The key to a successful startup is a driven, hardworking team. Big companies and established corporations lure their employees by touting a slew of benefits, high salaries, company prestige, and free bagels.
As a young company, you still need to recruit the best and brightest team to drive your upward trajectory, but you may not be able to offer all the perks that come with a big company. So how do you get people interested in working for your startup?
Aside from word of mouth and face-to-face networking, attracting the right candidates is all about standing out online. Hundreds of companies are out there looking for top talent to join their teams. If your job posting and website aren’t up to snuff, potential employees will glide right past your listing.
Here are a few ways to get the right candidates interested in your company.
Define who you are
Define your mission and values clearly before you start hiring. Knowing your company’s identity and needs will go a long way to attracting the talent you’re looking for. Once you’ve established your niche as a company, don’t be shy about sharing your values and goals.
Core values guide all of a company’s actions, and yours should be incorporated into everything you do. Weave them into your blog, website copy and social media. Tie the things you value to the benefits your company offers, even if they aren’t traditional benefits. Like attracts like, and if candidates don’t see that you stand for something, they probably won’t want to work for you.
Offer the right benefits
You may be a small company and not have the disposable capital to offer things like discounted gym memberships or free lunch every Friday, but there are a lot of other perks you can offer your employees that don’t cost you a ton—and will attract the candidates you want. For example, consider what your employees need. Many of them, when considering a job, don’t only have themselves to think about. They may have a family, so they need to look at how taking a new job will affect every aspect of their lives.
Consider offering family benefits that show your employees you’re invested in their complete future, not just their professional one. Offer in-office day care, paid parental leave, or the opportunity for remote work—which would mean your prospective employee doesn’t have to uproot their family.
Offer flexible schedules
The 9-to-5 workweek isn’t completely dead, but it’s certainly on the decline. With the rise in technology and the Internet, the world got a lot smaller, and many businesses are finding that this once-common schedule is no longer the best for their workers. With today’s technology, you can video chat with someone in China, start a business with someone across the country, and employ a top-quality team that has never met in person.
The right person for your team may not be in your backyard, and you should embrace that. State clearly in your job listing that working remotely is not only tolerated, but it’s encouraged. If your employees can get their jobs done on a schedule that works for them, you’ll be more likely to get the team you need.
Recruit for your culture
A potential employee’s skills and experience aren’t the only things that matter when building a team. Everyone who works for you should fit the culture of the company you’re creating. If your current team consists of young, driven employees who work until the job is done every night, chances are you won’t want to hire someone who, straight from a strongly corporate culture, wants to clock their time and get out, no matter what’s going on.
Make sure your interview process reflects who you are as a company, and also ensure your website, marketing materials, and job posting demonstrate that same information—as well as what you’re looking for in an employee. Many companies now put their culture front and center on their hiring page, so potential team members can judge right away whether or not they’re the right fit.
Armed with these tips, you’ll be able to make your job postings stand out in a sea of small businesses and startups. The right team will be knocking on your door in no time.
Photo credit: Lauren Kallen