[INFOGRAPHIC] Talent Acquisition Techniques Every Startup Should Employ
Note: For infographic head straight to the end of the post!
When you hear the term “startup”, what is the first thing that comes to mind: a lone genius with a great idea or a group of young people gathered in a small, open-plan office, running around and making things happen?
For me, it’s always the second one. No matter the idea, execution counts most. You and your college pal have a revolutionary idea that will change the way we go on a vacation/drive around town/communicate? Awesome! It will probably provide you a lot of media coverage at first, but what happens when you have to make a 100 000-pieces order on time? What happens when you have to provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience to an ever rising number of users?
That is where your team comes in! You need people who will help you scale your idea.
Unfortunately, assembling a team of people that have complementary skills, love to work together, and share your vision is hard, to say the least. Just think about all the trouble Justice League goes through more often than not to be the Justice League we know and love. There are always sparks!
In fact, Michael Chasen, CEO of Blackboard says that:
Hiring and building a great team is the number one challenge for CEO.
Everybody wants talented, diligent, innovative, enthusiastic and hard-working people on their team, which is perfectly normal, expected even, but these people are often pretty hard to find. The trick is to be patient, know where to look or where to look twice. In the following infographic, we are sharing top talent acquisition techniques that will help you assemble your winning team:
1. Social recruitment
Social media emerge as an effective way for HR managers to identify and hire a candidate. HR professionals are relying heavily on online content to evaluate both the professional competencies of a candidate and his cultural fit. More often, they are being proactive in their efforts, using social media to scout for people that stand out. That is something we recommend to you too. Be on the lookout for outliers and people who you believe can contribute to your team. Also, know where the people who fit the description of your perfect employee gather. For example, if you want to hire Millennials, your best bet is Twitter – 46% of Twitter users fall between the 18–29 year old category.
2. Diversity recruitment
Having a team that works well together and gets along doesn’t mean its team members agree on all points all the time. Not even most of the time. A number of studies showed that diversity in teams leads to better decision-making and fosters innovation. It’s logical. Different people bring different perspectives, they challenge each other and in the end, get to a better solution.
As Andy Zynga says, diversity is a means to overcome the cognitive biases that prevent people from seeing new approaches or engaging them when found. Research conducted by Stanford professor Lee Fleming and his colleagues on patterns in the teams behind patents, concluded that higher-valued industrial innovation is more likely to arise when diverse teams are assembled of people with deep subject matter expertise in their areas.
57% job seekers say they prefer job offers by companies that have a diverse workforce.
When searching for team members make sure to look for people with different specialties, personality traits and from different walks of life. Then, create an organisational culture that will allow each of them to bring their unique point of view to the table.
3. Workplace transparency
Being transparent about the pros and cons of your startup ensures long-term success and workplace satisfaction. Just like you want to find people that fit your requirements, you should also aim to fit their requirements and the only way you can do that is to be transparent. What good would it do to get a smart, capable and perspective employee just to watch her leave after a few months because her work there turned out to be something other than what you agreed on?
96% of job seekers say it’s important to work for a company that embraces transparency.
Be honest and upfront. Let your potential employees know what they can expect and why. It’s better they hear about the cons from you than from Glassdoor.
4. Mobile recruitment
They say that 2015 is the year of mobile recruiting. Job seekers increasingly use mobile devices to view a career site (72%) and apply for a job (45%). Unfortunately, many companies fail to take advantage of it. In fact, only 20% of companies say they have mobile optimized career site.
Make applying for a position at your company easy:
- Eliminate complicated and contra-intuitive ATS forms
- Create a career page where interested parties can read all about what you look for in potential employees and find the list of vacant positions
- Make your site mobile optimized
5. Employer branding
Everything we covered so far ties in with your brand as an employer. The reason why you are not getting as many job applications as you want is because:
- nobody knows about you, which is completely normal since you are just starting but again something you can easily change
- you carry the reputation of a bad employer
In business, as in life, reputation is everything. Monitoring and improving your reputation will help you attract, hire and retain great talent.
67% of job seekers said they would accept a lower salary if the company has exceptional reviews online.
What impacts your reputation the most is the relationship you have with your current employees. Your employees are you best brand advocates, when it comes to both your products and you as an employer, so make sure to invest in nurturing that relationship.
Here you go, the cream of the crop techniques for creating winning teams. What worked for you?
