May 18th, 2023
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Hello!
You must have heard or even tried out several recruitment methods for your Startup’s different hiring needs across all levels. Well, there’s an all-in-one option you should switch to. I’d tell you about it.
In Today’s Edition
- Working with Recruiters for Early Stage Startups
- Best Onboarding Tools to Jump on This Year
- Bootstrapping Vs Venture Capital: Which is Best for Your Startup?
- Eghosa Nehikhare on How Multigate Is Advancing Africa’s Economy
Working with Recruiters for Early Stage Startups
When you start working on your Startup, it’s always easy to maintain quality and commitment from your most valuable resource - people. As the company grows, you have to fight the decreasing quality problem - i.e. The founders (all “10s”) hire the second wave of employees (who are mostly “9s”), who hire others (“8s'' or below) until the company is full of mediocre people who drag the whole place down.
So how do you find good people?
The founders probably know some quality people from other jobs and companies, but these people are usually only in the founders’ area of expertise. You can get referrals to good people from your investor, friends, and past colleagues, but this only goes so far. There are several emerging job matching/placement services being developed on the Internet but these too are limited. At some point, you will need to make a classic decision of "make or buy" - either invest in developing an internal recruiting program or enlist the services of a professional.
The “Do It Yourself” Option. The benefit here is that you will save short-term cash by not having to pay a pro. The negatives are great - will you devote the time to recruiting, or will you put it off to deal with short-term fire drill problems? Do you have the knowledge and contacts to do a good job? In recruiting, you will be presenting an image of the company to the industry - so take it seriously.
The “Hire the Pro” Option. This will cost you cash in the short run, maybe even significant cash, but it may pay off in the long run by getting you good people while allowing you to focus on your core strengths. There are a number of types of “pros” and the choice depends on your recruiting needs.
Retained Search. These are the very best and most expensive recruiters. They are used for CEO/MD or VP-level searches, and they generally work as follows. The search firm works with you to scope out what you really need by getting an understanding of your business, plans, and strategy. This is particularly key in earlier stage business where you may think you need a controller for short-term cash management but what you might really need is a CFO who can develop and implement a financing strategy. In larger companies, the evolved organizational structure may define the needs more clearly. The search firm should have a clear idea of your corporate culture, especially when a senior-level person is a goal - an Interswitch VP with 15 years of experience may sound great on paper but could be a disaster for a young entrepreneurial company. The search firm will develop written job specs and a list of companies to be searched for candidates. You should review this list with the search firm - e.g. you may not want them contacting people at a firm you have targeted as a strategic partner etc.
Once the search begins, the search firm will be actively managing the process - both with your company (lining up interviews and ensuring follow-through) and with the candidates identified. The firm will usually provide written reports/summaries of the job interviews and impressions. of/from the candidate and your people. For promising candidates, references will be checked - both candidates provided and those identified through independent research.
How do you choose a retained search firm? As with any service provider, you need to ask people you trust who know the players. The knowledge and experience of the search firm in your industry are important as well as the chemistry between you and the search executive. Few startups in Africa use the retained search approach since their fees are considered prohibitively expensive.
The price? The retained search firm usually gets 1/3 of the budgeted first-year cash compensation for the position (base plus bonus). Stock options are usually not factored in. So for a $150,000 position, the search firm will get $50,000, of which 1/3 is paid when you retain the firm, 1/3 after thirty days, and the balance after sixty days. These expenses might average $800 to $1,000 or more per month. Typical high-level searches are concluded within 60 to 90 days of initiation. Many search firms shy away from dealing with early-stage startups, but those who are active in this sector may be willing to take some stock instead of cash - e.g. up to 30% of the fee. However, think twice about giving up equity - it could be the most expensive hire if the company takes off.
Contingency Searches. Contingency search firms are usually used for middle-level/multiple-position searches. Unlike retained search firms, you pay only when they deliver someone you hire, and they typically charge about 10- 20% of the first year's cash base compensation. Typically, you may not receive the same level of service when it comes to organizing the position, and it's still necessary to take charge of that task yourself. Also, managing the process and conducting reference checks may not be as comprehensive. You should count on receiving a “flood” of resumes, and you may have a good deal of work to do in sorting through them to find the right type of person. Some search firms may make "cold calls" to find candidates, but often the resumes received are from individuals actively seeking a new job or currently unemployed. This is not necessarily bad-you just need to factor it into your decision. Our recruiting team at CareerBuddy also supports startups with contingency searches.
Do It Yourself with Unbundled Assistance. You don’t have to make a total “make or buy” decision. You can do some of it yourself and hire experts in particular areas. For example:
Contract Recruiters. For a minimal fee on a per-project or per-role basis, contract recruiters will assist you in running an in-house recruiting operation. They might come in one day a week and work with your staff in defining position specs and organizing the process.
Advertising on Job boards. The old “Help Wanted” ad worked for the right jobs. Expect to pay a good amount for multiple job postings on LinkedIn, Indeed, Jobberman, BrighterMonday, or any of the popular job boards. Job boards like every recruiting channel have their advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages is you get to reach a large number of applicants. Although screening candidates online can have its benefits, it can also backfire if you end up wasting countless hours sifting through heaps of irrelevant resumes and still not finding the right fit for the job.
The All-in-One Option: At CareerBuddy, we created the Embedded Model, which is a combination of executive search, on-staff recruitment pro, and contingency model. This saves you money while providing you with the best possible recruitment solution. We place a recruiter on your team that fits your startup like a glove. An ideal recruiter should create internal systems, conduct executive searches for passive job-seekers, and possess a comprehensive understanding of your company's core values and vision to represent it to global talents. What more? It’s on subscription: you can turn it on when demand is high and turn it off when you are not hiring so much. The recruiter also has access to CareerBuddy’s technology and other resources. So you get the best of all worlds.
Ready to do recruitment without hassle? Learn more about CareerBuddy’s Embedded Model and talk with us to get started.
COMING UP
All You Need to Know About Employer Branding at Workshift 2.0
Employer Branding also remains one of the premium tools for attracting top candidates and hiring right. We will be diving deep into it at the second edition of Workshift with CareerBuddy this June.
and it’s going to cover everything you need to get started building an amazing employer brand that attracts the best of the best.
Yet to secure yourself a seat? You don't want to miss out on this one.
P.S.: We are only admitting 100 participants and slots are getting filled fast! So hurry now to register.
SPECIAL FEATURE
Supercharge Your Remote or Hybrid Team Collaboration 💪
Miro is the leading visual collaboration platform that empowers remote, in-office, and hybrid teams to collaborate across formats, tools, channels, and time zones — without the constraints of physical location, meeting space, and whiteboards.
CORPORATE CULTURE AND TEAMS
Best Onboarding Tools to Jump on This Year
Tech companies have taken it upon themselves to create a plethora of tools to make the onboarding processes easier.
But with every company claiming their onboarding tool is the best, how do you know which are worth your time and which ones you shouldn’t give a thought to?
Whether your team works onsite or remotely, here are the latest onboarding tools for your consideration, according to other HR managers & employers like you.
Additional Resources:
We have a library full of helpful resources for employers on our blog. I snipped a couple for you:
Access our Human Resource Guides
Access our Job Descriptions Directory
Access our Interview Questions Directory
AS SEEN ON TWITTER
Bootstrapping Vs Venture Capital: Which is Best for Your Startup?
Twitter has become a school with endless resources, every week I will be sharing useful tweets that will be beneficial to you as you continue to build amazing products. Click on the images to view the thread.
MEME OF THE WEEK
AI TOOLS OF THE WEEK
AI Tools you should be using to make your work easier
Spellbook- a legal AI tool that uses OpenAI’s GPT-3 to review and suggest language for your contracts, right in a Word document.
Sidekick- helps you power smart calendar scheduling.
Zendesk - a customer service platform that uses AI to automate tasks associated with managing customer support.
Craiyon - an AI image generator that can be used for various purposes, including generating design mockups.
Reply - a sales engagement platform that leverages AI to help sales teams find new leads, engage them via multiple channels, and create endless opportunities at scale.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“In business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.”
– John Mariotti, The Enterprise Group
ABOUT CAREERBUDDY
Hire Smarter, Not Harder
At CareerBuddy, we make hiring seamless for fast-growing companies, we pride ourselves on knowing the best people that will excel in a Startup. With a candidate retention rate of 90.3%, it is safe to say “We are the best in the game for Startup hiring in Africa”.
We have worked with our partners to hire both for Technical and Non-Technical roles, we have also helped them with expansion in Africa. Some of our clients include Bamboo Invest, Helium Health, Cassbana, Cadana, Fincra, CrowdForce, Casava, TeamApt, Sabi, etc.
Are you hiring at the moment? Contact us