Startups Guide: How to hire the best talent for your business?

Hiring is an unexplored territory for startups. Thus, a lot of companies end up making grave errors that eventually impact them in the long run. Business entities have to establish from scratch, so identifying hard-working, passionate, and resilient people are of absolute requirement. And if there’s something that makes the recruitment process challenging, it is the fact that young startups do not own a huge brand name. For obvious reasons, they cannot offer competitive packages; which in a way makes it tough to convince the right talent to join them. Moreover, the first few employees that are hired eventually impact the company’s work culture and ultimately represent the organization.

At first, recruitment may seem like a daunting task, however, it is yet essential to the startup’s success. A lot of reports have highlighted, the majority of startups fail or call it quits in the first-year itself. The recruitment process has cropped up as one of the most critical parameters for the evaluation of the failure or success percentage of any new startup. So, whether you want to optimize your recruitment process or are building it for the first time, here are some useful ways you can attract the best talents.

Focus on offering a purpose

A startup will manage to attract the right talent only when it creates a magnet that attracts the best talent towards itself. To attain this, it’s imperative to create a hype and buzz around the startup. Recruiters must figure out where their prospective employees spend most of their time and accordingly build a presence there. Owners must communicate the future, value, and culture of their organization through various sources like events, media, and social media. This will facilitate job seekers to approach the organization, thereby increasing the chances of getting good talent.

See beyond resumes

It is normal for startups to look for experienced candidates as they bring in more stability and knowledge. However, you should not judge someone solely based on their resume. Rather, emphasize their practical skills and industry know-how. A great idea is to give a candidate a few tasks to work on, for example; allot an uncomplicated assignment to analyze the marketing side to understand the practical skills and time management of the candidate.

Embrace remote staff

With the onset of the pandemic, the concept of ‘work from home’ has gained momentum more than ever before, especially in a country like India where people were not completely familiar with the idea of remote employees. Recruiting remote staff widens up a vast pool of talent that may not exist in your immediate circle. Offering remote working facilities attracts top-tier talent at a similar cost. For a potential candidate, the option of remote working could be a deciding factor; majorly because it provides flexibility, saves time, and reduces the stress of relocating. However, if the concept of remote working doesn’t seem feasible for your startup, the other alternative is to divide office and remote working for certain days of the week.

Build a brand

For some of the obvious reasons, people like working with popular brands as compared to those that have little or no presence in the market. Talents like putting in their efforts and building their career in a company that offers growth opportunities. Thus, to invariably have them working for your startup and help you to grow, it is quintessential to market the startup. A professional dealing with social media projects can help rank the startup on the top of search engines. Attending conferences, sponsored events, or exhibitions can be great platforms to advertise the startup as an added benefit.

Leverage networking sources

Just the way we attend events to find potential investors or business partners, it is important to do the same when it comes to hiring employees. And though you may be leading a startup, the ones to compete with are tech giants. They possess exceptional technology and large budgets. The other option is to source the talents from a job fair. Here’s where the individuals with technical skills and abilities can be found, basis the startup’s requirement.

Without a doubt, hiring your startup’s first few employees is one of the most crucial decisions to be made. The early-stage team members leave an impact on the way a business is built, investors are attracted, and initial revenue is generated. However, what is also important to understand is that startups go through many different phases during their growth years. And, every single phase demands different skill sets. Thus, founders must lay their focus on hiring candidates who are versatile and in for the long haul.

Implement these strategic recruitment tactics and you are certain to have “the team” that will drive your business to the top!