As a startup founder, there’s nothing wrong with looking ahead and making projections about your business and what it may need down the line. There will always be a roadmapping and planning stage that can take a couple of days to a few weeks, depending on project or business size. This is also the time when you figure out the right kind of talent you need to run your startup and start building relationships with potential candidates.
Now, more than ever, every company should be more careful and intentional about how they hire. The landscape is very different, and can be quite challenging if you don’t rethink your approach. Hiring more people doesn’t necessarily result in a more robust organization, especially if you don’t hire people with skills complementary to your business.
4 Tips for Startup Hiring
Projections made in the early stages of a startup are rarely accurate, and the same goes for startup hiring. Rather than hiring based on expectations, you should hire in response to demand. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t be building a pool of candidates, but you should be careful when it comes to actually appointing someone for a specific role.
Below are a few ways you can improve your startup hiring process to ensure that you assign the right person to the right job.
Leverage Digital Tools
The talent market has changed drastically due to the pandemic. With most people in a remote or hybrid working arrangement, startup hiring has taken the same direction. Interviews are now done online, and although video conferencing tools help in putting a face to a resumé, it’s still a limiting interaction compared to an in-person interview.
Embracing digital means going where the candidates are: reaching them through their preferred media, talking in their language, and making an impression online. Using social media is a two-prong approach: you can use public social media profiles to get an idea about the candidates you’re looking to hire and you can use it to create a public company profile to help you put your best foot forward.
There are also software available today that can help you with screening and selecting candidates. Ultimately, the decision should be made with the help of these digital tools, but you should be careful of unconscious bias and use your better judgment when it comes to hiring candidates for your startup.
Build a Strong Brand and Online Presence
Building a brand is now mostly done online, and it’s vital because a strong brand lessens the need for active recruiting. Research shows that over 75% of professionals are passive candidates, widening your candidate pool and opening up opportunities to talk to those who are already hired but looking for greener pastures.
A strong brand and online presence puts you in front of these candidates and increases the chances of them and other actively applying candidates to interact with you and consider applying for your open roles.
Continuously improving brand reputation also has its long-term benefits, as it reduces employee turnover by as much as 28%.
Craft Conversational Job Descriptions
Job descriptions shouldn’t just be a rundown of responsibilities and requirements, it should be a description of the overall employee experience while working for your startup. It should communicate directly with your target audience and show them how working in your company can contribute to their career and personal growth.
Presenting a list of responsibilities without proper context will alienate candidates and discourage them from pursuing their application. You already know what you want your hires to do; show them through your job descriptions what your company can do for them if they become employees.
Be Your Own Salesperson
If you don’t believe in your own product, no one else will. In this case, your product is your startup; as a founder, you should be your own biggest fan. Potential candidates do their own research before applying for a job. They will only pursue an application if they like what they see about your startup.
Being the most active salesperson in your organization sets the tone for the rest of the employees and ingrains in them the organization’s and your brand’s best and most notable features.
Aside from the information from your website, candidates will look at social media, review sites, and information from current and past employees. If you have some negative reviews online, see if these issues can be addressed and take a look at how to further improve your company culture. Happy employees result in positive reviews and will help you land the right talent for the open positions in your organization.
The Start of a Startup
In the early stages, startup founders will find themselves performing a number of important tasks that will vary from strategizing to negotiating with potential partners or hires. In between all these, they should also be constantly “selling” the startup to customers. Active selling can help develop resilience in the face of challenges and objections, and will help you identify what works and what need to be improved.
Ultimately, Your growing startup will need the dedication of a capable team. It can be a challenge to hire people based on early projections, but hiring in response to demand will ensure that you bridge talent gaps and hire the best people for the job.
Talk to us today and find out how you can get the best talent in the Philippines and why you should consider offshoring your workforce during the startup hiring process.