# Grayhat Blog Tag: Recruitment > Expanded public blog context for posts tagged Recruitment. ## Page - [Recruitment Tag](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/tag/recruitment) - [Recruitment Tag LLM Context](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/tag/recruitment/llms.txt) - [Root LLM Context](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/llms.txt) - [Root Full LLM Context](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/llms-full.txt) - [Tag API](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/api/public/v1/tags/recruitment) ## Tag Details - Slug: `recruitment` - Description: Not provided - Post count in current snapshot: 2 ## Current Posts - [Grayhat at COMPPEC 2025](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/grayhat-at-comppec-2025) - We always love a place where nerds love to build - no extra fluff. Here's Usama Rashid's narrative on the events which unfolded. - [I feel blue - Unveiling Culture Fit; An Immortal Myth of Recruitment](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/i-feel-blue-unveiling-culture-fit-an-immortal-myth-of-recruitment) - We often find ourselves widening the gyre of recruitment practices in pursuit of filling teams with the right fit – hitting all the right notes of skill set, personality, and value. The quest to find the right fit to help us grow might as well get us on the path to make-believe land. Apologies for stumping on your bubble there, but as you run towards your familiar rock, you inadvertently overlook the diamond hidden in your path. Culturally-fit hiring strategies have set their roots deep in IT ## Child Route Content ### [Grayhat at COMPPEC 2025](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/grayhat-at-comppec-2025) - Slug: `grayhat-at-comppec-2025` - Published: 2025-05-09T11:56:38.000+05:00 - Updated: 2025-05-09T11:56:38.000+05:00 - Reading time: 5 min - Tags: Events, Recruitment, AI - Authors: Muhammad Usama Rashid - Visibility: public It had been nearly a decade since I first set foot on the EME campus, my heart full of hope for admission to NUST. After countless coaching sessions at KIPS and three attempts at the NET exam—each falling short of my dream discipline—I finally found myself enrolled in the Computer Engineering department at EME. Almost immediately, I was surprised by small details—like buying my own university uniform—that felt oddly out of place, yet somehow only deepened my excitement. Those early days were an adventure: swimming laps in the campus pool, trying my hand at horse riding, and exploring the well-stocked libraries filled with cutting-edge resources. Every new discovery reaffirmed that I was exactly where I needed to be. Despite my affection for Lahore, it was my passion for electrical engineering that eventually drew me away to UET for my bachelor’s degree. The pull of that first campus never waned, though, and a decade later I returned—not as a student, but as a representative of my company, Grayhat. Stepping back into the familiar halls felt surreal. I’d come for COMPPEC EME NUST, a competition renowned for pushing students to master the latest technologies. What struck me most was the electric enthusiasm of the participants: professional, curious, and brimming with ideas—just like I had been all those years ago. Arriving around 10:30 AM, I found our booth nearly set up, thanks to Saad Bazaz’s vibrant posters. As I arranged them just so, I realized something profound: for a lifelong “nerd” like me, this place still felt like home. And as visitors began to gather, I knew we were in for an unforgettable day. # Babelfish = Technical Marvel + Chaos! We built Omni out of a desire to improve human communication across the world. This year, we planned to take a huge leap forward—a natively-built, realtime (under 2 second latency) translation system with an amazing UI/UX on an **Apple Watch**. Our target is to make it easy for American tourists to talk to locals, during their trips to Europe (Eurotrips, or summer getaways, as they call them). Aarij, Abdullah and Ali (Triple A, as we call them), our FYP team, managed to deliver all them all and above. You can't have amazing technology without some drama, can you? Well, we had plenty. We had to rip apart another PC in BIOMISA (Thanks, professors!) to run our backend, as the primary PC we brought in (GMachine, God bless it) was not working properly with the university intranet. We aimed to run the demo locally, hence a lot of networking drama had to be figured out. ***Chaos ensued during setup. Here, you can see a ripped-open tower PC with a RTX 2080, and some random pics of Aarij and a BIOMISA team member. 💡Despite all the above, our rockstar FYP team later went on to be selected for the top 5 (Gold) Final Year Projects of the University. Whether they win first prize or not, what they and we have learned is invaluable—build something which solves someone's problems, and people will love it.We will be launching a commercialized version of *babelfish* soon. Stay tuned to our LinkedIn to find out the launch date. # The stall Here's the part we love most... connecting with people. *****Our stall at COMPPEC at EME College Here’s how it all looked: for the next few hours, we were practically swarmed by students eyeballing our projects. I zeroed in on our crowd-favorite, **Death by AI**—a delightfully twisted prompt game where you get a life-or-death scenario, 60 seconds, and just 140 characters to craft a survival plan. The AI then grills your strategy and renders your fate. Nail it, and you live out a whole AI-generated saga celebrating your cleverness. Flub it, and you’re “unable to survive”—no refunds or do-overs! Seeing teams huddle around, debating strategies with the intensity of chess grandmasters (only to discover the simplest idea usually wins), was both hilarious and humbling. I was thrilled—pride practically oozing from my smile—watching the next-gen problem-solvers give our AI a real run for its money. Plus, handing out free drinks and toffees? Instant crowd-pleaser. What really surprised me was how curious everyone was about Grayhat’s work. Drawing on my four years at NESCOM NDC, I led an impromptu masterclass on career paths in Embedded Systems Design. These students arrived armed with lists of courses taken, projects completed, and dreams for the future. Guiding them—recommending key skills, current industry projects, and nifty tools—felt like paying forward everything I’ve learned. All in all, a fantastic reminder that amazing things happen when passion, curiosity, and a bit of friendly competition collide. When the dust settled and our brains had nearly melted from all that AI-induced tension, it was time for the prize distribution ceremony—NUST style. We were graciously handed a token of appreciation. Awards flew out for everything from Speed Programming (blink and you’d miss a contestant typing at 200 WPM) to the nerve-racking 3-Minute Thesis, where presenters managed to pack PhD-level insights into alarm-clock territory. But the real showstopper? A special youngsters’ category—yes, actual school kids, probably still trying to remember their locker combinations, were out there debugging code like seasoned pros. Watching them code circles around us veterans made my chest puff up so much I nearly needed an exhaust valve. As a proud Pakistani, seeing these pint-sized prodigies tackle algorithms with such gusto convinces me our future is in very capable hands (and possibly a few tiny circuit boards!). All in all, it was a good 2 days and I for one, can't wait to go back again someday. Onwards and Upwards! ***From the left: Talal Ahmed Khan, Saad Ahmed Bazaz, Muhammad Usama Rashid (me)# Special thanks to Grayhat Dr Usman Akram and the team at BIOMISA: https://biomisa.org/ *NUST* College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering COMPPEC Host Team (Especially one kind young man named Anees, from the Media team, who randomly helped us move our stuff to our car) RIP one of our 2k monitors, rest easy young device. ### [I feel blue - Unveiling Culture Fit; An Immortal Myth of Recruitment](https://grayhat-company-blog.grayhatstudio.workers.dev/blog/i-feel-blue-unveiling-culture-fit-an-immortal-myth-of-recruitment) - Slug: `i-feel-blue-unveiling-culture-fit-an-immortal-myth-of-recruitment` - Published: 2023-09-15T16:29:00.000+05:00 - Updated: 2025-04-29T00:21:29.000+05:00 - Reading time: 3 min - Tags: Recruitment, Culture Add, Company Culture, Recruitment Strategies, Cultura - Authors: Anonymous - Visibility: public We often find ourselves widening the gyre of recruitment practices in pursuit of filling teams with the *right fit* – hitting all the right notes of skill set, personality, and value. The quest to find *the right fit* to help us grow might as well get us on the path to make-believe land. Apologies for stumping on your bubble there, but as you run towards your familiar rock, you inadvertently overlook the diamond hidden in your path. Culturally-fit hiring strategies have set their roots deep in IT recruitment. It has become a norm to hire individuals matching closely to set organizational values and the JD. It's an unconscious inclination towards structuring the process in ways it benefits the organization *currently*. For a *current* project. To fill *current* needs. Seems like a big win at the moment - and it is! You just achieved culture-fit! But how much value does it add value in the long run? Recruiters go to great lengths to find the right candidate and end up with a conformed team of like-minded – culturally fit individuals. Sounds great, no? But does all the glitter make it gold? *Yes* – would be the easiest deduction. As a recruiter and having been on the sinking boat to hire the right fit, I have hired some exemplary candidates who fit the role and resonated with current culture but alas! I had to face turnover as early as after 2 days of joining (amongst others who stuck around for half a year… or a week). A reflection was in order. A restructuring of the seemingly right process became inevitable. So, who do we really blame here, the recruiter, candidate, or culture? Perhaps leave it to the Gods of fate. Unfortunately, besides being a short-term approach, finding the right people to hire is time consuming and has several downsides! Sometimes, we focus too much on technical skills that the idea of how a person can make the team better is sidelined. There’s a psychological tug-of-war in industry to achieve the *right fit* when all we strive for is to be different – perhaps a *right add *might change the narrative? Make way for the star of this article *culture add* here. We are talking about adding a pop of fuchsia to a canvas of whites. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it undeniably commands attention. Similarly, embracing a new perspective, veering away from the conventional, and introducing a challenging feat to the team can kickstart innovation, liberate you from a similarity rut, and broaden your visionary horizons. As Mahatma Gandhi said and I quote, “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.”. Culture add advocates for diversifying teams with individuals who bring forth a fresh perspective to help the team grow rather than just expand the team who dress, talk, behave, and perform the same. A study conducted by McKinsey & Company highlights the tangible financial benefits associated with top-team diversity. Additionally, research published by The Association for Psychological Science underscores that empirical evidence strongly supports the notion that diversity, encompassing differences in ethnicity, culture, gender, and more, yields substantial advantages for organizations. In a world where everyone races towards a novel future, sometimes the answers lie in the past. Learning from the historical concept of *Seidenstrassen* or Silk Roads; a metaphor of European and Asian cultural interchange, we luminate the pathways not paved with silk and spices, but differences in ideas, perspectives, skills, and traits. The concept of *culture add* or the *right add, *as I have advocated throughout, challenges the traditional notion of recruiting individuals who seamlessly fit into an organization's existing culture. This approach actively encourages the inclusion of culturally diverse individuals within the organization. Ideally, the culture add approach encompasses both cognitive and visible diversity. For instance, from a cognitive standpoint, it might involve hiring an impulsive decision maker into a predominantly calculated team – and vice versa. On a visible level, it could mean adding a female member to a male-dominated group. Building on this, while hiring for IT teams, one can keep an eye out for emerging talent, potential, and disqualify bias based on current skill sets. With the industry growing in all possible directions, hiring for the future is key to thriving in cut-throat competition. Let's ask ourselves, how can this different tech-stack change the dynamics? How might diversifying the skill sets within a team influence the development of creative solutions and products? Will adding this individual with an itch for unconventional into a team of conventional coders stir up innovation? However, this approach doesn’t require an extreme shift from your existing culture. But should definitely inspire a process away from fitting candidates into carefully curated boxes to seamlessly fit-in; and towards an addition to make you think differently, expand your point of view, and invigorate growth in different directions. From hiring with a tunnel vision of stale homogeneity, to striving for dynamic diversity. And that’s where hiring for growth instead of mere expansion begins. Let’s expand more on the topic in the articles in sequel to this one. Share your thoughts, and stay tuned to dive in more detail with us! **Author: **Fatima Majid