Hiring the right talent for your startup

Most founders attest that staff recruitment is a challenge. They can raise money, find business partners, make sales and close deals but staff recruitment still remains a key challenge. Worse still, the funds at their disposal do not allow the possibility of hiring a recruitment firm to handle the staff recruitment process. Therefore, as a founder you would need to wear the recruitment hat and do it yourself. But what are the key factors to consider while hiring staff?

Previous experience
Startups suck out a lot of energy. They demand individuals with a strong mental stamina. That is why an individual with a previous startup experience would have an idea of what it takes to work for one. On the other hand, a large corporation perspective may have the toughest time in working for a startup.

Experience time frame
The last thing you would want from an employee working for your startup is someone who is a job hopper. Practically, they would not bear the heat. That is why you would need a tenacious individual evidenced by at least two to three years of experience with an employer.
For individuals without job experiences, it would be key to look at what personal projects of relevance to your startup they have run before and what accomplishments they have had.

Creativity, ambitions
You are hiring for a startup that will demand creativity from the get go. As such, you could consider asking applicants to employ an aspect of creativity in their applications. A red flag should be raised for applicants that do not employ creativity in their quest for a job. Beside the creativity, it would be important to weigh their ambitions. A startup employee who aspires to be a founder one day will most likely appreciate the startup experience.
Ultimately, the startup recruitment process is not cut in stone. It will be upon the founder to create a process that best works for him or her and most probably keep recruiting to source out for that ‘A’ team that will propel the startup to the next level.