To launch and sustain a startup is quite challenging. If you take a look at the statistics, the failure rate of US companies after 5 years is 50%, which tells us that startups are statistically at a disadvantage. In their earliest days, startups are usually a small operation, made up of several close associates who perform most of the work, trying to get their company to grow (in spite of small chances of survival). If they do everything right, their startup will move to the next phase and begin to grow.
As for funding, startups often operate on a shoestring budget, having to resort to flexible business strategies, with people as the most flexible asset, due to their creativity. The ability to find creative people to employ is something to focus on for startup business sustainability. Anyone who has had any experiences with startups will tell you that startups don’t actually shine when they do their hiring. This poses a big problem, as startups’ margins of error are super slim and that the wrongs hires can totally devastate the company.
If you’re a startup owner and want to avoid common hiring mistakes, you should know that there are ways you can make sure that you’re hiring the best people for your startup.
1. Go global
Technology has brought many positive things that help startups perform better, and save them time, money and effort. We’re talking about hiring remote workers because many startups operate in a way that it doesn’t really matter where their employees work from. For example, a Ukrainian startup can hire an entire app development team from Sweden, or a startup based in Spain can hire a team of Australian testers.
But why do startups go global in the first place? The answer is simple – they have a much larger pool of talent that they can tap into, which increases their chances of finding perfect employees. The local talent will be limited regardless of where you live, and who is to say that you won’t manage to find someone better five thousand miles away? The top talent is worth it, despite certain organizational problems that you may face. With the right project management and video conferencing tools, as well as with the right means of managing remote workers, you can bring perfect employees to your startup and pave the road to success.
Of course, if you decide to hire from abroad, you need to find legal help in your country that can help you avoid any legal troubles and ensure that you are in adherence to local immigration and labor laws. For instance, if your company is registered in Sydney, Australia, you should reach out to a Parramatta solicitor and ensure your new foreign hire can work legally in the country.
2. Go structured
Large companies hire a huge number of people every month, so in order to make the best hires, their hiring processes are very structured. This approach allows them to ensure a hiring process that will be as objective as possible, as well as to identify problems more easily and track your success rate. Once you notice certain issues, you can make the necessary adjustments.
Structure hiring process also saves time, because when you have defined documents and phases already in place, you can go through numerous candidates more easily, instead of wasting five days interviewing five people, eventually hiring a candidate just because you’ve got fed up with the whole process.
3. A startup can onboard too
Startup owners see onboarding as something that only large corporations can afford to do because they have an entire in-house HR department to take care of that. However, an onboarding process still has to exist, even though it’s a lot quicker and simples with startups. It might be even more essential for startups, as they can’t afford to feature employees that don’t immediately work at the pinnacle of their productivity.
Onboarding helps startups keep their hands on deck all of the time. An onboarding process also helps to reduce the chances of your company’s new employees leaving as soon as they get a better opportunity because employee retention is often a factor that decides which startup fails and which startup grows. The world of startups is highly competitive, and you need to do everything to stay on track.
4. Cultural fit shouldn’t be emphasized
There’s nothing more hazardous for your startup that hiring someone just because you share worldviews with them and because they seem cool. In the last two decades, the concept of cultural fit has grown in importance, and it denotes the way in which a potential hire is expected to go along with the company culture. The concept of remote working presupposes a blend of very distinct cultures, which may lead you to think that cultural fit should be high on the list of attributes you’d look for when hiring new employees.
In reality, hiring for cultural fits can get you to overlook other, more important factors – skills, experience, and interpersonal traits. It can also cause your company to become a team where anyone different would feel as an outsider. The end result of this kind of team would be lack of inventiveness because you’ll have everyone agree with everyone on everything.
Before you dive into the hiring process, make sure you’ve come up with a good strategy for it. Be creative and take your time to subject them to interviews, practical applications, and tests. Whether or not you’ve found the best employees for your startup will be proven through the experience of working together. However, by implementing meticulous and strict guidelines will ensure that you won’t waste your time while searching for them.