5 Ways to Recruit Successfully as a Start-Up

The life of an entrepreneur is chaotic and unpredictable in the early days. There are several things you have to oversee – from driving sales, managing your team and firefighting issues that crop up unexpectedly. At the end of a long day, you realize you have forgotten to focus on an activity that needs constant monitoring and momentum built to have success – recruiting. I will discuss five ways you can get results at recruiting without wasting time, having gone through the process as an entrepreneur many times myself.

#1: Know every detail of the role you are recruiting for

A good job description or JD is an essential part of saving time in the recruitment process. Define the KRAs of every role in as few words as possible. If you can, assign weights to each KRA depending on its importance within the role. The JD should outline things like ideal prior experience, skill sets required and special certifications or degrees. Most important – do not forget to include why a candidate should join your firm. The reasons could range from having opportunities more personal growth in a start-up to working with your highly talented and motivated team. You are selling to the candidate as much as he is selling to you.

#2: Figure out which sources your best candidates will come from

This is important to know so you don’t end up talking to candidates who are just not a good fit. For sales manager and sales closer roles, business networking sites like LinkedIn work well as they hire intelligent, motivated candidates with good communication skills and relevant startup experience. Job sites are good for recruiting for technology or programmer roles. The best techies have a passion for what they do, so they will be active on several programming forums or may have their own blog. Doing research on where to find them takes time initially, but pays off in spades as you recruit more.

#3: Cut down your time scheduling interviews

A simple calendar like Google or Outlook puts a meeting/ reminder on your candidate’s schedule. Call him a day before the interview to ensure he is available for the call and cut down on no-shows. If you have multiple interviewers, it is good to consider an Applicant Tracking System like WorkPro that keeps all the information of an applicant’s information in one place and sends intimations to hiring managers and candidates for upcoming interviews.

#4: Share the mission and vision for your company when talking to candidates

Why should a professional join your company? A good candidate has many options and is likely sought after by other firms. Beyond the monetary benefits and role specifics, he must feel that what you are offering is more than just a job. It is an experience of a lifetime and a chance to make an impact with a promising company that will solve a meaningful problem or help people do things a lot better. Your passion as an entrepreneur must be evident to your best candidates or you will end up recruiting only the average ones at best.

#5: Ensure you close on salaries, joining dates and role specs for the best candidates

Recruiting is a lot like sales. You can put in a lot of good work and do all the right things. But if you do not close on a good deal, you will have nothing to show for your efforts. It is an all or nothing game. Realize this and ensure that you and your best candidate agree on what salary he is comfortable with, his notice period, whether he will face resistance from his current company to leave and how to overcome it. Ask yourself – “What can go wrong between making an offer and the person joining you?” Then make sure you have an action plan for every contingency.