At their very core, startups are based on innovation. Your business may have a humble beginning on your shoulders only, and you as a solopreneur might be able to grow your idea beyond your initial expectations, but much like no man is an island, no startup can rest on one, either. Startups can thrive only as much as their weakest links, so entrepreneurs have realized that the power of business growth lies in the hands of their teams.
And so, the humble pursuit of the finest candidate begins. Startups today form a very competitive, fast-paced ecosystem that makes an alluring network of great employers, so naturally, talented people flock to many of them in search for their own career paths. As talented as someone might be, the success of your startup depends on so much more than skill. Here are a few ways you can attract the right people and build a stellar team for your startup.
Look for soft skills, too
Hard skills are a must in this day and age, especially in startups that are at the very forefront of innovation. However, hiring just based on their impressive resume or a brilliant project solution is not the best long-term decision for your company. Why? Because business is also about people, collaboration, culture, and open-mindedness.
You need someone who knows how to handle themselves under pressure, under fire from a dissatisfied customer, facing tight deadlines, and facing criticism. Someone who can be tactful, but also direct and honest, someone who not only knows the job, but how to teach others how to get better at that very same job later on when you hire new people for the team.
Assess what you have to offer
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Modern-day employees are attracted to values and ideas, and they’ll gladly accept a position with a brand-new startup when it’s in line with their own moral code and one that stirs their imagination in all the right ways. However, your business is so much more than your brainchild. It’s an environment in which each employee needs to feel respected and acknowledged. Startups today need to go out of their way to give personalized experiences to attract the right employees.
For instance, offering personalized employee income cards that reduce the waiting time and significantly cut fees is a perk every modern candidate will appreciate. Having the freedom to manage their own salary in a way they see fit and receive it without delays is a must. Add to that, personalized perks such as a gym membership or a yoga pass can tilt the scales in your favor when they’re about to decide who they employer will be.
Keep an open mind
When we’re starting and running a business, we tend to avoid the road less traveled and stick to the well-beaten paths instead, because experiments don’s always sound like a great idea when they could make or break an entire professional dream. Still, when you’re hiring, you need to think and act outside of the box if you want to build a truly one-of-a-kind team.
Have you considered remote workers, contractors, freelancers, digital nomads for some of your roles? How about pursuing candidates through social media instead of job ads alone? Perhaps working with a professional recruiter will help you find the best match, while also reducing the hiring hassle for you. It’s important to keep an open mind when you’re looking for people who are, by default, expected to have an open mind to successfully work with a startup.
Ensure transparency from day one
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From the moment you post your ad, schedule the first interview, to the moment you actually welcome your first new team members, you create an image of your business based on how honest and open you are in these interactions. Startups cannot move forward and grow if employees feel as if they’re just another cog in the machine, with zero awareness of how their role impacts the entire startup structure.
Transparency is the best policy in modern-day startups, and you need to make it clear to all of your candidates that they will be always treated like equals and always in the loop with the latest company developments. This is just one way of letting them know that their opinions matter, and that you’ll never take them for granted simply because they will actively participate in creating your startup.
Building startups rests upon how well you can build a team that will grow that very startup in the years to come. Although every industry has its quirks, and you’re the best person to decide which methods apply to your startup, don’t miss out on the various benefits of embedding these particular strategies into your hiring mindset.