The wheels have started moving through Phase 1 of your seed investment. It is an exciting time when start-up businesses move from concept to actualization, and Founders are faced with planning and implementing the launch and growth strategies.
One of the most difficult hurdles that start-up businesses face is recruitment of staff. While Founders are innovators, few have human resource or personnel management experience. And that is not a detriment to being funded by investors, as long as the business has acquired professional assistance with qualified recruitment consultants.
What are the foundational first steps to developing a hiring strategy and team structure for your business? What fundamentals of your culture will you have to define before you can start onboarding new staff? We’ll share some of the hurdles you can expect as a start-up business enterprise, and how our expert team at Urgenci Atlantic can help.
Identifying Unique Candidate Personalities and Soft Skills Essential for Start-Ups
In a room full of qualified professionals with the same education and work experience, only a small percentage will be interested in (and successful) in a start-up organization. Young professionals are more likely to take risks and understand the value of the diversity of hands-on experience that they can achieve with a start-up business. But for other types of candidates, a start-up environment can actually be disruptive and stressful.
Conventional candidates find that start-up businesses do not offer the predictability or rudimentary workplace structure they need. These types of professionals like narrowly defined job responsibilities, that do not change rapidly or frequently. They like a defined role and activities and are highly organized and focused on deliverables.
Consider that within a start-up business, there is a need to balance the spectrum of candidates. First, you need the risk takers, the creative thinkers, the gregarious innovators that bring a lot of energy to the work environment, and an unending amount of ideas, new approaches and solutions to problems.
At the same time, start-up’s benefit from some conventional hires in roles like human resources, supervisory and management, customer service, finance and other disciplines. The diligence that conventional employees bring helps stabilize the group, improve focus and delivery of objectives, quality work and scheduled team deadlines.
Hiring Top Professional Talent in a Candidate Driven Market
We may see the first shift in the labor market, that will break the norm of a candidate driven market, to one that is more advantageous to the employer.
As present unemployment rates are going up due to the current global health crisis, America has experienced an increase of 15% in national unemployment rates since February 2020. This is reflective of job loss in some primary industries, such as hospitality, restaurant, trucking and logistics and the entertainment sector.
Some analysts are predicting a robust economical recovery during the beginning of Q4. However, with more candidates looking for part-time and full-time employment, and with employers adjusting to smaller work teams, we might assume that the pendulum could swing quickly back to an employer driven market.
That may be true for the service sectors, but the demographic group that start-ups favor are Millennials, who are highly in demand in virtually every sector and niche profession. Some studies have estimated that for every successful start-up hire, there are up to 10 competing businesses offering salary, lifestyle and benefits packages to the same candidate. Multiple offers for highly skilled employees (the people you want on your team) are common now.
So, if supply of the ideal candidate hires for start-up enterprises is low, but demand is high, what kind of strategies can start-up’s implement for successful hiring and recruitment? What gap exists to create a structured hiring plan for each stage of business growth? That is where our human resource experts can help change your vision and objectives, into an executable cost-saving recruitment plan.
Without Staff and a Recruitment Strategy Venture Capitalists May Withhold Seed Money
Building a conscientious recruitment plan for your start-up is much more than a road map to who you want to hire by role name, and the number of people you will need to launch your business. A strategic plan that will satisfy investors and provide the in-depth analysis of the types of candidates that will support the technical, organizational, communication and aspirational goals of your business.
Venture capitalist investors first look to the leadership and management structure, taking a top-down view of the organization, and how it functions. Much of this information is provided with the business plan documentation, but typical questions and requirements that venture capitalists may pose include:
- Who are the cornerstone employees, that are essential for daily operations?
- What additions to the team will be required for launch and growth phases?
- A summary of projected staffing expenditures. Have you acquired an experienced HRM in-house or contracted consultancy to assist with regional or international recruitment?
While other evaluations including the business plan, start-up founder and partners are conducted, venture capital investors need to see a growth plan and strategy that identifies human capital, traits and skills and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) projections for each support role. Because hiring, onboarding and training, and even dismissal of bad hires can substantially impact start-up business costs, if they are not modeled on a lean budget with a strategic plan.
Why a Positive Culture Can Be a Recruitment Magnet for Start-Up Enterprises
When you think of the type of professional who is both skilled and enthusiastic about being part of a start-up business, you understand that these people are dynamic risk takers, creative thinkers, and almost obsessive about innovating solutions and achieving goals.
The start-up grind requires some relentless hard work in the planning and launch phase of the business. And since most start-up’s have a lean business model, there are usually less hands-on deck, with each team member fulfilling more than one function. Think hard work and long hours to make the Founder’s vision a reality.
It has the potential to be highly stressful. Technology start-ups are legendary in terms of the methods they use to create a workspace environment and business culture that supports their team. Whether that means unlimited free gourmet coffee and extra paid sick and vacation days, continuing education or health and retirement benefits; they find out what matters to their employees and provide it, to retain forward momentum.
Building a culture is more than creating designated nap rooms, great food and perks and incentives. It is also about the community. How are employee ideas encouraged? Are employees recognized for their contributions? Does the organization accredit success and growth to the collaborative performance of the team? These EQ factors are of equal importance to professionals, who want to feel excitement about going into work every day, fulfillment and a sense of belonging and accomplishment.
When you have established a corporate culture you are proud of, the next step is to share about your team. Whether it is philanthropic or volunteer events, special employee recognition and awards, new innovations for products or services, start-up businesses gain tremendous public relations benefit. Sharing the positive culture of your organization also helps recruit and retain talented candidates. Be loud about a great corporate culture on your blog, on your intranet (for the morale of your employees) and on social media.
It sounds like a lot of work doesn’t it? The good news is that you can outsource these functions, from strategic personnel planning to development of KPI’s and essential roles, and recruitment to our team at Urgenci Atlantic.
We use innovative and compliant methods to find our clients the top 3% of human capital talent in your region and provide recommendations to help you build a high-performance team. Start today by scheduling a consultation with us.
