Every business needs quality employees to help with the operations and growth of the company. Getting the right employees has never been an easy process. It is a process filled with its share of challenges especially when one is tasked with the responsibility of building professional relationships with someone you have just met and hardly know.
Resumes and cover letters do not tell it all. You need someone with the right skills and experience to do the job but more so someone who can fit in well with the culture of the company and shares the vision of the enterprise.
Hiring being such a challenging job, it’s understandable why companies sometimes make mistakes when hiring, especially startups. Read on for the five classic situations that start-up companies face when hiring and hopefully, you will find a way of avoiding them.
1. Affordability of Quality Staff. Availability of cash is one of the biggest issues facing startup companies. Businesses that are in their first leg of operation are always confronted with the problem of scarce resources. They find themselves in a situation where they need to recruit quality employees but are not able to meet their salary expectations or even compete with the high salaries offered by established companies. It becomes difficult for them to get high potential at a low cost.
2. Finding Employees, that Understand the Vision. The key to success is finding people who are willing to grow with the company. Startups tend to change as they grow. The biggest hiring challenge for a startup company is finding employees who understand that the firm is in the process of developing. When recruiting look out for someone who understands how they will fit into the equation of growth and remain motivated to be part of the team that wants to build the company into something.
3. Lack of Time. Many people involved in starting up a business usually have excitement. They are eager to take the company to the next level. In that case having a position that is not yet filled up can feel like a vacuum sucking up the good energy in the business. As a result, companies find themselves tempted to hire a substandard candidate quickly instead of waiting for a few more days or weeks for the right person.
Startups need to plan the hiring process way before the need arises. This due diligence enables them to strike a balance between hiring a person for a position versus hiring a great person regardless of the position. Never hire because you want to fill up a position.
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4. Unclear Assessment Criteria. Often small companies do not have time for the recruitment process. As such they tend to quickly create search criteria whose indicators have not well been thought through. Another common mistake is leaving the hiring process to people who have no idea of the roles being recruited for. If you happen not know what you are looking for, you will allow emotions and first impressions to interfere with your judgment.
Startup companies need to place equal importance on the recruitment process as other operational activities. Have a clear job description and put knowledgeable people in charge of the hiring process even if you have to outsource. Create enough time for preparing for an interview and ask questions that will help you in evaluating values and ability to work in a team.
5. Insurance Costs. When a small business is in its initial stages, it may not be required to pay insurance costs for its employees. However, as it expands and recruits more staff, then the healthcare legislation applies. Insurance costs become a concern to growing businesses as they take up a substantial share of the working capital which already is not enough to cater for the basic operation costs. Businesses should strive to comply as they look for alternative means of funding.
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