Sridhar Vembu revealed that Zoho has eliminated mandatory college degree requirements for job roles, focusing on skill-based hiring. In his tweet, he also shared advice for Indian parents to allow young people to pave their own way.
He started by expressing his admiration for smart American students. “Smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them. This is going to be a profound cultural shift. This is the real ‘youth power’, enabling young men and women to stand on their own feet, without having to incur heavy debt to get a degree and paying their own way. This trend will change the way they view the world and it will change culture and politics.”
He added, “I would urge educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as well as leading companies to pay attention.”
The Zoho co-founder and former CEO explained that the company doesn’t require college degrees during the hiring process. He also revealed what happens when managers add such a requirement in job postings.
“At Zoho, no job requires a college degree and if some manager posts a job that requires a degree, they get a polite message from HR to remove the degree requirement!”
Social media has mixed reactions:
Industrialist Dr Akkshye Tulsyan posted, “This is exactly the mindset we need in India too. Talent, curiosity, and grit matter far more than a piece of paper. Companies that empower young people to learn on the job, like Zoho, are shaping the future of work and leadership.”
Another individual commented, “If the smartest teenagers stop entering the old system, the system doesn’t reform, it just becomes irrelevant.” A third expressed, “The shift is real. When companies value skill over degrees, talent from smaller towns finally gets a fair stage. It encourages young people to learn by doing, stay curious, and remain motivated. If India embraces this mindset widely, our innovation curve will explode.”
However, not all were in agreement with Vembu. An individual wrote, “Just after school, how would they have the maturity to understand what is working? Are we not making them machines by employing them at a very young age? After joining, do they get sufficient time to enjoy their youth, or are they always under pressure to earn?”