One needs a dynamic strategy to attract and retain the best talent in the industry for a start up business or the early stages of a business. It could be short term (1 to 3 years) contractual service based or long term (5 to 7 years) skill-based needs.
Here are a few guidelines:
- Have clarity on who you wish to hire
- Write detailed and informative job descriptions
- Realize when the need arises to use a recruiter
- Learn how to make an attractive job offer
- Interview and hire people through the usage of the job descriptions
- Be resourceful and transparent in building your company culture
It Begins when you Begin: Building a company culture
An early-stage business or start-up will face challenges and teething troubles in operations, and so it is imperative that they are deliberate in building a company culture. A company culture is basically how the company functions, its goals and missions and the unspoken expectations that guide employee behaviour. This is critically important, after all your company culture can make or break your business! It is a material reminder of their core values, or the guiding principles of the company on how they do business. The people wanting to work there should be interested in doing work that is based on a specific business direction, goal, personal belief, value, or way of being. Accordingly, the business must take conscious steps in the hiring process and intentionally look for people who align with their mission.
What are the points to keep in mind?
1.Maintain souvenirs about your mission and core values around the office
and the worksite to help ground and refocus the team when work
becomes demanding and taxing.
2. Collaborate and get employees to interact to strengthen
the culture you’re wanting to build at your organization.
3. Ask interview questions that will help you understand an applicant’s
career goals and how working for your company fits with those targets.
4. Be innovative by asking interview questions that will give insight into how someone works and thinks.
How does one recruit the best people for the job?
Most start-ups and early-stage business owners execute projects on their own. There could be two reasons for this. Either they are the experts, or then they do not yet have the financial resources to hire someone to do the job. However, when the funds are available you can follow these guidelines to get the person for the job, especially when your time and recruiting budget are limited. The first question you need to ask yourself is ‘Is this a short-term, service-based need, or a long-term, skill-based need?’ For many start-ups and early-stage businesses, service-based needs include work performed by lawyers and accountants. They can also include other short-term or one-off projects with a specific end date, like designing a framework, creating a marketing plan, or coding a particular function for an app. Skill-based needs are those a company deems essential to day-to-day operations and are needed on a long-term basis. The distinction is important because short-term, service-based needs are generally contracted out, while long-term, skill-based needs are hired. Employees and independent contractors are two fairly familiar varieties of worker relationships. Employees perform work directly for a company on a full or part-time basis. Independent contractors provide a service for a company and typically invoice that organization for the tasks performed. The first call is for you to decide
Does my company require an Employee or a Contractor?
To simplify this
The employee is a person hired by the employer, to work on a regular basis, in exchange for a fixed remuneration. Works under the control and direction of employer. An independent contractor is a self-employed person who provides services to other organization for a fixed compensation. Works independently.
One also needs to have a well thought out business strategy in place. What are your objectives and your desired outcomes? The person you hire or contract has to aid you in accomplishing your mission and basic goals and objectives. Your strategy should have correct timelines. You cannot expect results overnight. Some start-ups and early-stage businesses pivot and change direction due to market considerations, competition, or innovation. Any change in business direction should trigger an adjustment to the staffing strategy.
Creating an Informative and Detailed Job Description
Having clarity on your start-up’s business needs, are essential to successfully executing other strategies to find the best people. With that foundation in place, you’ll be in a great position to articulate in a job description who you are, what you need, and why future team members should consider applying.
What are job descriptions?
Job descriptions are one of those things that nearly every organization uses to communicate talent needs to people outside of the company. They are also useful for illustrating to employees the scope of their work and performance expectations. A job description is a document that clearly states essential job requirements, job duties, job responsibilities, and skills required to perform a specific role. A detailed job description will cover how success is measured in the role so it can be used in performance evaluations.
First mention your technical requirements followed by the competency content that you expect. After that you need to mention details about your company that talent would find unique or interesting and be drawn towards working with you. Of course, an attractive package plays an integral role, but what is also vital is to mention your company’s reputation, social media presence and interpersonal relations. Remember it is equally important that your brand has built a good social media presence. It ensures trust and candidates might be eager to apply to your company.
Network like the Boss you are
Networking is the exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest, usually in an informal social setting. Networking often begins with a single point of common ground. When it comes to finding the best talent, your networking should begin with people you already know. Firstly, ask current employees to recommend people for job openings. Current employees essentially do the first round of filtering, and the organization rewards them for bringing great talent into the company. Alternatively, you could reach out to your colleagues, friends, and acquaintances for leads on talented people.
A great start to networking for talent are Small Business Development programs, incubators, or accelerators. Both incubator and accelerator programs have strengths and weaknesses, and no program is exactly alike. However, participants gain access to information and resources that were previously out of reach, including opportunities for meaningful networking. The staff, mentors, and partners working with incubator and accelerator programs have their own contacts, and might know someone who knows someone who could be perfect for the role you’re trying to fill.
Use startup specific platforms
Recruitment companies bridge organisations and job seekers. They run basic screening tests on the applicants, assess them against the organisation’s needs, and then refer those with the best attributes. When time is a constraint, resources are available, and the roles are critical, you might consider hiring a recruiter or engaging the support of a staffing firm. Recruiting companies will reach out to passive candidates (people not looking for a job right now) and active candidates (people looking for a new role now or soon) and screen them before introducing them to you and your team. There may also be guarantees made (six months to one year) about how long the candidate remains with your company. Companies would typically have to incur the additional cost of advertising for a particular job. Often due to poor marketing agenda and weak reach to possible applicants along with unawareness amongst job seekers, they may not apply to companies. However, recruitment companies already possess the data on candidates looking for those particular jobs. This is one of the most significant advantages of recruiting agencies because experienced recruiters can hire much quicker than in-house recruitment teams of organizations.
Wherever you live or work around the globe, there are a few well-known web resources that applicants in given industries use as a go-to place to find vacancies. Keep in mind that anything online is constantly evolving, so keep yourself UpToDate with current trends. Common sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter don’t quite meet the talent needs of startups and early-stage companies, so refer to platforms that are specific to startups which help to connect the founders with the right talent like AngelList, Upwork, StartupHire, VentureLoop and F6S. there are also platforms like XING and Viadeo that have professional networking and membership in millions from around the world.
Hire a Recruiter or Staffing Firm
Five ways to attract top talent
- Company culture.
- Company reputation.
- Personal relationships.
- Personal fulfilment.
- Career progression.
In a nutshell, hiring talented new employees can help a company grow. Young employees, in particular, often bring fresh perspectives, new skills, and lots of creative energy to the businesses they join. Using our guidelines your business can attract the best professionals. It is important to build a great company with a strong vision and mission that focuses on the kind of people you wish to attract.