Hiring passionate employees is imperative for building a strong foundation for your startup. After all, the company you establish is all because of the people you hire.
If you think about it, hiring is all about match-making. It’s about finding the perfect “fit” for your organization and trusting your instincts as you embark on this eventful journey. It’s also about understanding that only exposure and rich experience can bridge the gap between your instincts and a great hiring decision. Hiring is also about building bonds with individuals but most importantly, hiring is about inspiring – to trust your (potential) organization, to grow as the organization grows, and to work on the organization’s goals like your own (which can only happen if your personal goals align with them).
An employee is the biggest asset of a company and finding appropriate talent for your organization is very important. To help grow a process rapidly, you need the best-fit employees. After all, the company you establish is all because of the people you hire. Many talent recruiting agencies through their research have been highlighting the importance of human resources. We may say that with the new kind of business models being introduced every coming year, the emphasis is laid more on the human treasure than the infrastructure of a company. The initial step towards recruiting and finding the best talent for your company is building the right job description.
Thinking about Building a Startup?
Well, if you think that all you have to do to build a successful startup is look for investors and explain your idea, then you are wrong! In fact, you are missing the key element here – finding the right people who align with your organization’s vision. Creating a pool of employees with appropriate job descriptions is one of the most essential aspects of any organization, especially a startup.
A startup needs a visionary in the role of a CEO who is capable enough of leading the pack with the right decision-making. The CEO is the highest-paid individual in an organization, so he is likely to be the most liable person for every progress or decline recorded by the organization. He is supposed to be someone who can collaborate with every section of a startup. A product manager is the next in the hierarchy who is responsible to know the customer requirement through research and studies. Then work on the product to be introduced in the market along with his team and get the product ready for the client.
Doing the right marketing and pricing of the product so that the profits are established and the startup gets recognition in the market. No business can run without managing finances as it is like oxygen to a living being. A good chief finance officer with in-depth knowledge will be able to handle core financial operations from employee salary and tax issues to taking care of the financial payments of the company. He is like a finance minister of the company who does all the budgeting for the company.
We wanted our employees to get as involved as they could – even if it meant enthusiastically going the extra mile to cross the line of “job duties” and reach the other side of learning. So, you can say that one of the most important conditions of our job description was passionate individuals and the most rewarding part for our employees at that time was in-depth and invaluable learning.
There are many more sections too in an organization that has really important roles such as sales, customer grievances, etc which completes the organization. Back in 2011, when we were a newbie in the gaming industry, our hiring objective was to find passionate individuals who were leaders at heart and who were greedy to learn. In a nutshell, we were looking for Masters of all Trades! We came to the realization that along with accomplishing all the job-related duties, it was important for potential employees to know how to thrive in a startup culture by being willing to go beyond their job roles and making the organization’s goal their own. We wanted our employees to get as involved as they could – even if it meant enthusiastically going the extra mile to cross the line of “job duties” and reach the other side of learning.
So, you can say that one of the most important conditions of our job description was passionate individuals and the most rewarding part for our employees at that time was in-depth and invaluable learning.
Fresh Vs Experienced Talent
When we talk about new ventures, we usually think about the fresh talent just out of colleges who are ready to prove to the world their capabilities. Though, I believe that a startup must be the right mix of new and seasoned talent to create a perfect balance. As far as sources are concerned, startups can look for fresh graduates from universities who have a zeal to learn the concept of adapting to a workplace. They are full of energy with an out of box thinking which can prove beneficial to the organization by being creative.
In this competitive scenario, we need new ideas every single day and freshers can prove to be the best source of it. As a new startup cannot hire people for every section of the company, so they need someone who can be a jack of all trades, and a fresher is the right candidate for that, as he is curious to learn. To balance the equilibrium of the organization, a set of seasoned talent can also be captured from the market. There are certain sections in an organization where it is almost impossible to expect the accomplishment of a task without prior experience. Such as, the finance and account section which needs years of experience as they are required to be well acquainted with the financial laws and process.
Also, for example, the HR section should have someone well acquainted with labour laws and employee rights in that nation. The experienced employees must be open to teaching their juniors about the professional traits without any hesitation.
Key Challenges
When the whole world is in the clutches of a pandemic one cannot expect to conduct interviews physically. So it is highly recommended and feasible to go with the flow when we are not left with any other option. The challenges that a startup faces while hiring remotely are numerous. We will discuss a few of them.
- Job application in bulk – It is impossible to go through every job application coming in bulk. As a candidate is not required to be present physically, so we all depend on a call or video interview to finalize the hiring. The main challenge is the screening of applications out of bulk. To overcome this, there are a few software that can pick the application based on experience and qualification as per the requirement, also giving them scores to create a list.
- Conducting interviews online – It is a challenge to sit for long hours conducting video interviews. Poor internet connections, misquoting the applicant are also few issues associated with it. It is advisable to fix interview timing with the candidate so that he can make arrangements well in time thereby avoiding any last-minute rush.
- Ice-breaking with office fellows – While onboarding, a recruit is unable to understand the office culture as he is available only online. There should be unofficial meetings planned so that the recruits get to know their coworkers and the office culture so that they could feel more comfortable with the new workplace.
Final Thoughts
With every phase of an organization, its hiring strategies evolve. If you want your organization to grow, you must adapt to its structure and policies. That being said, it is important to remember that even after evolution, the crux remains the same. For example, when Adda52 was at its initial stages, the hiring strategies were a tad bit different than the present ones. However, now that the gaming organization has matured, the strategies might have taken a different shape (more so because of the pandemic and the remote working) but the essence of the organization remains unchanged.
In simpler words, our organizational values of Collaboration, Authenticity, Learning & Innovation, and Perseverance are still the most important traits we look for while hiring individuals.
