There are a lot of stressful things to consider when starting a small business. From finding people who care about your vision as much as you do, to making sure you’ve got the right internal skillset, the recruitment process is definitely one of the most difficult and time consuming parts.
Anybody that’s gone through this process will confirm just how important it is to build a team with the same values, ethics, drive as you do.
Helping numerous startups and small businesses form their teams has allowed us to make some recommendations to help you build yours. Here’s four of our top tips to do just that.
- Think carefully before hiring friends or family
While it’s easy to turn to friends and family when starting a company as there’s existing relationships and trust, think very carefully before going ahead with employing a friend or family member.
Be sure that you’ve considered how your existing relationship may change when bringing them in as an employee. Make sure you’ve both set clear boundaries within a contract just like any other employee so there’s clear expectations made for both sides.
There are many famous companies throughout history which started based as either a family or friend collaboration that didn’t work out, so take this as a warning that it can happen to any company. While this may not be the case for everyone, be sure that you’ve properly thought out the situation and all possible outcomes prior to going ahead with hiring anybody.
- Write a good job description
To make things easier for you and the person you’re searching for, it’s really important to make sure that you write a detailed and accurate job description. This will help you find the exact person that you’re looking for, as well as help them find you.
Make sure that you include all responsibilities and desired skills for the role and think in detail about how this person will fit in with the wider team. It’s much easier to make sure that you’re 100% across this before hiring them, rather than figuring it out once they start.
- Culture
Culture is what truly defines a company and sets them apart from their competitors. How your employees and customers view the business will become a large part of how and what your company grows into over time.
While skills can always be taught, personality and culture fit can’t be learnt or changed. Make sure you hire people with the same values and enthusiasm as you to make sure they will always be an asset to your business no matter what the skills that may have.
A great example of this in practice is Apple Retail. They hire their technical staff based on their personality and ability to be compassionate, enthusiastic and explain things to customers without jargon. They intentionally don’t hire overly technical or IT qualified staff in their retail teams and instead train them on everything they need to know once they start. As one of the most successful companies in the world, this is a clear indication that culture is often far more important than experience or skills.
- Look for those not looking
When hiring for a small team or startup, it’s really important that you find the best people to help build your company. Often the best candidates aren’t actually looking for jobs, so you have to go and find them rather than letting them come to you. It’s helpful to look beyond the obvious talent pools in order to find that dream candidate that fits in perfectly with your team and has the same vision and goals to align with your brand.
This is where we come in at Discovered People. We’re experts at finding those unicorn candidates that perfectly match into the role you’re hiring for.
Looking for a recruitment agency to help you hire for your startup? As Tank Stream Labs recruitment partner we know exactly how important it is to find the best person for your company. Get in touch with us here.