Tech Startup Hiring Advice - Build a Pipeline of Exceptional Talent by Ensuring These Boxes are Checked
As 2019 comes to a close and 2020 is quickly approaching, Tech Startup hiring managers and HR business owners are becoming more and more challenged in building a pipeline with top candidates. At Cloud Executive Search, we speak to candidates and hiring executives every day. These are the top concerns routinely shared and how you can ensure your business secures the very best talent in 2020.
Efficient Hiring Process
The first thing that MUST be in place when recruiting top talent is a sound hiring strategy. Exceptional talent is interviewing you just as much as you are interviewing them. If your candidate experience is dysfunctional, not structured, and you do not build a relationship or communicate often throughout the process, you stand the risk of putting off the candidate. For example, most companies will have candidates speak with several people throughout the process; however, is that process structured or loosely defined? Does each of those colleagues conducting the interview have a well-scripted interview plan? Does that plan feed into the larger hiring strategy so you can quickly determine if the candidate is a good fit? Are you selling the value of your company to the candidate throughout the process? Lets also not forget, the vast majority of top candidates are off the market in less than two weeks. Your interview process MUST NOT be laborious with meaningless steps. Scheduling interviews MUST take priority above all other daily tasks (unless the sky is falling) in order to move the process along as quickly as possible.
Limited Brand Awareness
In our experience, most startups want to hire those who have worked for startups. This is primarily due to the myriad of challenges associated with working for startups – limited resources, lack of brand awareness, expectation to wear many hats, business processes not clearly defined or still need to be outlined, lack of tools, etc – the list goes on and on. If you are hiring for sales, business development, channel or marketing, it is critical to have capital reserved for in-market branding. You MUST ensure the candidates you want have a clear understanding of your growth strategy and milestones in place to achieve those growth metrics. Candidates willing to work for a startup know the upside, but you will need to clearly outline how they will be successful along with the investments to ensure an effected strategy.
Selling the Career Opportunity
For the most part, people want to feel appreciated and rewarded. Within startups, this translates to equity and career growth. You will need to have an approved corporate message each executive leader stands behind so your selected candidate knows if they perform, there is career advancement. Today you maybe 50 employees, but what happens when you are 200 employees in the next 12 months – “what is in it for me [candidate].”
Competitive Compensation Package
There is a misconception that startups who just raised millions of VC have money to burn in salaries, marketing, R&D, etc., which to some extent is true; however, the reality is that most startups are extremely judicious in how they deploy capital. This can be a challenge when vying for the very best talent since they are probably getting offers competing with yours. Additionally, top candidates know what they are worth. If your compensation package is structured for the B or C team, don’t be surprised when you can’t secure an A player. The old saying “penny wise and pound foolish” best describes the risk with having the wrong comp plan for the type of candidate you must have. It’ll cost you more down the road with a hire from the JV squad, than investing in the best talent for future growth.
About Cloud Executive Search
Cloud Executive Search is the Cloud industries premier Recruitment Agency supporting many of the leading Cloud Suppliers, Master Agents/Distributors, VARs, MSPs, and forward-thinking industry leaders. Our primary focus is on pre-sales positions: Sales, Business Development, Channel, Sales Engineering, Operations, Marketing, etc. Our experience lies in years of leadership roles within the Telecom, Data Center and Enterprise Software industries. As individual contributors and global executives, we have done the jobs our clients are looking to fill on their team. We've built organizations, recruited top talent and grown revenues as a result and are now taking our approach to disrupting the Talent Acquisition Industry! We are not a company of recruiters, we are a group of executives that help our clients build world-class teams.