How To Hire The Right Employee For Your Startup

a number of team members looking for the right employee for their startup

A business owner with $50,000 startup money would need a few more hands to keep the ball rolling. The startup consulting services advise the business owners to employ the right employees for their business. However, the core business objective and goals can't be achieved by handling the business alone. The startup needs to have a helpful team and team of experts that know how to hire the right employee for your startup.

When a business is set, certain company culture is developed. It is developed with the help of current employees. Team building is crucial when the business is new, growing, or needing a new member to introduce some new skill and is why you need to understand how to hire the right employee for your startup.

Job candidates may turn out to be potential employees for your company. But to be sure about it, you need to analyze your business first. When you start a business, you know the type of business you are getting into. Apart from this, you will have to decide what kind of team you want as this team will play an important part in building a company culture.

A qualified candidate may or may not be the right person for your business. If you end up hiring the wrong candidate, it can result in a loss of finance, time, and managerial efforts, and you wouldn't want that. Start-up consulting services don't want the businesses to incur the loss of hiring the wrong person for the skill gaps in the business.

Analyze Your Company and Its Core Values

While setting up a business, one will need a plan. The plan would include; what the product is, what the business is about, how to run the business, how many employees will be needed, etc. Once you are done with this, you will also need to know your company values.

The core values of a business are the principles on which the business depends. They serve as guidelines for the business. Common core values are integrity, empowerment, accountability, diversity, etc.

The analysis is needed for you to understand your business needs completely. What skills will help your business to function efficiently and grow? How can you achieve your goals and have a good turnover? Employees are an essential part of any company. They are the fuel that keeps the work happening and delivers results on time.

man completing his resume for a startup position

When Should You Hire Employees For Your Startup

Understanding the importance of employees in a business, you would be wondering when is the right time to hire an employee. Some needs may point towards appointing a new team member.

  • Starting Up: When you start up a business, you can't do everything solely as a business owner. First, you have to start a hiring process. This is a way to meet the potential candidates for general roles of business. Generals roles like the salesperson, sales manager, production team, production manager, etc. A experienced startup consultant can help you evaluate the appropriateness of a new addition to the team.
  • A New Department or Skill Requirement: If there is a new department or a new skill needed in an existing business, you want new employees. New employees often build a bridge for any skill gaps. The skill gaps can range between social skills for a sales team, soft skills for the HR department, technical skills in the production team, etc. Key traits of a prospective candidate can make him or her a perfect candidate for the post you are on a job hunt for.
  • An Existing Employee Has Left or Retired: This is usually filled with referrals. This is based on an employee referral program. The employee referral program means that in-house employees or employees who have retired or left their job for some genuine reason may want to refer some new job candidate to replace them. That person may be the wrong person for the job you are seeking for.

Not all potential candidates are ideal candidates for the job opening. This is why the hiring manager should screen candidates before they select one. Therefore, a hiring process is involved before selecting the desirable candidate for the post.

Hiring Process

woman holding up a we are hiring sign at a startup firm

It is a very important part of any business. However, it requires a lot of investment in terms of time, resources, and funds. Hence, it is vital you have the right team show you how to hire the right employee for your startup. But then how can you know who is the right candidate and who isn't? Considering how important decision this is, how to hire the right employee for your startup.

As discussed, not every prospective employee is the right employee for your job. The future employee must have a certain skill-set as required by the job, but hiring makes sure you shortlist the qualified employees.

The entire hiring process is based on a few steps that are implemented. These steps take time and effort, and it is better to go through these steps with someone who has knowledge and experience in hiring people.

Some agencies work as independent contractors. Job seekers and contractors listen to the company and get to know the requirement of potential hires. They then look for potential hires. Finally, they search their talent pool to fill the vacancy in the business they are working for. This external service is outsourced by small businesses that don't have a hiring manager or a separate hiring team. However, many large companies also rely on saving time and effort.

saving time and money with a consultant

Whether filling the vacancy you adapt, doing it in-house with your team, or hiring a recruiting agency, it is important to go through the exact hiring process. If it is your first hire for the company or the 100th hire, the process remains the same. The hiring plan includes steps to lead you to active candidates.

  • Acknowledging the need for a new employee.
  • Job analysis for the post. This will let you understand what key traits and personality traits you want in the future team member. Also, there are many skills like social skills, interpersonal skills, and what type of person you want in your team. A job analysis will give you a guideline of what you are looking for.
  • Sending out word in the professional networks or searching through the employee referral program to see if any prospective hire is available. Of course, you will have to do the extra reference checks to ensure that the people referred are fit for the job.
  • If you don't get any referrals from your professional networks, you can now hire a recruiting agency or give ads in newspapers announcing vacancies.
  • All the candidates will start sending in resumes. This will include unqualified candidates, ideal candidates, and every prospective candidate. Once you shortlist the resumes, you have to start the hiring process.
  • Interview: This is the interview process. From the shortlisted resumes, you will call the candidates and make appointments for interviews. The interview process includes one-on-one meetings, whether in person or online. Interviewing includes different types of questions, unusual questions, open-ended questions, etc. An interviewer can also do a tour-based interview. Some interview experts recommend making the candidate meet half-dozen people from the existing team and see how the candidate behaves.
  • Written Tests: This may be required for every type of job. But some types of jobs like jobs that require people skills. For example, in HR, a candidate may have to appear in an exam.
  • Stimulation: These are scenario-based tests. The candidate is put in a work-related scenario, and their performance is monitored.
  • Selection Letter: The selected candidate is then given a selection letter discussing all the job details. Some sample employment letters include the onboarding process, payroll service, leave details, etc.

The recruiting strategy can be based on social media networks, professional networks, and an in-house system. Employment eligibility is a key to hiring the right person. Due to the pandemic, the corporate industry is more inclined towards online job boards. Online job boards introduce the business to potential candidates, and most of the hiring process is done inline. Additionally, hiring employees from difficult industries can help give your startup the inside track to how challenging that startup industry may be.

Why Is Hiring the Right Person Essential

group of young happy people working together

We understand how to employ a new teammate, but why is it important to have the right person? From the employees' perspective, they want better employee incentive programs. They are ordinary people who want to join a valuable team with great team leaders.

An innovative team is made with potential teammates with good interpersonal and talent. This additional talent can be very useful if the employee is the right person.

The right employee is important for the company for the following reasons:

  • Lower Turnover Cost: the best-fit candidate means that they will make valuable contributions to the business. This will result in lower costs in the long run.
  • Time: hiring a new teammate means investing a lot of time. This time is worth lots of money, and sacrificing the time for many other chores that could have been done. So, invest time wisely.
  • Team Building: with each new member, you build your team and make the company infrastructure. You want to build a strong team that helps with your business plan.
  • Business Growth: the right person will help towards business growth while the wrong candidate can do the opposite. The right candidate can save the cost of employing additional people for some relative tasks. They can easily fulfill the job and complete tasks for their team.

Tips for Hiring the Right Person

man hired at startup with increasing profits behind him

How can you hire the RIGHT person? Employing a person is one thing, but employing the right person can be different. A company can thrive with the right team members.

  • Job Description: Craft a job description that focuses on the employees' interests. This attracts more potential candidates. It is more like a marketing strategy, and you want to attract the best candidate. This will also help you restrain from unqualified candidates. If the job description focuses more on what the company can do for the employee than vice versa, it will appeal to more eligible candidates.
  • Up Your Recruitment Game: You need to go beyond job board sites. Nowadays, people are inclined towards searching for a job through social media networks. Take advantage of that. You can find many young and qualified people through these platforms.
  • Better Interview Process: With the same pattern, candidates know what it will be like. It won't be proper scrutiny of the candidates. Instead, it is advised to go for some unusual questions, tour-based testing, etc. All these things will unveil the true personality of the candidate. You will better be able to judge the skills and personal traits. This will help you decide how beneficial that candidate can be for your team or whether they will be the wrong choice.
  • Assess the Personality: Instead of judging based on academic achievements and experiences, go for the soft skills. Please look at how they deal with other teammates you introduce them to. See if they are curious about what the work is or what the business is about. If they readily give advice or feedback, it shows their interest in the work and the teammates.
  • Don't Settle for Less: If you didn't find a suitable candidate on the first screening. Start the process again. Don't settle for anyone less than what you want. This will increase your cost in the long run if you settle for an under-qualified person. Instead, do the process again and see if you find a candidate that you require.

Final Thoughts On Hiring For A Startup

It is of vital importance to hire the right person for your business. The right person will also increase the percentage of employee retention for your company and increase employee engagement.

A positive environment for the teammates and the entire company will result in better productivity. Prospective hires can bring a change you want to see in your company. They can result in lowering the cost in so many ways. So, be careful during the entire hiring process. You should now have an ability to identify how to hire the right employee for your startup.

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