Having a top-notch hiring strategy for your startup is crucial. The actual startup team and the new employees you’ll hire are essential factors in the health and expansion pace of your business. Putting together your brand and conquering obstacles becomes easier when you have coworkers and team members committed to your venture’s success as well as being armed with the skills to do so.
As a startup, hiring someone who doesn’t share in your mission can devastate the business and team morale. In this regard, you need to be rigorous in your hiring approach. Go the extra mile, check the references, conduct several interviews, and give practical tests.
Other practical and useful things you can do when hiring for your startup are outlined below:
1. Set a strategy to attract top talent
You must develop a strategy to ensure you get the cream of the hiring pool. You can attract top talent using the following:
- Showcasing your use of technology: As a startup, you can get top talent by showcasing and describing new and innovative technologies you use. Smart ways of working are also attractive to employees. Even simple things such as using this customizable template to create invoices can demonstrate you value professionalism and efficiency.
- Interviews: Having formal interviews will benefit you in assessing the team member personally and learning more about things not written in their application form. You could start by stating a brief, honest, and personable job description and then assess the candidates against it. Know the must-haves and bonus points of the talent you’re looking for. On the actual interview, involve your current team members, especially those working directly with the applicant.
- Using storytelling: Your startup can attract top talent by crafting stories around why anyone should be part of your company. These descriptions should go beyond your vision and mission to feel personalized. You can put these messages on the job description and career pages so that when job seekers read them, they feel spoken to and in contact with you. If you’re looking for a manager, you could list the perks of working at your startup. Access to innovative tech should be one of them. A straight-forward example could be showcasing any business management apps you use such as Jobber or whichever is specific to you.
- Using your network: Another way to catch top talent is leveraging your networks. You could consider candidates referred to you, former classmates, friends you could hire, and your social media. These are some of the best candidates because you’ve gained insight into how they work and developed trust and comfort.
- Create a diverse funnel: Having the talent you’re after starts with presenting your startup in a manner that draws a vast profile range. Having a diverse and inclusive workforce is part of your business success. Hence, you need to craft the images, message, and language of your job description and career page to speak to a broader range of candidates.
2. Have a budget
By now, you’ve seen how hard sourcing funds from friends, governments, or grants for your startup can be. You need to find ways to cut costs during your hiring, starting with a budget. It ensures your spending is within limits and can be accounted for.
You could include the following ideas in your budget:
- Use of internet interviews to reduce costs related to interviews
- Hire freelancers instead of full-time team members
- Develop a remote working plan to save on leasing costs
3. Look for key traits
When hiring for your startup, you need to look for specific traits that’ll benefit your business. Consider the following:
- One who seems culturally fit for your startup
- One with an optimistic view of things
- A person with an entrepreneurial mindset and is capable of scaling up and growing the business
- Leadership potential
- Identify candidate’s hard or soft skills
- A person open to self-improvement and feedback
- A person who’s risk-averse and with grit and excellent tolerance
The applicants joining your startup determine the success, pace of growth, and culture of your business. Therefore, these traits will ensure you get people you can work with seamlessly.
4. Use hiring resources
The hiring phase of your startup can be less tiring if you use resources such as the following:
- Online background checks that make checking facts about the applicant easy
- Recruiting software that streamlines the application, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding process
- Outsourcing services and using recruiters instead of an in-house human resource official
- Use hiring checklists to systemize the process and keep track of your recruiting efforts
With such resources, you can be sure to hire the right person and be a step ahead in the competition for top talent. These resources help you manage the candidate pipeline, interview scheduling, streamlining communication, and outsourced functions.
Conclusion
Your startup is your life’s work, and hiring people to help you succeed is a step you should be keen on. Hiring is an exciting but rigorous process that helps ensure your company’s foundation is sound. As your business grows, the process becomes less tedious and smooth. Thus, when doing your first hires, create a good pace and set up your business for success.
References
1. Myles Hunter, “Five Tips For Hiring At Your Startup,” Forbes, June 4, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2021/06/04/five-tips-for-hiring-at-your-startup/?sh=592606377877
2. Patrick Frank, “5 Pivotal Qualities to Look for in Your First Employees,” Entrepreneur, December 22, 2021, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/400966
3. Susan M. Heathfield, “Top 10 Tips For Hiring The Right Employee- Every Time,” The Balance Careers, February 20, 2021, https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-tips-for-hiring-the-right-employee-1918964
