Finding the right talent isn’t just about finding someone to do a particular job. For a start-up, finding the right person (and at the right time) can really make your business.
Top challenges for Tech start-ups:
Recruiting talent is hard enough, even more so when you don’t have the financial power and household brand names like some businesses. Here are some challenges a typical start-up may face:
1. Hiring too fast– it’s easy to make the wrong decisions when you need to get a position filled quickly. We all know the consequences of hiring the wrong person/personality for your team – it can be disastrous!
TOP TIP – Take your time. Hiring the right person for your vacancy is important. If you don’t have the time to vet, partner with a specialist tech recruitment business (i.e. The ONE Group) and let them do the time-consuming bits of the recruitment process, so you can commit your time to reviewing suitable candidates.
2. Not being able to attract the right talent– Perhaps your brand is not very popular yet, or you simply don’t know how to market yourself like others in your market. It’s easy for candidates to overlook your business if you aren’t attractive or very well known.
TOP TIP – Get your EVP sorted. Make it a place people would want to work and then get them talking about it. It’s also worth using every social media platform you can to market your business – Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. It all helps to promote your name and boost your followers. What’s more, using the right recruitment business can often provide you with an excellent platform to promote your name across the candidate market.
3. Unattractive benefits package– Don’t worry, very few start-ups can offer the luxurious benefits that most big tech firms offer. But in the modern era, candidates are expecting a lot more than just their salary.
TOP TIP – Utilise different benefits to boost your package. Remote working is the hottest and most in-demand benefit within the tech community. Offering this costs only your trust in your employee. But if you can’t trust them to work at home, you probably shouldn’t be recruiting them. Equity is also another popular benefit for a tech start-up – it doesn’t cost you anything now and it ties that valued employee into staying the duration and being part of the wider business goals. There are also other benefits you can offer such as social events, payday perks or buying more holiday days etc.
4. Hiring too slow– Hiring too slow and dragging the interview process out beyond what’s required is all too common. You’ve all heard it before – good candidates don’t stick around too long. But it’s true. You need to act quickly when you find the right person. It’s important you make the interview process a smooth and engaging experience. Drag it out over weeks and don’t be surprised if you lose them.
TOP TIP – When you are ready to recruit, set aside time to commit time to interviews and reviewing applications. If you are using arecruitment partner, listen to their feedback. If you’ve picked the right recruitment partner, they should give you honest and consultative advice… listen to them, they do this day in and day out.
5. You need to sell it– With so much demand for tech professionals and so many start-ups, SMEs, and global tech firms hiring within the same candidate pool as you, it’s crucial you are able to sell your brand, business, and objectives well. But selling it the right way is important. Candidates don’t want to hear how great you are and what you’ve done to get where you are. They want to know what’s in it for them, and how is it going to benefit them.
TOP TIP – Within your “sell” of the business and opportunity, try to incorporate what they will learn, new skills to learn, how they can develop their career, where the company is going, its short, medium, and long-term objectives, and where they fit into this journey. Candidates want to know what’s in it for them.
The ONE Group understands and appreciates the challenges faced by tech start-ups in their early existence, particularly when it comes to hiring the right talent, which plays a significant part in any business’s success and why we recognise the benefit of offering a tailored recruitment package to our start-up clients so that we can partner with them closely ensuring we find the best talent for them, in the most cost-effective means.
Want to find out more? Why not talk to one of our Recruitment Consultants today?