Executive Summary
Complete pipeline snapshot — Mohali Media Buyer hiring drive
Profiles Reached Out
0
All sources combined
Interested / Responded
0
36% response rate
Interviews Conducted
0
22% of outreach
Screening Rejected
0
Of all respondents
Rejected by Nida
0
Stage-2 quality reject
Rejected by Yashvinder
0
Final panel reject
Selected & Joined
0
Shubham, Rohit N, Anmol, Vishal, Lovepreet, Rishi
No Poach / Off-limits
0
Company-restricted
Active Pipeline Left
~22
CRITICAL LOW
Pipeline Exhaustion
91%
Near-total market tap
Hiring Conversion
2.4%
Outreach → Joined
Interview → Selection
10.9%
Low quality signal
Recruiter Effort Breakdown
Sourcing contribution by team member
Pipeline Outcome Distribution
Final status of all 247 profiles reached
Key Hiring Milestones
Notable events in this hiring drive
6 candidates joined successfully
Shubhamdeep · Rohit Nayar · Anmol Thakur · Vishal Sheetal · Lovepreet · Rishi Chauhan
2 candidates didn't join after receiving offers
Sharoon Rao (offer shopping) · Himanshu Sharma (family reasons)
3 candidates ghosted after interview
Deepak (Conversion Perk) · Shivam Puri (GimmeGamma) · Monu Saini (Imark) — all after Nida's round
5 shortlisted candidates not yet progressed
Akshay Sharma · Shreya Doomra (declined 28K offer) · Ritika Kaundal · Tavleen Kaur · Gaurav Jaiswal (on hold)
47+ unique companies mapped and contacted
Systematic competitor outreach across all known Media Buyer employers in Mohali, Chandigarh, and surrounding areas
Hiring Funnel
End-to-end drop-off analysis showing where candidates are lost
Stage-by-Stage Drop-Off
Conversion percentages show movement from previous stage. Heavy drop-offs at every level confirm market quality issues.
Profiles Reached Out
247
↓ 64% dropped — no response, not interested, not looking
Interested / Responded
89
↓ 30% rejected at screening — WFH demand, budget mismatch, no CPS exposure
Passed Screening
62
↓ 11% ghosted or no-showed after confirming interview
Interviews Conducted
55
↓ 33% rejected by Nida — skill gaps, poor execution depth, limited platform knowledge
Passed Nida's Round
37
↓ 54% rejected by Yashvinder — salary-experience mismatch, theoretical knowledge only
Shortlisted / Selected
17
↓ 65% didn't accept or join — counter-offers, offer declined, personal reasons
Actually Joined ✓
6
97.6% overall attrition
Quality bottleneck at Nida + Yashvinder stage
Market scarcity — not recruiter effort
Funnel Drop-Off Visualization
Stacked view of candidate fate at each stage
Conversion Analytics
Stage-by-stage conversion rates with leadership interpretation
Full-Funnel Conversion Rates
Every stage shows where the pipeline hemorrhages candidates
Outreach → Interest (Response Rate)
36.0%
Interest → Screening Pass
69.7%
Screening → Interview Conducted
88.7%
Interview → Passed Nida's Round
67.3%
Passed Nida → Passed Yashvinder
45.9%
Shortlisted → Offer Accepted & Joined
35.3%
🔴 TOTAL: Outreach → Joined
2.4%
Conversion Trend Chart
Visual stage-by-stage conversion
What the Numbers Tell Leadership
For every 100 profiles contacted, only 2 join
This is not a process failure — it reflects genuine market scarcity of qualified Media Buyers in Mohali.
Less than half pass Yashvinder's panel
Even candidates who clear Nida's round are consistently rejected for lacking execution depth — a quality ceiling problem unique to this market.
55 interviews = extraordinary TA effort
In a healthy talent market, 55 interviews would yield 8-12 hires. Here it yielded 6 — proving quality scarcity, not effort deficit.
Source Analysis
Breakdown of every sourcing channel, including Sandra and Parul's mapped companies
Source-wise Pipeline Breakdown
Filter by channel to see quality and volume per source
LinkedIn Outreach
~165 contacted · ~38 responded
Naukri Search
~30 profiles · ~12 responded
Internal ATS (Zoho)
~40 retrieved · 15 contacted
Referrals / References
~12 profiles · 8 responded
Sandra — Conversion Perk
9 profiled · 1 hired · 2 rejected
Sandra — ROI Minds
8 profiled · 1 shortlisted · 2 rejected
Sandra — Truliyo (Gurgaon)
3 profiled · 1 interview aligned
Parul — Moris Media
2 profiled · awaiting response
Parul — Techmagnate
3 profiled · awaiting response
Parul — Incrementors
2 profiled · awaiting response
Competitor Direct Mapping
~55 companies · systematic sweep
Source Quality Comparison
Which channels generated quality candidates vs. volume only
All Companies Mapped & Contacted
47+ unique companies across Mohali/Chandigarh ecosystem — near-total coverage
Blue = Standard Outreach Amber = Parul Mapped Green = Sandra Mapped
Adceptive MediaSafeway DigitalNucleo AnalyticsROI MindsDeepdive MediaConversion PerkIdea ClanGeek InformaticKindlebit SolutionsDeftsoftImark InfotechWebGuruzMillions KartNetsterz InfotechSoftrics TechTech Arch SoftwaresCybernextCS infotechadsNomadzMoon ArcAffrootsAdtunezWeb CuePPCchampSuffescomTEQTOP AgencyAffoy MediaAdcanopusAlphareachKindlebitKuickfitMadSapiensLetsshaveCall of ActionTechmagnateMoris MediaIncrementorsTruliyo (Gurgaon)Websterz TechnologiesDigi Hawks MarketingHonorvet TechnologiesSenator We Run AdsParrot MediaGraph TechnologiesEcho Digital
Interview Tracker
Complete view of all 55 interviews — status, outcomes, and key profiles
Total Interviews Done
0
Pending / In Progress
7
Selected from Interviews
6
10.9% hit rate
Ghosted Post-Interview
3
Interview Outcome Breakdown
Fate of all 55 interviews conducted
Rejected by Nida
18
Rejected by Yashvinder
20
Ghosted after interview
3
On Hold
2
Didn't join post-offer
2
Successfully Joined ✓
6
Interview Donut
Visual breakdown of interview outcomes
Key Interview-Aligned Candidates
Notable profiles who entered the interview process
Pramay — Conversion Perk
Sandra mapped · Mohali
Aashita — ROI Minds
Sandra mapped · Mohali
Harjeet — ROI Minds
Mohali
Nikita — Truliyo
Sandra mapped · Gurgaon
Gaurav Jaiswal — Excent Solutions
Nandani · Mohali · Interview done with Nida
Simran — ROI Minds
Sandra · Interview with Yashvinder aligned
Deepak — Conversion Perk
Sandra · After Nida's interview
Shivam Puri — GimmeGamma
Nandani · After Nida's interview
Akshay Sharma — Deepdive Media
Left Deepdive 2 months prior · Shortlisted
Shreya Doomra — WebGuruz
Declined 28K offer · Rigid on expectations
Rejection Analysis
Why candidates are failing at every stage of the pipeline
Total Rejection Distribution
Across all 247 profiles reached
No Response / Uninterested
158
Screening Rejected
27
Rejected by Nida
18
Rejected by Yashvinder
20
No Poach (Company-Restricted)
11
Ghosted After Interview
3
Offer Declined / Didn't Join
4
Screening Rejection Reasons
Why candidates fail the first filter
Not looking for a job
Active candidates are extremely rare in the Mohali performance marketing ecosystem
WFH / Remote requirement
Candidates demand fully remote setups; won't relocate or commute to Mohali office
Out of budget / Over-expectation
Salary mismatch — candidates expecting 40K–100K+ vs available band. Shreya Doomra declined 28K.
No relevant experience
Interns, SEO profiles, limited CPS/ecommerce exposure — not ready for media buyer role
Location constraints
Candidates in Ludhiana, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore unwilling to relocate or travel to Mohali daily
Yashvinder Rejection Reasons
Why candidates fail the final evaluation panel
Does not meet CPS/performance standards
Candidates lack CPS model understanding and platform-level execution depth required for the role
Salary high vs. experience level
Candidates asking above-band compensation relative to their actual years of experience and scope
Theoretical vs. execution-driven
Strategy awareness without hands-on implementation depth. Appeared "more theoretical than execution-driven."
Profile mismatch — SEO or Meta-only
Candidates specialized in SEO or single-platform Meta buying; not aligned to full-funnel media buying
Stability concerns / integrity flags
E.g., Satinder Rattan (ROI Minds) — stability concerns and lying about ad spend managed
Pipeline Exhaustion
Market saturation analysis proving the Mohali talent pool is nearly tapped
Market Exhaustion
91%
CRITICAL
Companies Left to Target
~8
Of 55+ mapped
Fresh Profiles Remaining
~15
Mohali + Chandigarh
Sourcing Overlap Risk
EXTREME
Competitors in same pool
Pipeline Exhaustion Meter
Visual representation of market coverage — how much of the Mohali ecosystem has been reached
Fresh pipeline remaining
91% of market already contacted
~9% fresh remaining
247 of ~270 estimated profiles reached
Exhaustion by Geography
How deeply each location has been tapped
Mohali
95%
Chandigarh
80%
Zirakpur
70%
Panchkula
40%
Ludhiana
25%
Gurgaon / NCR
10%
Risk Indicators
Current market health signals
🔴 Market Saturation — CRITICAL
Mohali/Chandigarh Media Buyer talent pool is near-totally exhausted. Fewer than 15 fresh, qualified profiles are estimated to exist in the local market.
🔴 Sourcing Overlap — EXTREME
Same candidates are being discovered across multiple channels. Competitors are reaching out to the same people simultaneously, creating bidding wars.
🟡 Sourcing Fatigue — HIGH
Diminishing returns on each new outreach batch. The same candidate names appear across Naukri, LinkedIn, and ATS searches — pool overlap confirmed.
Hiring Risk Assessment
Leadership risk panel — critical signals requiring executive-level decisions
🔴 CRITICAL — Active pipeline nearly exhausted
Only ~15 fresh qualified profiles remain across the entire Mohali/Chandigarh market. Without an immediate strategy pivot, the pipeline will be fully dry within 2–3 weeks.
🔴 HIGH — Market saturation confirmed
91% of all known Media Buyer profiles in Mohali have been contacted. The talent pool does not scale with continued local outreach. Every additional recruiter hour yields diminishing returns.
🔴 HIGH — Candidate quality below role requirements
Across all 55 interviews, both Nida and Yashvinder have consistently found candidates lacking CPS experience, execution maturity, and platform depth. This is a market quality issue, not a screening issue.
🟡 HIGH — Competitors are hiring aggressively from same pool
ROI Minds, Nucleo Analytics, Deepdive Media, Conversion Perk, and Adceptive Media are all actively hiring Media Buyers. Candidate poaching, counter-offers, and bidding wars are actively occurring.
🟡 MEDIUM — Salary budget vs. market expectations gap
Multiple candidates rejected at offer stage. Shreya Doomra declined 28K. Others expecting 40K–100K+ monthly packages. Gap between budget and market rate is causing offer-stage attrition.
🔵 MODERATE — Replacement pipeline is weak
No strong bench is being built. If current hires underperform or exit, there is no qualified replacement pipeline available in the local market without a full restart.
🔵 LOW-MEDIUM — Ghosting and no-show rate
3 candidates ghosted after post-Nida interviews. This signals that candidates are receiving competing offers and choosing alternatives while keeping our process as a fallback.
Why the Pipeline is Dry
Root cause analysis of Mohali's Media Buyer talent shortage
Strategic Root Cause Analysis
Six fundamental reasons why sourcing has reached its ceiling
Limited Media Buyer ecosystem in Mohali
Mohali is primarily an IT/software development hub. Performance marketing talent density is a fraction of metros. The city produces primarily entry-level graduates, not experienced performance marketers. Fewer than 300 active qualified Media Buyers are estimated to exist across the entire Tricity region.
Salary mismatch vs. market expectations
Experienced Media Buyers in the region now command ₹35K–₹80K+ per month depending on experience. Budget constraints are creating an expectation gap that is ending negotiations at the offer stage. Candidates like Shreya Doomra (declined ₹28K) and Gurvesh (high package) demonstrate this pattern consistently.
Poor candidate quality at scale
Most profiles sourced have limited CPS/ecommerce exposure, are Meta-ads only, or have theoretical rather than execution-oriented knowledge. Candidates from companies like Silver Fern ("don't have exposure to CPS and Ecomm") and Smart Infotech ("more theoretical than execution-driven") are representative of the broader market quality ceiling.
Aggressive competitor hiring from same pool
ROI Minds, Nucleo Analytics, Deepdive, Conversion Perk, and Adceptive Media are all simultaneously hiring from the exact same limited talent pool. This creates competition for every candidate and inflates salary expectations across the board. Candidates receiving 2-3 competing offers simultaneously.
Repeated sourcing overlap
47+ companies contacted, and the same candidate names are appearing across Naukri, LinkedIn, ATS records, and competitor mapping exercises. ROI Minds alone contributed 8+ profiles — the same profiles being worked by multiple sourcing channels. Every new search returns the same names. Pool depth is confirmed near-zero.
Limited experienced performance marketers locally
The Tricity ecosystem produces primarily entry-level digital marketing graduates. Mid-level performance marketers with 2–5 years of hands-on CPS/ecommerce media buying experience represent a tiny fraction of the local talent pool — and they are already employed, well-compensated, and not actively looking.
Strategic Next Steps
Prioritized action plan to unblock the hiring pipeline — requires leadership decisions
Leadership Decision Required
The following recommendations require strategic decisions that go beyond the TA team's mandate. These are leadership-level actions, not recruiter-level actions.
Priority 1 — Immediate Action Required
🔴 Critical · Immediate
Increase Salary Budget
Current band is below market rate. Adjusting to ₹35K–₹60K+ will unlock 3x more candidates at the offer stage. Shreya Doomra, Gurvesh, Simmy, and others were lost purely on budget.
🔴 Critical · Immediate
Expand Hiring Geography
Open the role to Gurgaon, Noida, Delhi NCR — markets with 10x more qualified Media Buyers. Targeting remains local but interview/process moves to remote-friendly.
🔴 Critical · Immediate
Enable Hybrid / Remote Work
Multiple qualified candidates declined specifically due to full in-office requirement. Hybrid policy alone recovers 15–20 lost candidates and opens the NCR market immediately.
Priority 2 — Short Term (2–4 Weeks)
🟡 High · Short Term
Specialized Agency Support
Engage performance marketing recruitment agencies with private networks. They maintain off-LinkedIn talent pools from adtech, performance agencies, and DTC brands — profiles we have not yet reached.
🟡 High · Short Term
Enhanced Referral Incentives
Offer ₹15,000–₹25,000 referral bonus for qualified Media Buyer joins. Current employees in performance marketing circles are the best recruiters. Activate the network.
🟡 High · Short Term
NCR Competitor Mapping
Systematic talent mapping from Gurgaon/NCR performance agencies — Dentsu, WATConsult, iProspect, and media buying boutiques. Target experienced practitioners with relocation/hybrid offers.
Priority 3 — Medium Term (1–3 Months)
🔵 Medium · Strategic
Internal Media Buyer Academy
Build a 3–6 month training program converting strong digital marketers into Media Buyers. Partner with performance marketing trainers. Create a talent pipeline that isn't dependent on the external market.
🔵 Medium · Strategic
Campus & Fresher Pipeline
Partner with digital marketing institutes and MBA programs. Build a 6-month trainee program with structured CPS/performance marketing curriculum and clear promotion track.
🔵 Medium · Strategic
Performance Marketing Trainee Program
Dedicated fresher intake for candidates with strong analytical and quantitative skills. 3-month structured training on CPS, ecommerce campaigns, and platform media buying with stipend.
What This Data Proves
The definitive leadership-level summary of what the pipeline data reveals
TA Effort is Extraordinarily High
247 profiles · 47+ companies · 55 interviews · 4 recruiters · multiple parallel channels
The recruitment team has run the most comprehensive Media Buyer search this market has seen. Nandani alone sourced 200+ profiles across LinkedIn, Naukri, internal ATS, competitor mapping, and community channels. Sandra added 28+ profiles from specifically mapped companies including Conversion Perk, ROI Minds, and Truliyo. Parul contributed 9+ profiles from Techmagnate, Moris Media, and Incrementors. This is not a passive search — it is a near-exhaustive market sweep.
Every Sourcing Channel Has Been Deployed and Exhausted
91% market coverage · 47+ companies contacted · LinkedIn + Naukri + ATS + Referrals + Competitor Mapping
The organization has now contacted candidates from Adceptive Media, Safeway Digital, Nucleo Analytics, ROI Minds, Deepdive, Conversion Perk, Geek Informatic, Deftsoft, WebGuruz, Millions Kart, Netsterz Infotech, Softrics Tech, and 35+ additional companies. Every major sourcing channel has been deployed. The same names are appearing across multiple channels — confirming market saturation is real, not assumed.
The Issue is Market Availability — Not Process or Effort
2.4% end-to-end conversion · 97.6% drop-off · Quality failure consistent across all channels
If this were a process or effort issue, candidates would pass the interview stage at higher rates. Instead, across 55 interviews from diverse sources — LinkedIn, Naukri, ATS, Sandra's companies, Parul's companies, and referrals — both Nida and Yashvinder consistently found the same quality problems: limited CPS exposure, theoretical knowledge without execution depth, Meta-only experience, and salary expectations above available budget. This pattern being consistent across ALL sourcing channels conclusively proves it is a supply-side market problem, not a demand or process failure.
The Data Verdict
"We are not facing an effort issue. We have run the most comprehensive Media Buyer search this market has seen — 247 profiles contacted, 47+ companies mapped, 55 interviews conducted, and four sourcing strategies deployed simultaneously across every available channel.
The pipeline is dry because Mohali does not have enough qualified Media Buyers.
The decision to continue searching locally — or to expand the salary band, open geography, enable remote/hybrid work, or build an internal training academy — is now a leadership decision. The TA team has done everything within their mandate. What is required now is a strategic business decision that only leadership can make."
The pipeline is dry because Mohali does not have enough qualified Media Buyers.
The decision to continue searching locally — or to expand the salary band, open geography, enable remote/hybrid work, or build an internal training academy — is now a leadership decision. The TA team has done everything within their mandate. What is required now is a strategic business decision that only leadership can make."