How to Hire the Right Person for Your Startup?

Every company faces challenges when they start a business. Hiring the right people is one of the most challenging processes for every startup. Hiring can be quite a minefield and many startups fail because they are unable to hire the right people — or because they lack the knowledge to do so.

Today we are going to discuss the difficulties recruiters face while hiring the right candidate for the right job position.

We know the majority of the startups have limited funds and if they fail to hire the right person, then directly it’s a loss for them. Plus, making the wrong hire has the potential to cost you a lot of time and money and that’s not how you would like to begin your journey. So, hiring the right people from the start is mandatory.

Every entrepreneur knows building a team of talented people is right for their business growth and is vital for the company’s success. In business, challenges originate, but without the right people, they’ll become hard to navigate. And yet, despite the hiring process being a crucial part of startup life, so many startups get it wrong, over and over again.

We are going to highlight and answer your queries, which might help you with your next hiring.

Hiring Challenges Every New Startup Faces

The hiring process is one of the most complex practices every organization follows. But it has been observed that the majority of the startups fail due to various reasons, some are listed below.

Not Recruiting the Right Candidate

The first and foremost thing to start is to recruit people and build your team, but being a startup, do you think the process of hiring people is easy? No, it’s not. Generally, startups don’t look for over experienced candidates, but due to less experience in the hiring process, it is one of the reasons why startups fail.

Startups need to take extra care about convincing people to work and also recruit the right candidate for the right position. As a result, this practice will help startups to grow and prepare for future challenges.

No One Knows Who You Are – Create Your Brand Awareness!

When people search for a job, they also assess to an extent, they can identify themselves with the brand of a company. Every person likes to associate with a good brand. As a startup, it becomes important for you to advertise your name through social media or any other platform, which fits into your budget. 

How to Hunt for the Right Talent?

Employees are the lifeline of every business, but even in the best of times, it can be a struggle to find the right employees for your workforce. Whether you’re scaling up your company or trying to reduce turnover, finding new employees in itself is a tedious process, and it can take weeks to fill a single open position.

Below we will highlight a few tactics that might help you to find the right talent.

1. Use a Recruiting Service or Network

One of the best ways to find new employees for your company is by using a recruiting service. Whether you’re trying to fill a highly-specialized role or several mid-level positions all at once, a professional recruiting team can do the work for you.

Recruiting services allow you to reach a wider network of job seekers, including passive candidates who aren’t actively looking for work but are open to new opportunities. Kindly follow the page for those who have not yet followed.

2. Spread the Word on Social Media

Social media isn’t a quick fix if you’re looking for immediate hiring in a day or two, but it can play a big part in your ongoing hiring process. If you build up a social media presence before your hiring, it’ll be easier to get your job postings seen by the right people. That’s because the shareable nature of social media posts makes it easy for employees and fans of your brand to share them with others.

In the Internet age, companies without a social media presence can come across as sketchy and secretive, and less pleasant to work for.

Additionally, social media followers who read your blog and engage with your posts are likely to be well-informed about your product or service and readers may share it on their feed. So, in this way, a chain of informers will grow like a network. 

3. Add & Create “Careers” page on your website

One of the most important tools in your search for a new candidate is your own company website. A “Careers” page is the first place that anyone who wants to work for you will look to find out about the current job openings.

If you don’t post job listings on your website, then these job seekers may draft an email to you anyway, to inquire about any job openings. Cut down on unsought messages by ensuring they know what jobs are available before they reach out to you.

How to tell if an Applicant is a Right Fit for you?

Throughout the hiring process, from creating a detailed job description to conducting thorough interviews, you’re not only zeroing in on the candidates with the necessary skills and experience, but you’re also assessing whether they will be a good fit in your company. 

Two important qualities every employer wants in their employees are passion and commitment. Passion shows itself as eagerness, something to do with zeal, and full determination. A committed employee is the one who puts helping your company grow above personal needs and achievements while maintaining a work-life balance, of course. So, expect work commitment towards the company. You don’t want someone who’s just looking for a job to pay the bills. People with this mindset can generally never give their best to the company.

Determine if your company offers the kind of environment your candidate needs to succeed. Ask them about the type of culture and management style they require to be more productive in a job. Evaluate if this conforms with what you have in place. Give them a detailed description of your company and the job you’re offering. Be sure to include the physical space they will be working in to make sure your expectations conform to their expectations.

The cultural fit extends to life and work values as well. People tend to be the happiest working with others who share their basic values and goals. Try to find out how your job offering might help the applicant’s needs beyond the paycheck for such factors as recognition, challenges, and leadership opportunities.

It’s human nature to gravitate towards people you like. You could find a candidate with high qualifications and experience, but if their personality and communication style makes you uncomfortable, they may not fit in over the long term despite their superior skill set.

How You Can Set up the Interview Process?

The hiring process consumes a lot of time and patience—which is no big secret if you’re a recruiter! But it’s not just a recruiter who takes the initiative for hiring: Everyone from hiring managers and potential team members to senior leaders and receptionists is involved indirectly in the interview process. We had categorized the basics of setting up a structured interview process? 

Read on for a simple three-step framework to help you get started.

Step 1- Mention Whom You’re Trying to Hire

The first step of setting up a structured interview process is to understand and define the role. Going through this process helps ensure that recruiters and hiring managers are allied, which reduces the possibility of confusion in the process.

Start with the basics: the position name, the department, and who the person will report to. Then be sure to consider the business objectives of making this hire. How does this person contribute to your company’s bottom line? Finally, consider what you expect from the person to accomplish in the role.

Step 2- Decide How You’ll Evaluate Candidates

Once you’ve clear about what the role looks like within your company, you can decide how you’ll evaluate the candidate. It might help to begin with a few basic requirements (e.g., visa status, location), necessary hard and soft skills (project management, proficiency in particular software), and hiring manager preferences (autonomy, communication style).

Next, you’ll want to outline the hiring criteria for this particular role. In other words, what are the required skills, personality traits, and qualifications someone would need to accomplish all the things you set out in step 1?

Step 3- Outline the Interview Process

In this final step, you’ll design the actual interview plan. This is where you’ll match each stage of the interview to a particular set of criteria. The number and types of interviews you conduct will vary depending on your organization and the specific role, but here’s a general framework you can work with;

Stage 1: Recruiter Screen

This step involves having the recruiter review applications and screen out candidates who are not fit for the position—for example, those who don’t fit your basic education or location requirements or have the right type of experience.

Stage 2: Hiring Manager Screen

This step involves conducting a phone screen. It allows the interviewer, generally the hiring manager, to get an initial sense of each candidate and review their work experience at a high level to understand whether it aligns with the role.

Stage 3: Skills Testing

This step involves asking the candidate to perform a take-home test. The idea here is to give them a task that’s reflective of what they’ll have to do on the job and give their hiring manager or teammates a chance to see how they approach their work.

So these were a few effective hiring steps, you can consider, which will make you a pro in the hiring process.

For suggestions or queries, you can reach us at hello@unboxingstartups.com 

Karan Jain

Born in the family of entrepreneurs and have inherited the same. Started building applications in order to pay for my tuition. Later founded a tech company, marketing agency, and media outlets.