BIog: It's not easy to hire in a startup…
You’ve taken the plunge, put your money where your mouth is, and now you're trying to build something from scratch, something that hasn't existed before. You need a team of people who are passionate, talented, and willing to work long hours for less pay than they could make at a more established company. And you need them yesterday.
But finding those people is no easy task. You're competing with other startups for the same talent and with larger, more established companies that can offer more money and stability. And even if you do manage to find the right people, there's no guarantee that they'll stick around. Startups are, by their very nature, uncertain, and many of them fail.
So what's a startup founder to do?
The first step is to be honest with yourself about what you're looking for. Are you looking for someone who can do everything, or are you looking for specialists who can work together to build something great? Do you need someone with experience in your industry, or are you willing to take a chance on someone with a different background?
Once you've answered those questions, you need to start looking.
And that means getting creative. Sure, you can post your job on LinkedIn and hope for the best. But you should also attend industry events, contact your network, and even consider hiring interns or recent graduates.
When you start interviewing candidates, you must be prepared to sell them on your vision. You need to be able to articulate what makes your startup special, what sets it apart from the competition, and why someone would want to work for you instead of a more established company. And you need to be honest about the risks involved. It's better to scare someone off before they join than to have them leave after a few months because they didn't know what they were getting into.
One thing that can help in the hiring process is having a strong company culture. People want to work for companies that share their values and beliefs. And in a startup, where everyone is working together in close quarters, a strong culture is even more important. So think about what kind of culture you want to create, and how you can communicate that to potential hires.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you're not just hiring for the short term. You're hiring for the long term, which means thinking about what your company will need in the future, not just what it needs right now. You need people who are flexible and adaptable, who can grow with your company, and who can take on new roles as needed.
And finally, don't forget about diversity. It's not just the right thing to do; it's also good for business. Diverse teams are more innovative and better at problem-solving. So make sure you're casting a wide net in your hiring process and that you're not overlooking talented people because they don't fit your preconceived notions of what a startup employee should look like.
In the end, hiring for a startup is a lot like building a startup. It's hard and uncertain, and there are no guarantees of success. To succeed, you must focus on what makes your company unique, find the right talent, be transparent about the risks involved, build a strong company culture, provide growth opportunities, and promote diversity. If you can do all that, you can build a team to help you achieve your vision and take your startup to the next level.
About
Martin Dangerfield is recognised as a leading talent acquisition professional. With experience in leading in-house talent acquisition teams in big brands such as Rolls-Royce or Dentsu as well as high-growth environments such as UNiDAYS and Clearscore.
Martin has made hires on a global basis.
Now Martin is CEO of immersive, which equips high-growth companies, large and small, with the people, tools and experience needed to recruit at scale on a global basis. The fully-embedded in-house recruitment solution combines talent expertise with data-driven processes to scale teams better and faster.
Find out more at https://www.immersivehiring.com or to schedule a call with Martin, click here