Employees don’t just help bring revenue, but they also contribute to the growth of the business by keeping the stakeholders happy with their efforts and initiatives. They convert ideas into reality meeting the organizational goals and objectives. No doubt, business is a very human-centric activity that is impossible without quality people. That’s why the selection of right people is not an easy task and for startups and it becomes even more difficult due to limited resources and break-even pressure. Usually, smart hiring is the obvious reason of successful startups whereas wrong hiring is often the valid cause of startup failures. Sadly, the percentage of latter is much higher than the former. There are 5 major reasons that make hiring a big challenge, but smart entrepreneurs rely on alternatives that enable them to beat these issues quite easily. 

5 challenges before start-ups in finding the good talent

1. Pressure of starting the operation

The initial stage of a business always demands big expenses in terms of infrastructure cost, machines and equipment and procurement of the basic business essentials. The heavy outflow of the money increases pressure to start operation as early as possible. Whereas startups usually don’t have reserved workforce or any batch of existing employees who may take the charge on a single call. Consequently, to recover the early expenses, startup entrepreneurs take hasty decisions in recruiting the employees. They avoid long-term losses over short-term recoveries and that leads an organization towards a complete fiasco. 

2. Not having a hiring experience

To avoid huge salary burdens young startups don’t invest in a full-fledged HR department and people from Finance or Operations take the additional responsibility of HR Manager. Hence the lack of experience in a particular domain and shared focus deviate the startups from systematic selection procedures and they end-up hiring the people mainly on a reference basis. Such quick decisions don’t allow them to test the skills and aptitude of the candidates; things come into the notice, with the passage of time when problems become the routine activities of the business.  

3. Weak negotiation skills 

Lack of experience in the field of HR influences hiring decisions and while negotiating with experienced candidates, recruiters in startup organizations face problems while negotiating over the salary and perquisites. Sometimes they agreed to offer the salary far more than the market value and sometimes they make unnecessary bargaining efforts with candidates best suited to the organizational needs. Moreover, they feel apprehensive of hiring a professional HR consulting firm, and once they hire an agency they demand immediate results. Poor negotiation skills keep away the right people and grant an easy entry of the less deserving candidates. 

4. Lack of clarity about the organization culture

Successful employers always have a clear vision of the company’s culture, and they hire people who may easily adapt and fit into the established or desired culture. Such employers promote their company’s culture in all sorts of communications, especially in the messages related to recruitment and selection. Clarity about the organizational culture mutually helps the employer and employee in understanding each other. A candidate knows in advance that what makes the working environment special and why he/she must accept or reject the offer. On the other hand, a culturally misfit employee cannot go along with the organization and its people in the long-run.  

5. Inefficient assessment tools 

If the startup is not clear about its targets on the monthly, quarterly and yearly basis, it cannot set rational targets to employees and neither can it accurately assess the performance of employees. This asymmetry of goals and purposes badly affects the appraisal and promotion mechanism and whatever tool employer use to evaluate the performance of the employees it gives inaccurate results. These inefficient evaluation methods cause dissatisfaction among the good employees and they start taking less interest in the growth of the organization. 

The change in course 

Nowadays, startups are learning from their mistakes, they are realizing that unprofessional hiring approach is a big threat to them in skyrocketing competition. They are investing time and resources in understanding the actual requirement of business and what skills and attitude they expect from their employees. Hence more targeted hiring is the objective of prudent and successful startup entrepreneurs today. 

5 strategies startups are adopting to deal with hiring challenges

1. A complete understanding of the mission and vision

Thorough and proper understanding of company’s vision, mission, and goals help employers to clearly explain their needs and what they expect from their employees. Secondly, this clear tacit with vision and mission enables them to set clear goals for the employees from the day one. The ultimate benefit of this approach is zero conflicts between employer’s expectations and employee’s aspirations, and both the entities can negotiate positively over compensation and other issues.  

2. Hiring the people already well aware of organization

Hiring a person who is already familiar with mission, vision, values, and work culture of the organization always benefit a business if the prospective candidate is positively influenced by the information he/she is equipped with. Friends, fans, and followers on social media are the part of this category. They are the people who enjoy the work, take self-initiatives, and speak good about the organization in their social circles. They take interest in upgrading their skills and seek a long-term relationship with the employer. 

3. Promoting the work culture both inside and outside the organization

There is no other strategy effective than word of mouth publicity that begins inside the organization and spreads all over. And, it is the work culture or environment that appeals the potential employees more other than salary and designation. A friendly and conducive work environment not only helps startups in retaining their star employees but also lures the best talent available in the industry through word of mouth publicity. These days, startups are introducing many workplace learning and fun activities to get the attention of people on social media.    

4. Branding on digital platforms

With the advent of social media and digital marketing, brands are capable to expand their reach by leaps and bounds at a very low cost. These branding activities are not only aimed to promote the product or service of startups, but social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are very useful to attract the desirable talent without the involvement of placement agencies. Posts related to the employee of the month, star of the year, training, webinars, contests and other happening activities on digital platforms showcase the culture of an organization and entice others for career opportunities in a company. 

5. Motivating the current employees

Beyond good monetary rewards against their services, employees expect respect, recognition, professional growth, and promotions from their organizations. These are the career needs of every employee who honestly participate in the growth of the organization. Startups who proactively motivate their employees with such rewards build a strong team of dedicated and loyal employees, who not only deliver their best but also inspire others to cue them. For many young start-ups keeping the employees motivated is a great tactic to attract the best talent in the market.