Top tips: Recruiting Tips for Start-Ups

Recruiting talent with the right experience, personal attributes and goals can be a challenging process but one that is essential to get right, as any new employee will have a huge impact on your business, particularly if your business is small. Finding the right employee to recruit is especially important for startups with often few staff and limited resources, so Flexioffices have put together some top tips to help start up businesses plan a recruitment strategy.

1. Utilise your network

Deciding where to start your recruitment process can be tricky. Recruitment agencies are a good option as they will do all the hard work for you but this service will come at a cost which can be problematic for some start-up companies with small budgets.

Wired magazine recommend exploiting your network first before approaching any recruitment agencies. So spread the word on your social networks – LinkedIn and Twitter are the most relevant social networks – and personally get in touch with old colleagues and friends from your professional network to find out if anyone can refer someone.

2. Find talent with key attributes

When sifting through applications and meeting various candidates at interviews it can be hard to know what attributes are important to focus on. Passion is an essential – and often-cited – attribute to look for in potential employees because it is these people who, with the right support, will thrive in your company and who will in turn help your company to thrive. However, passion is nothing without relevant experience. Without experience, creativity and passion will not be executed strategically, so remember to focus your search on finding talent with passion and the right experience equally.

As well as passion and experience, look for employees who demonstrate willingness to work hard, flexibility and creativity. As The Next Web points out, “candidates eager to share ideas, with specific plans on how to improve your company, are the kind of intrapreneurs who will bring innovative and creative problem-solving to your startup.”

Start-up environments can be challenging and stressful, and often involve working beyond standard 9-5 hours. So beyond abilities and skills, it is also important to look for candidates who are positive-thinkers and respond well to stress.

3. Recruit don’t hire

Seth Godin describes the difference between hiring and recruiting as the difference between broadcasting your vacancy and waiting for the masses to respond and finding the very best person for the job and then making it your mission to persuade them to work for you.

“The recruiter doesn’t solve an urgent problem for the person being recruited, in fact, they create one.” So, as well as finding the right person, it is also your task to create a position that is challenging, fun and rewarding, so that talent will want to join you.

4. Focus on who you really need

The very best person is sometimes hard to find and for start-ups on small budgets the very best candidates are also not always affordable. Do not get too hung up on finding the perfect candidate and instead focus on what you really need.

In Harris Goodman’s Forbes article about how to recruit new employees, Goodman advised looking at the weaknesses and blind spots that exist within your current team and talent pool. “It is important to look for talent that does not overlap with your existing skill sets” as Goodman points out that duplication of skills among employees will result in workflow and personal territory issues.