Unsurprisingly, the teams with the best players tend to win. This concept not only holds true for sport (especially team sports) but also business.
However, hiring and retaining the right employees can be a minefield for any business, even more so for startups. Most startup projects neither have the hiring resources of big companies nor an established brand presence that attracts highly qualified candidates. But not to despair, any startup can assemble a stellar team with the right approach. Here are some tips to help you find the right talent for your startup WordPress project.
1. Remember That People Contribute to Your Company’s Culture
Each new hire dilutes your company culture ever so slightly depending on the number of individuals already existing in your firm. For instance, a startup with a current team of three will dilute its company culture by up to 25% on the next hire. Finding the right developer talent is not only about seeking the most qualified individuals but also conveying your identity as a business and the type of people you wish to attract.
Conduct cultural surveys to determine the parameters for the type of individuals you seek to hire. Translate these parameters to the candidate market and use them as a basis for selecting the ‘best match’. If possible, conduct personality tests for more clarity on each candidate’s character and their likelihood of fitting into your startup.
2. Use Social Media and Recruitment Firms to Your Advantage
Most startups do not have vast databases of prospective candidates or the ability to maintain dedicated HR departments. But thanks to social media platforms like LinkedIn, modern startups have free access to rich databases of potential hires. Combine this with outsourced hiring, and recruiting the right talent becomes somewhat easier.
Regardless of your company’s financial standing, you can hardly go wrong partnering with a reputable recruitment firm.
The right recruitment firm can authentically represent your startup’s mission in the candidate market, find excellent potential hires, screen them and, in some cases, handle the onboarding on your behalf.
3. Maintain Clearly Defined Job Descriptions
One of the biggest mistakes startups make is underestimating the importance of job descriptions or ignoring them altogether. Failure to write clear job descriptions might result in a mismatch of skills and dismal goal attainment. Remember, job descriptions establish the expectations for each position and ensure they are met.
Writing job descriptions should be an ongoing task. Regularly review job descriptions the same way you re-evaluate workflows, processes, and budgets to ensure your position requirements are at par with the prevailing industry trends.
The exercise of writing job descriptions can also help you determine where you have skills gaps in your organization as well as plan for upcoming hiring needs. You may have an upcoming application development project where you’ll need to hire additional developers. By writing job descriptions for each new hire you need, you’ll be able to cross-reference with current development resources to make sure you don’t overhire for skills that you currently have in-house.
4. Offer Unique Incentives
The beauty of running a startup is that you are not bound by red tape systems, especially with regard to remuneration and benefits. Since you might not be in a position to offer competitive salaries, consider providing hard-to-decline incentives. Most individuals might be willing to look past a big salary and instead examine your offer holistically. For instance, you might entice new hires with remote work, encouraging everyone to wear many hats, flexible time-off policies, empowering teams via project ownership, and exploring the use of the best equity management software
to streamline and optimize equity distribution for your team’s benefit. Additionally, offering equity or partial ownership opportunities can further align the team’s interests with the success of the startup.
Most individuals might be willing to look past a big salary and instead examine your offer holistically. For instance, you might entice new hires with remote work, encouraging everyone to wear many hats, flexible time-off policies, empowering teams via project ownership and equity/partial ownership opportunities.
5. Hire With a Purpose
Many an unsuitable candidate has landed a role at a startup due to the employer’s impatience. Although hiring the wrong person and having a vacant position are both inauspicious situations, the former is worse.
As mentioned earlier, the teams with the best players tend to win. Rushing the hiring process to fill vacancies as soon as possible will more than likely get your startup off on the wrong foot. A better approach is to understand your company’s unique needs and forbearingly build the perfect team.