Mumbai CEO rejects senior-level candidate over unusual request

A Mumbai-based CEO recently rejected a senior-level candidate after she requested that her husband meet with the company’s leadership before she joined.

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Vinod Chendhil, founder and CEO of the healthy noodle brand ‘Naturally Yours’shared the incident on X, labelling the request as a “huge red flag” and leading to her “instant” rejection.

Spoke to a candidate tdy, who wanted us to meet her husband after we had selected her.

Instant reject.

P.s: This was for a senior level hire.

— Vinod Chendhil (@vinodchendhil) March 18, 2025

Chendhil elaborated that the candidate wanted the husband to interview the senior management to assess the company's suitability for her, indicating to him a concerning level of dependency.

Reactions on social media were mixed.

Bcas she wants her husband to say yes for her to join us. Why would an independent woman want that. Basically she wants her husband to interview us to see if its ok for her to join. Shows she is totally dependent on him. How will she ever take any decisions, if she cannot take a…

— Vinod Chendhil (@vinodchendhil) March 18, 2025

Some supported Chendhil’s decision.

“There’s no way it would have worked. Good call,” commented a user.

Another commented, “I would reject even a junior-level hire if this request was made.”

Others argued and supported the woman.

A third user commented, “Maybe the husband has mandated it- and she is in a toxic place and it’s unavoidable for her.”

“You did wrong, taking a career discussion for female too difficult. They have to manage more, she deserved better opportunities,” commented a fourth user.