SDE) role at Oyo is highly sought after for Indian tech professionals. However, gaining entry into this position can be challenging. While the conventional approach involves applying directly through the Oyo jobs portal, a more accessible and effective route is to obtain a referral from an existing employee.

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In this article, we'll delve into Oyo’s work culture and explore how you can leverage a referral to enhance your chances of landing a rewarding career opportunity within this tech powerhouse.

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How to get a job at Oyo?

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Coming to the main question first, how to get into Oyo. There are several ways of doing that. First go over to Oyo careers page and scour through it and find the job you're looking for. You can check active jobs on their LinkedIn page as well. Apply to the job and wait for your resume to get shortlisted out of hundreds of resumes. 

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But if you’re looking for a more effective and an expeditious way to land a job at Oyo, you should consider following the referral process. This method entails asking current employees who can advocate for you within the company for a specific job role. The referral process is advantageous for three primary reasons: firstly, existing employees already possess credibility, so anyone they vouch for is likely to be viewed favorably. Secondly, if their referral doesn't meet expectations or leaves the company shortly after joining, it could affect their reputation within the company. Some companies have employee referral programs and employees get monetary incentives if their referral joins the company. Therefore, they have a vested interest in recommending candidates who are qualified and likely to succeed.

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How to Get a Job Referral

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Let’s talk about the process of how to get a referral at Oyo. Here’s a step by step guide for it.

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Finding a Potential Referrer

• Open LinkedIn and dive deep into research mode. Read and research about the company, its culture (you can read about it in this article below), and its employees. 
• Try to find if anyone in your friend circle/ acquaintances/ college alumni are currently working at Oyo and reach out to them. 
• You can install our chrome extension to cut through the manual process and see which of your 1st degree LinkedIn connections are connected to Oyo. You can even ask them to provide a referral through a 1 click easy process.
• Don’t sweat, if the above step doesn't work. You can check out job referral sites which have a curated list of people who have agreed to give referrals in their companies. We have made a list of Oyo employees who have agreed to give referrals. You can check out a few of them below (install our extension to check the rest).

1. Anurag Singh- Currently working as Software Development Engineer II at Oyo | Previously worked in Blinkit, E3Next | College: Saveetha School Of Engineering, Chennai
2. Anurag yadav- Currently working as Software Development Engineer at Oyo | College: NIT Bhopal
3. Rachit Dureja- Currently working as Software Developer at Oyo | Previously worked in Oyo Rooms | College: LNMIIT
4. Shubham Kaser- Currently working as Assistant Manager - Revenue Growth and Analytics at Oyo | Previously worked in Ultratech India Limited, College Dunia, Merkle | College: International Institute Of Information Technology, Bangalore, Nit Raipur

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• Try to find people with whom you share a common interest with such as your ex- colleagues, college/ school mates, people from your hometown or people with mutual connections. If you don’t find anyone like that, try to find a mutual interest which you can talk about eg, interest in startups, finance or even anime.

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You can also search potential referrers directly through LinkedIn

• Search for Oyo employees in the search bar and then filter them using connection, location and college filter. You can also navigate to the "People" tab on Oyo’s LinkedIn page and search through the employees.
• Remember to try to find people with maximum mutual interest and working in the same or similar role you want to apply for.

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Crafting Your Request

• Now that you've identified your potential referrers, it's time to prepare your approach. Remember, personalization is key here.
• Start by researching the referrer's background and interests. 
• Craft a LinkedIn message or email. 
• Start with a brief greeting followed with an opening line using the shared interest (same college/ school, mutual connection/interest). 
• Introducing yourself and explaining why you're reaching out. Be clear and concise about your intention, attach your resume and any relevant work sample.
• Highlight how your skills and experience align with the job requirements and the company's goals and make it clear why you're a perfect fit for the role. Emphasize on how it would benefit both the organization and yourself. 
• Don't forget to express your gratitude for their time and consideration.
• Be patient about it and wait for at least a couple of days before sending a following up.
• Be polite in case they refuse or don’t reply. Thank them for their time and make sure that you don’t burn the bridges. If they refuse, try to get their feedback and work on it.

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You can check out sample examples of personalized referral requests below in this article.

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Bonus Tip: Making it Easy for your Referrer

To make it easy for your referrer, consider providing a prefilled message that they can simply copy and send to the hiring manager. We have attached the template below.

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Sharing the template below:

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

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I hope this email finds you well.

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I'm writing to recommend [name] for the [role]. [name] and I worked at [company] together/ attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

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Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

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Best regards,

[referrar]

Work culture at Oyo India

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Oyo boasts a work culture that is both dynamic and demanding. Understanding the nuances of Oyo’s work culture can greatly aid in navigating the job process and acclimatizing to the company's environment.

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Pros:

• Good work culture: Oyo maintains a positive and inclusive work culture that fosters collaboration and teamwork, enhancing overall employee satisfaction and productivity.  
• Very fast-paced with a great amount of learning: Employees experience a dynamic work environment with constant challenges and opportunities to learn and grow professionally.  
• Haven for problem solvers: If you like solving complex problems, Oyo is a heaven for you. It provides a stimulating environment for creative thinking and innovation.  
• Intelligent crowd: The company attracts talented individuals who are passionate about their work and contribute to a vibrant and intellectually stimulating work environment.  
• High ownership: Employees have a sense of ownership over their work and are valued for their contributions, with their opinions and ideas given due consideration.

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Cons:

• Poor Work-life balance: Oyo's fast-paced work environment may result in challenges in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, leading to potential burnout among employees.  
• Less compensation: Oyo employees feel that compensation and hike rates are less when compared to industry standards.  
• Lack of job security: Employees feel a lack of job security due to frequent official and unofficial layoffs.  
• Less focus on experimentation: Oyo employees feel that the company is in maintenance mode and is not experimenting enough on tech.

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In the end it’s about weighing pros and cons to reach a final decision when considering joining Oyo as an SDE. 

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Different roles and hierarchy at Oyo

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• SDE 1- For college graduates, requires 0-2 yrs of experience. The candidate should have a basic understanding of programming and good problem solving skills. They should be able to complete the tasks assigned to them.
• SDE 2- Requires 2.5 - 4 yrs exp. They take end to end ownership of problems and provide solutions. SDEs at this level have deeper knowledge of software engineering principles and they should be able to write maintainable and scalable code. 
• SDE 3- Requires 5+ yrs exp. They are equivalent to team leads and are responsible for leading and mentoring junior SDEs. They keep the product and business objectives in mind when making decisions.
• Principal SDE- They are deep experts in their domains and are experienced in building scalable solutions/platforms along with taking leadership responsibilities.
• Sr. Principal SDE- They are involved in making high level technical and architectural decisions to define the direction of the software and tech stack while keeping long term objectives in mind.

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Oyo salaries for different roles:

Oyo is known to pay good salaries to its engineers. On top of the base salary, SDEs are given additional stocks as well. Average salaries for roles are given below,

• SDE 1- 17 LPA 
• SDE 2- 25 LPA
• SDE 3- 34 LPA

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Samples for asking for Job Referral:

Email sample for job referral: Reaching out to a college senior

Hi Anuj,

Hope you’re doing well.

I don't know if you remember me or not but I worked as a volunteer in your team in our annual college cultural fest. We worked directly in the stage play event when the judge canceled at the last minute and led to the whole event getting delayed, quite a fiasco it was.

I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I recently saw that an SDE 1 position has opened up at Oyo and I'm interested in applying for it. Would it be possible for you to refer me for the same? I have 1.5 years of experience as a Fullstack Engineer at Weekday (a YC backed startup) and I believe my skills and experience align well with the requirements of the SDE 1 role at Oyo.

I've attached my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

I know that you’ll be submitting a referral in your internal portal but in case you’re going to mail the hiring manager you can use something like this.

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

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I hope this email finds you well.

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I'm writing to recommend Amit Singh for the SDE 1 role. Amit and I attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

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Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

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Best regards,

Anuj

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Sample of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn: Reaching out to a person with mutual connection

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Dear Anuj,

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Hope you’re doing well.

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I got your reference from Akhil. I believe you guys went to college together. He is an ex colleague of mine, we worked briefly together at Weekday before parting ways.

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I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I am actively looking for a new job and saw that an SDE 2 position has opened up at Oyo. I wanted to see if it would be possible for you to refer me for it? I have 4 years of experience in a similar role at a YC backed startup. I believe I possess the technical skills and relevant experience required for this role.

Attaching my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

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Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

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