Mumbai CEO rejecting candidate after request to meet husband stirs up hot debate online

A Mumbai-based CEO, Vinod Chendhil, of a ‘healthy noodle’ brand, Naturally Yours, has stirred up a controversy on social media platform X.

In a post on Tuesday (March 18), Chendhil had revealed that he had immediately rejected a woman candidate for a ‘senior level’ position, when she asked him to meet her husband after she was selected post-interview.

Chendhil called the candidate's request a ‘red flag’ and also said that there were other ‘red flags’ in the interview which compelled the company to reject her.

Netizens flooded his post with reactions. Some praised his stand, while others were skeptical of his hiring tactics, and some questioned the legitimacy of his post and its sensational presentation online.

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Involving family is a ‘disaster’

Some netizens who agreed with Chendhil posted comments sharing their personal experiences with hiring people who requested their bosses to meet their families, and were immediately rejected based on their response.

One netizen said they have had conversations with parents of female candidates to allay any anxiety around their safety as it may be their first job, but for a senior level position it was a ‘crazy thing’ and agreed with Chendhil, telling him he made a good call.

Another netizen said they interviewed a person from Delhi who agreed to relocate to Bangalore, but later said their family may not allow them to move - to which the company rejected the candidate. This user added, “Career decisions are taken by [one]self and involving family is [a] recipe for disaster.”

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However, another user said, “Career decisions should be taken after discussing with family only. Because it is also required to maintain work life balance. [My family and I] both have [the] rights to decide from where the income will come.”

Another netizen echoed this sentiment and said, “Career decisions are not taken [while] keeping [the] family in mind? Are you crazy? People like you have made workplaces hell for employees.”

More users also opposed the decision to involve family in making decisions about their work-life. A user commented, “Not involving [the] family in career decisions is definitely a disaster. For many of the working people, family is the primary motivation.”

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Not a red flag

Meanwhile, Sakshi Shukla, founder of Saturn Studios, asked Chendhil why the candidate was rejected based on her request.

Chendhil responded, “Because she wants her husband to say ‘yes’ for her to join us. Why would an independent woman want that…?”

He went on to add that her intention was to make her husband interview the company and see if it was alright for her to join, and to him this shows she was ‘totally dependent’ on her husband. He further questioned the candidate’s ability to make basic decisions and said she was not an intern to make the company speak to an elder, calling it a ‘huge red flag’.

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Sakshi replied that this was not a red flag on the candidate’s part. She added, “You might as well have rejected a really solid candidate just because society is structured in a way that functions against women.”

She went on to add that the rejected candidate was not ‘totally dependent’ on her husband otherwise she would not have applied for the job.

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Sensational post

Chendhil replied to Sakshi and said the candidate was not a fit for the company. He also mentioned there were ‘other big red flags’ and they conducted a full 3-hour interview, and came to a decision between him and his co-founder, Priya Prakash.

Meanwhile, a netizen questioned Chendil’s intention behind the post. The person asked, “...Why post something in a sensational manner where there are more questions left unanswered. If there were many other red flags, your decision definitely did not hinge on this one answer, [then] why highlight [it]?”

Other netizens agreed with this comment with some accusing the CEO of highlighting this particular ‘red flag’ as it was the most sensational and would ‘get clicks’.

Others accused him of being discriminatory and misogynistic, accusing him of rejecting the candidate because she was married, and questioned why the company put the candidate through so many rounds despite the ‘red flags’.

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Netizens were not able to come to a conclusive agreement on whether the decision by this CEO was acceptable or not, or if the company’s hiring practices were discriminatory.

However, some netizens offered a neutral point-of-view, advising the CEO that he may have missed out on a learning opportunity by not meeting the husband. They suggested that the situation may have been a miscommunication that could have been avoided, instead of the CEO assuming the candidate’s intentions to introduce her husband.