The difference between hiring for a startup and hiring for an established company is that roles and responsibilities at later-stage companies are well fleshed out. Established companies have large budgets for hiring top talent. Startups have a lot of irregularities and uncertainties.
A full-stack developer can be seen taking care of IT infrastructure and writing blogs for the company. Roles in startups have many layers and it could get interesting or intimidating. For an unorthodox culture, you need to have the right recruitment strategies for startups.
Hiring for the startup could be the toughest task for its founders. They have to toil to get the right people for their startups. They will also make a few mistakes.
Let’s look at why hiring for a startup is super difficult and some of the recruitment strategies for startups that could help you hire top talent.
Why Hiring For Startup Is Hard
You could be a funded or a bootstrap startup. Being funded may ease few things for you but it definitely won’t make hiring easy for you. Here is a list of reasons why hiring for a startup is super hard.
1. Jobs At Startup May Not Be As Secured
People know startups may not offer job security. Employees can get fired in a few months either because a startup is trying to cut down on the cost or simply because they are closing business. There is always a risk associated while working for a startup.
2. You Need One Person To Do A Job Of Two
Unfortunately, it is true that a person working for a startup has to wear multiple hats and need to cover a lot of ground. Although you get to learn and experiment with new technologies, it also means you need to work on things you didn’t work before. Basically, you are constantly pushed out of your comfort zone and many people do not like that.
3. Startups Aren’t The Best Paying Companies
70% of Gen Z consider salary as the biggest motivator to take up a job. And obviously, if you want to hire the best, you will have to pay out handsome salaries. For startups, it is very difficlt to pay large sums as they are on strict budgets. A general perception is that the startups are not the best paymasters. Funded startups may pay good salaries in the early days but that would be only for a few key roles.
Recruitment Strategies For Startups
When you are hiring for startups, you need people who are willing to take the risk. People who are really good with skills. People who believe in your vision. If you find someone like this then you have hit the jackpot.
Startup jobs are growing every year and everywhere in the world. According to a 2018 report by AngelList, over 45,000 jobs were listed in 2018 on this startup hiring platform. Although the number of startup jobs is increasing, finding candidates for a startup isn’t getting any easier. We have seen the basic challenges of finding talent for startups. Now let’s discuss how some key recruitment strategies for startup help you hire the right people.
1. Influence People
When one embarks on the entrepreneurial journey he or she often wants to find a co-founder. And how do one find a co-founder or the first employee? How many times we hear people saying they want to start on their own. There are many who want to start their own ventures rather than working for corporates. But a few manage to try it out. If you can influence people in the right way; if you can motivate them to join you, you can find a co-founder or founding member.
Influencing people is probably one of the most important recruitment strategies for startups. If you can motivate people they can move mountains. Remember people who join you early will have the biggest impact on your startup.
You could use ESOP or equity as one of the things to offset not so high paying salaries.
2. Use Referrals To Find Talent
Referrals and recommendations are the best way to find the right people for your team. You could spread a word among your friends, relatives or you could use employee referrals even if you have a small team. Referrals are more effective for early-stage startups. It also saves the hiring costs. Referrals are more organic leads. Referrals who might be interested in your early-stage startup would already know about you and the company you are trying to build.
Use reward and recognition methods to build a great employee referral culture.
3. Freelancers, Remote Employees & Outsourcing
One of the best ways to start quickly with your startup is to look for freelancers. If you think you don’t have enough budget or giving away equity also not an option for you then finding freelancers could be the best solution. It comes with no strings attached. You could leverage platforms like Fiverr where you could see previous work of freelancers and its reviews.
Similarly, outsourcing could also be an option. There are many small service-based startups who are ready to pick up more work.
Hiring a remote employee is an option you should explore. Nothing works like being in the same location, but if you can get a rockstar out of a remote location, you must go ahead and hire that remote employee. However, you must make sure all your employees understand your vision.
4. Brand Your Startup
You might say we just started and far from being a brand or famous. Well, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how you are sailing through your startup journey. Share your story. Give insights. Let people know how you are solving problems. For a startup this is important. This will attract the right people for your company; people who want to join a startup. Never ignore branding. It could be one of the most influential recruitment strategies for startups. Below are some of the activities that you could do under the brand building –
- Use Social Media, microblogging sites to share stories of your company
- Participate in meetups, speak about your problem statement and your company
- Talk in events.
- Write content that showcases the problem that you are working on.
Marketing and branding activities are the most important activities that a startup must take seriously. It helps with brand recognition and brand recollection. Today, the digital medium is taking over traditional marketing platforms and hence digital social media platforms should be leveraged to the fullest.
5. Take Help Of Subject Matter Experts
One of the mistakes that many founders do is rush into hiring people for the functions they are not experts in. For example, many tech founders when they are hiring for marketing or sales roles they end up hiring marketing people without understanding the kind of marketing their startup might need.
It is better if founders consult with other fellow founders or subject matter experts of the respective functions before making a hiring decision.
Believe In People You Hire
You may use various recruitment strategies to hire people for your company however what matters the most is that you believe in them. A startup is a roller coaster ride. It is your people that are going to decide how you come through. Hence, invest in hiring the right people for your startup.
Final Thoughts
Recruitment strategies for startups described above like influencing people, hiring freelancers or using branding tactics are also applicable to any other established company. However, the difference is, established companies or profit-making companies have free hands when they want to spend on hiring people. They can hire a recruitment agency to source candidates. Startups need to be strictly on budget and hence they need to get creative. One of the ways they can stay lean and cut down on other costs is by leveraging technology solutions.
Apart from the above recruitment strategies for startups, there are routine hiring practices that one must use. For example, a startup must design a beautiful career page for job postings. Make sure it is mobile friendly and is designed and optimized for Google For Jobs. Post your jobs to social media platforms, free job boards or specialized platforms for startups like angel.co. If you are hiring for tech roles, leverage platforms like GitHub, StackOverflow for candidate sourcing. Also, you could leverage modern SAAS recruitment software that comes at a low cost for startups and help them automate their recruitment workflow. The biggest advantage you get when you invest in such technology is that it simplifies your work. It saves huge amount of time and is on autopilot continuously finding people for you.