Pokémon Craze Takes Over India: Get Hired To Be A Professional Pokémon Catcher So do you have what it takes to catch'em all?

By Ritu Kochar

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Pokemon Go

I remember a time when I glued myself to the TV every weekday at 5 in the evening because Pokémon was on. A fascinating life with Ash, Misty and Brock. But as Misty and Brock moved away from Ash and continued their life, I and kids like me grew up and moved away from the whole Pokémon fever, which my mother thought would never wear off. It did, but little did she know that this fever will hit people like a hurricane when it makes a comeback.

Probably the most talked about game, Pokémon Go has become popular overnight and it has taken the industry by a storm. A free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile game, Pokémon Go lets players to capture, battle, and train Pokémon while explore cities, even going around the globe. Whenever a Pokémon is around an alert is sent and the player will then try to capture it. The game is like a dream come true for us 90s kids, which is very clear by the response it received. The very same is evident in India as well, where more and more people are joining "Pokémon Walks'.

An effect of this was seen on our Indian startup ecosystem as well where startups like Babajob.com are encouraging employees to chase around Bulbasaur, Charmander and Pikachu. Grey collar focused job marketplace Babajob has been swept by the Pokémon craze and has added a new category of job. This category just might be the coolest job they have on their platform, right between being a book reviewer and being a scuba diver for a living. This job is to be "The Pokémon Catcher'.

Apart from other popular job categories like Driver, Maid, Delivery, etc., Babajob will now offer an opportunity to fans to become an official Pokémon Catcher. The job portal already has about 7 million Jobseekers, and over 4, 00, 000 employees, and aims to take their customer base even higher by attracting Pokémon Go fan base.

Another big fan of the game, Sean Blagsvedt, Founder & CEO, Babajob.com and Level 2 Pokémon Handler (meaning he still can't go to a gym :-( ) said, "Just as companies like Flipkart, Amazon, OLA and UBER transformed and greatly expanded the delivery and driver job categories, we see Pokémon Go doing the same for Catchers. Babajob will be the premier portal for players everyone to hire screened, verified Pokémon Catchers. It's an amazing time."

Thanks to us 90s kids, Pokémon fandom exploded with happiness with this new game and it is here to stay. So do you plan to catch Pokémon? If yes, don't do it for free, just make it a living by applying for the job at Babajob and you just might be the next Ash Ketchum. Nah! Who are we kidding! Nobody's that good and cool. But you sure can get close.

So do you have what it takes to catch'em all?

Ritu Kochar

Former Staff, Entrepreneur India

Ritu used to work as a Feature writer for Entrepreneur India.

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