He lost his well-paying job in 2008, in the wake of the economic crisis that gripped much of the world.
Two years on, he runs a job portal that not only assists people find jobs, but also helps job seekers earn some money by referring other job seekers to the site.
Vishwas Nair has turned entrepreneurs, with a cause.
After he was fired from the job portal Whereismyboss.com - "without being given even two months' salary," as Nair puts it - he had to fall back on his savings and somehow eke out a living until the situation improved again.
With his experience in the recruitment industry, Nair soon spotted a niche.
He realised that while job portals were getting flooded with resumes, there was little chance any of these people would there was hardly any on offer.
"That's when I thought of a concept wherein people could not only post their resumes, but also earn an income by referring others to the portal," says Nair. But the plan took almost two years to materialise. Belief Ventures, started in May this year, in Mumbai, with an initial investment of Rs10 lakh.
Somewhat innovatively, the company's portal, beliefjobs.com, allows jobseekers to post video resumes, or visumes.
Nair felt a video resume - a video of the candidate elucidating his background, qualifications and experience - would help a prospective employer know the candidate better.
"The concept of creating standard visumes in a set pattern is something which is not common at the moment. There are sites which offer visumes, but there are no set patterns or scope to check the validity. We have copyrighted the visume networking process," says Nair.
The concept entails a job seeker visiting the office or franchisee of Belief Ventures for creating a minute visume and getting registered on the sire. All for just Rs 99!
In return, the candidate not only gets an opportunity to reach prospective employers but also stands to gain from referring others to the site, pretty much like in any pyramid scheme.
"Says XYZ gets registered on the site by paying Rs 99. Now, if he refers a friend to the site, XYZ would get a percentage of the Rs 99 that he had paid. Now if the person XYZ referred, say ABC, refers two others, XYZ will continue to earn for his earlier referral. His earnings will continue infinitely even after he gets employed with a firm," says Nair.
In other words, the site earns through the registrations, while those who register earn through referrals.
The site mainly offers prospects for job seekers in sectors like BPO, IT and insurance.
The company now plans to open offices in New Delhi and Bangalore, and appoint franchisees in Tier 2nd and 3rd towns.
Registrations are on the rise and Nair says the target is to cross 10,000 visumes by December, and (hold your breath) 10 lakh visumes bu 2012. "I think we might achieve these numbers well in advance as there is a lot enthusiasm with this concept," says Nair.
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