Without a proper recruitment strategy, it’s easy for start-ups to lose sight of their initial vision, says Chuck Cohn, writing for Forbes.com.
Recruiting new team members is an exciting stage in your startup’s development. But you will need to invest time and energy to get it right. So how can you ensure that your business vision survives an expansion drive? Cohn describes four steps for scaling your startup recruitment drive:
1) Recruit for core traits. Before you start recruiting, clearly define the roles you are recruiting for – what core skills, attributes and qualities are you looking for in a candidate?
What characteristics will an applicant need if they are going to be successful in the open role? Make job descriptions as specific as possible to attract the most suitable applicants.
Select applicants according to your core traits rather than limiting yourself to those with direct work experience. This will give you a broader applicant pool – particularly important for startups recruiting for new or unusual roles.
2) Build an assessment scale. “Your company’s recruitment efforts should involve multiple people within the organisation,” says Cohn.
Using your chosen core traits to evaluate applicants will make the recruitment process fair and enable team members to understand why candidates were approved or rejected.
3) Write a core set of questions. Creating a number of set interview questions allows you and your team to effectively assess each candidate according to your chosen core traits. Use these questions as a checklist to ensure that every interview is fair and you don’t forget to discuss important topics.
Each conversation with an applicant should, of course, be different. But these core questions will provide a strong foundation to make sure the interviews are consistent.
4) Simplify your processes with technology. “A dedicated recruitment system is a key component in scaling up your hiring efforts,” advises Cohn.
Cloud software, in particular, allows every member of the recruitment team to view and update information on every applicant in real time.
Use technology to streamline the early stages in your recruitment process, advises the author. In-person interviews should be reserved for the last round of hiring to maximise your resources.
Video conferencing software such as Skype makes for efficient communication between applicants and interviewers early on in the hiring process.
Carefully planning your recruitment strategy will yield more high-quality candidates and protect your startup’s core vision.
Cohn concludes: “With a properly designed recruitment strategy, you can standardise your practices, reduce costs, and grow in an efficient and thoughtful manner.”