7 Recruitment Secrets Every Startup Founder Needs To Know
Publié le 11 July 2022
Make sure you hire the best people to ensure that your new business is successful with 7 recruitment secrets every startup founder needs to know.
The secret to getting a successful startup off the ground is hiring the right people for the right roles as soon as possible. Unfortunately, many startups focus on expanding their audience and revenue first, believing that hiring will happen as the company expands. As a result, 92% of startups die in the first 6-12 months. Furthermore, according to research firm CB Insights, almost a quarter of companies leave the market because of problems with the team.
Hiring for a startup is a unique experience when compared to hiring for established organizations, and presents its own recruitment challenges. There are 7 recruitment secrets that every startup founder needs to know. By understanding these unique challenges and being prepared to address them, startup founders can hire the right people needed to grow and succeed.
Why is hiring for a startup different?
Starting from scratch is always difficult. This challenge requires determination, planning and strategy. Coming up with a product or service is just the beginning of a new company. One of the toughest challenges a startup company faces is hiring.
At the beginning of its journey, a startup likely does not have a lot of funding and income, so hiring key employees who can impact the future company’s growth, direction, and culture often must be done within a specific budget. These first hires are very important, as they will be responsible for creating a company culture that will move the organization forward. It is not as simple as hiring for existing job roles, as roles in a startup will undoubtedly shift and evolve in the early years. These members of the team must have the right experiences, skills and abilities and temperament.
When is the right time to hire at a startup?
Young and enthusiastic startup founders often try to speed up the recruiting process in order to launch the product or service as fast as possible. If we add to this the possible pressure from investors hoping for a quick financial return, it’s understandable why hiring and recruitment can be done with a strong sense of urgency.
Unfortunately, recruitment that is performed too quickly can negatively affect the entire organization. Employees who do not have the right qualifications, credentials and experience will not be able to work at the pace that a startup needs. Sometimes the problem is not even their qualifications but their values, personality and work ethic. The truth is not everyone is automatically the right fit for your startup team.
As a result of a bad hire, you can end up with constant inaccuracies, poor performance, and missed deadlines. When the project is already running, such mistakes directly lead to failure, and possibly threaten the very existence of the startup you have worked so hard to bring into existence.
The secrets of startup hiring
Hiring the right people for your startup is not easy. These days, the labor market for qualified candidates is very limited, especially in the technical field. The job market itself still faces a great deal of uncertainty, people are looking for the right opportunity in a variety of different fields. Without unlimited time and resources for hiringing, you need to do everything possible to narrow down the field of candidates to find the right people for the job.
To make your startup hiring as efficient as possible, It’s important to understand the 7 recruitment secrets every startup founder needs to know.
7 recruitment secrets startup founders need to know
- Have a clear vision
- Prepare your recruitment plan early
- Hire for your specific business objectives
- Prioritize soft skills
- Emphasize teamwork and collaboration
- Use multiple recruitment techniques
- Consider your candidate’s experience
1. Have a clear vision
It is essential to understand the basic requirements and qualifications for every single job role, and what they will contribute to your team overall. Clearly define the position profile of the new employee, and be sure to highlight the following points:
1. A startup is a challenge that can initially involve an irregular work schedule, a high level of motivation and enthusiasm, a readiness for great returns, and a desire to exceed expectations.
In this regard, the most critical requirements for a future employee will be:
- high level of self-motivation and desire to create something new and successful;
- willingness to work hard for the long-term results;
- a high level of purposefulness and a healthy level of ambition.
2. Getting a new startup successfully off the ground involves a return and a contribution several times greater than that required by an existing business. Accordingly, the following criteria are essential:
- ability to work in multitasking and multifunctional mode;
- high level of responsibility and self-organization;
- ability to work with high intensity in a short time;
- ability to solve problems and achieve results;
- service and collaboration orientation.
3. A startup is a balance between creativity and consistency in business. Often, a startup has a lot of ideas and creativity, and most managers or owners proceed from the position that the main thing is to launch a business with a big idea, and then determine the day-to-day requirements to make it a functioning reality. Very often, this results in muddled and unclear plans.
This is why the first recruitment secret that every startup founder needs to know is to have a clear vision for all business processes, work standards, and customer service at the initial stages.
The criteria for candidates for leadership positions are also important:
- strategic vision;
- critical thinking and cognitive flexibility;
- structuring and systems thinking;
- the ability to think creatively and generate ideas;
- ability to offer non-standard management solutions;
- proactivity;
- the ability to build communication and coordinate the work of others;
- emotional intelligence and agility quotient;
- the ability to see talents and develop them.
The above criteria should serve as filters when selecting a startup team. Those candidates who lack these skills are unsuitable for working in a startup. Having a clear vision for how the initial team will function will allow you to focus your recruitment effort to identify the right candidates.
2. Prepare your recruitment plan early
Preparing your recruiting plan early is the best way to make the recruitment process easier and more efficient. Regardless of the company’s size, the recruiter needs to understand how the team will grow. In simple words, you need to know precisely who should be hired and when they need to be added to the team.
Undoubtedly, it can be challenging to draw up a plan to select personnel that will be relevant to the dynamic modern labor market. When compiling your recruitment plan, be sure to:
- Analyze company needs;
- Create a hiring calendar;
- Determine the necessary tools;
- Define the requirements;
- Create a budget;
- Optimize and adapt to change.
By developing a recruitment plan ahead of time, you can save time and money while still finding the best talent.
3. Hire for your specific business objectives
To build a successful company, you must figure out what skills you lack and where there is a skills gap that needs to be closed. You should start with an analysis of the company’s growth prospects and plan the specific business objectives you want to achieve. By knowing what you want to achieve, you will understand the skills required to do so.
For example, if your goal is to connect with a wide audience within the first year, you should recruit employees who can help you reach your marketing goals. Similarly, if you want to first develop multiple functionalities for your product or service, your first priority should be hiring designers, engineers and testers.
It is vital to study what skills your team lacks and what will be needed shortly. Taking this approach will allow you to be proactive and be prepared in advance for the upcoming challenges that come with growing a startup.
4. Prioritize soft skills
It is important to have an understanding of the skills and abilities employees will need, but one of the 7 recruitment secrets every startup founder needs to know is that soft skills are equally important. Soft skills are those which are not directly related to professional activities but rather speak to a candidate’s overall attitude, values and work ethic.
Soft skills are not as easy to evaluate and test as hard skills which can be attested to by diplomas, certificates, and other documents. You can utilize certain tools such as psychometric testing and personality assessments in order to evaluate the candidates competencies and attitudes.
Be sure to pay attention to these details during the initial hiring stage, as training for the required soft skills is a much longer and more complex process than finding the right person.
5. Emphasize teamwork and collaboration
What are high-performance teams? These are the ones who share a common goal, where there is a high level of trust in each other and no selfishness. This is important because when people know and understand each other well and share common values, there is no doubt that their decisions will help achieve a common goal and this creates a working environment based on trust, teamwork and collaboration. When recruiting, look for examples where candidates took advantage of opportunities to support their colleagues, and work together to exceed their own expectations.
Startup founders need to ensure that everyone on the team is working towards a shared goal from the first day. It is also essential to provide time for team members to bond over common interests and everyday life.
Next, the team needs to develop standard rules. These are the internal rules that you want to review from time to time, what works and what doesn’t. For example, you can make a joint list of problems and then start thinking about how to solve them, while being consistently open to employee feedback.
After that, it’s time to create a plan and goals. It is vital to have a purpose, an agreed schedule, and shared roles and responsibilities to achieve these objectives.
6. Use multiple recruitment tactics
Three basic issues make startup hiring a challenging process for startup founders or leaders:
- not knowing your ideal candidate
- offering non-competitive salaries
- having an unknown brand.
Therefore, to make your talent pool full of suitable candidates, you should plan how to apply multiple hiring tactics simultaneously in order to find the right candidates. You wouldn’t pick one road to get to your destination without consulting a map to see if there were more efficient routes. Likewise, there is no reason to only stick to one recruitment technique when utilizing multiple recruitment approaches will give you a more in-depth view of every potential job candidate.
Consider using the help of professional recruitment agencies. At the initial stages of your team development, professional assistance will help you find the best talent. Later on, try to always be on a hunt for talented employees. Furthermore, make your current employees involved in the process as well, as they know better than anyone else what skills are needed to improve the team.
7. Consider your candidate’s experience
The goal of every startup founder during recruitment is to determine what makes the company attractive as an employer, which will help you “sell” jobs to prospective candidates. So that the information is not chaotic, you need to think through everything before communicating with candidates.
All the company’s advantages that make candidates choose in favor of your company fall under the following categories:
2. Work ergonomics (convenience of work, comfortable office, etc.)
5. Career growth and development
7. An exciting project involving creative work
8. Money such as starting salary and bonuses
The employer and the candidate are partners, they are negotiating, and both are looking for options for cooperation. When selling an available job role, you should focus on the motivation of a particular candidate and how their experience with the recruitment process will affect their decision. During the job interview, it is necessary to identify the needs of candidates and provide arguments and benefits which align and support their priorities. By understanding the candidate experience, you will be able to create a better recruitment process that identifies the correct people to join your startup.
Conclusion
When launching a startup, the team you hire can have a huge impact on the outcome of your business. Finding, hiring, and onboarding new employees can be time-consuming, but doing it right can be one of the most important things you do for your company’s future. Whether you’re working with a professional recruiter or posting on recruitment websites, always keep in mind the 7 recruitment secrets every startup founder needs to know. By putting these in practice, you will be far more likely to recruit and hire the right people who will move your company forward!
