Startup Hiring: A Step-by-Step Guide to Recruiting Your First Team

Recruiting employees for a startup is like assembling a band; the team’s collective effort is essential for growth. In a report by CB Insights, hiring the wrong team is cited as one of the reasons why startups fail, with a founder citing an inability to make key hires as their Achilles heel. Startup hiring is one of the key indices of potential effectiveness. 

Team dynamics can influence communication and decision-making. Achieving your goal is dependent on your hiring process, so it is crucial to get it right. This article will cover steps to guide you in recruiting your first team and increasing your odds of survival.

10 Steps for Recruiting your first team

• Have a strong employer brand: Do you want to pull a Meredith Grey and get candidates to “pick you, choose you, and love you”? You have to build your employer  brand. If you want to convince early hires to take a gamble with you and buy into your exciting idea, you must present your startup as a great choice. It can be anything from a personal blog to a newsletter; leverage social media and get people pumped and ready to buy into whatever idea you have. Build its reputation and define your company values to make it a place people want to work. The company values can be highlighted on the website in the about us section or shared on social media. Documentation is an excellent way to create content and build the employer brand.

• Determine your hiring needs: Defining what you want takes you one step closer to finding it. Evaluate your goals, growth trajectory, and the necessary positions you need to fill across finance, operations, project development, etc. Assess the function of each role, chain of command, and the total number of people required.  To help you stay on track, you should use a timeline. Estimate the number of months you would need to fill these roles and your hiring budget. Your budget covers salaries and benefits such as health insurance for candidates and other hiring costs for recruiters or agencies

• Develop your hiring process: Take your time to research and find out the process that works for you. How will you source candidates? What is your interview style? Are you making preferenca e for skill over experience? Do you have a probation period, and for how long? These are vital questions to ask yourself, so take your time and do not rush through them. Building a strong team takes time, so acknowledge the talent scarcity and consider hiring junior hires to grow along with the company. Developing a hiring process prevents you from being overwhelmed and going for the wrong candidate. Your hiring process is continuous, and you should constantly be on the lookout for top talents and consider any situation that may result in you being short-staffed.

• Source for candidates: Startups can explore different channels to get early hires and set up the first team. Leverage your network via Twitter and LinkedIn and ask industry professionals or enthusiasts to refer a candidate. Internal and external referrals are a great way to manage a limited hiring budget and referred candidates have higher retention rates and faster candidate—to-hire conversion. You can also explore LinkedIn by viewing profiles that align with your hiring needs and reaching out. You can use a job board for your hiring needs and reach a large audience. You can use resources such as  Indeed or Tamborin to search for remote talents in tech across Africa. Industry events are another great way to source candidates for your startup.

• Write a compelling Job description: You will pitch to investors on your startup journey. But, your first pitch is to potential employees with a creative job description to attract top talent. Your job ad should provide enough information about the role, the company, the requirements, and the benefits. When writing about the company, you should include unique attributes that will make a good impression on candidates. Craft a story that will resonate with applicants by leveraging your mission, values, or plan for growth. Consider the career page of Curacel, an insuretech startup that highlights the mission, the products, and the team, which is fully remote, young, ambitious, and passionate. Write about the job using a clear job title and detailing the role’s responsibilities. Use active voice when describing tasks; for instance, you will influence design-led thinking across the business”. Specify the role’s core responsibilities and include keywords candidates will use to search for related positions. Split the requirements for the role into must-haves and nice-to-have. Must-haves are non-negotiable requirements needed to thrive in a position. For instance, a job ad for a technical product manager on Tamborin lists must-have requirements as “What you need to have done in your career” and includes;

• 3+ years of experience in Product development.

• Demonstrate the ability to create, update and maintain product documentation

• Ability to assess and ascertain technical risks

The nice-to-have section isn’t a requirement but is a plus and includes;

• Experience working at a Fintech or Fintech Startup focused on Mobile Money Services

• Prior experience with leading a Product team

• 2+ years of experience as a Software Engineer building production-grade applications

Your job ad should also include benefits such as salary, growth opportunities and training, health insurance and, other perks.

• Offer great benefits: Determine compensation for each role by researching the going rate in your industry via Glassdoor and other resources. Salary reviews based on growth and performance and other perks can help to keep employees loyal.  Your offer can include monetary compensation such as a signing bonus, referral bonus, performance or, stock options. Other perks such as vacation days, health benefits, remote work, flexible work hours, opportunities for growth, maternity leave, etc., can be included in your package to entice applicants. To attract top talents, you can take a cue from Helium health and offer good working conditions such as; early closing time, working from home, and employean e stock ownership plan (ESOP) to employees. 

• Consider hiring remote: A lot more startups are remote or start remote before expanding. Remote work is an additional perk for applicants, widens your talent pool, and increases your options.

• Have a selection process: Provide a seamless process to collect applications, preferably online submissions that request applicants’ contact details, resumes, interest in the role, and interest in the company. Collate the submissions, review resumes and responses and screen applicants for core competencies. Shortlist your top candidates for interview screening which can happen in 2-3 rounds, to assess applicants’ experience, skills and culture fit. You can use a test to assess applicants’ skills for technical roles. You should also reach out to references to get some insights about the applicants; their work culture, character, skills, etc.

• Hire for potential: Hire applicants with the potential to grow with your startup. Depending on your culture and growth trajectory, you should find individuals who will evolve along with the company and easily take on different roles. Experience is good, but other attributes such as integrity, work ethic and attitude matter. Soft skills like communication and interpersonal skills are also essential as team members will be working closely and need to be open to learning and correction.

• Close the deal quickly: Once you have your ideal applicant and have screened via your interview, close the deal quickly. Send your offer across, and once it is signed, begin your on-boarding process. Ultimately, the first team plays a vital role in a startup’s success, so getting it wrong is not an option. Take your time to find the best fit and assemble the dream team to grow your business. “Avengers, assemble!”