Recruitment Process Framework for Startups

Talent management and recruitment have been the top priorities of global CEOs for years now. Unfortunately, talent acquisition also stays on top of the list of things that keep founders and CEOs awake at night. One of the foremost reasons for this is startups don’t think about setting up a recruitment process on day zero. It is imperatively clear that the best time to set up a recruitment process for your startup was yesterday. There are a lot of theories and frameworks around how to create a great recruitment process. The major problem with them is that they are very processed driven which can impede a young organization’s ability to move at supersonic speed.   So we decided to make a small framework for fast-growing companies that are suited for their culture and size! We also wrote a detailed guide for hiring for startups that you might find useful. 

Prioritize:

If you think your team can become your competitive advantage, make it abundantly clear to your senior management team. There is no better way to make it clear other than including team building as a critical performance measure for them. This way you are making senior leaders own the recruitment for their teams and companies in general.

• Make recruitment a critical performance indicator in your senior management’s performance ratings

Know

When startups are growing fast, processes are overlooked in favor of speed. This causes startups to open positions without due consideration and over-hire. To help startups deal with this problem, we came up with a  framework that will help you grow fast and keep everyone on the same page for recruitment. The framework is bare bones and focuses on the job to be done as quickly as possible while still avoiding the traps of overhiring. 

• Define what the incoming person will achieve in 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. You can do this for different time duration but we have found these three will give enough clarity to your team and set expectations from the candidate.
• Create a compelling recruiting persona. 
• Write down the set of skills and values you deem desirable in the candidate and feed this into your interview plan.
• While making the interview plan for a position, carefully select which skills to be tested at which stage and how would you test them. 

Writing so much isn’t that difficult for a hiring manager! Is it? The benefit of putting persona down on paper is that it will give clarity of thought and purpose to everyone involved and will create a practice that every hiring manager can follow.

Be FAIR  

Institutionalize processes that are fair to everyone including your existing employees and candidates vying for a job. Of course, everyone believes that they are fair in their thoughts and fail to recognize the inherent biases they have. Now certain biases are healthy and are essential to building epic teams but a few biases can hold you severely back. Proactively check for your hiring biases and keep them in check.

Also, check What is Proactive Recruitment?

Focus on Candidate Experience

Treat your candidates the way you would treat your most valued customers! Of course, it is easier said than done but hey, you have read till here cause you do really want to make a great recruiting organization. A great candidate experience goes a long way in creating a great employer brand. Besides, we are firm believers in good karma. The good karma you bestow upon your candidates will only do good for you!

The good karma you bestow up on your candidates will pay you back multifold!

Proactive and not reactive

Once your team has settled with the fact that recruiting is a top priority, get them to become proactive rather than reactive. You can’t expect to get a barrage of great candidates the day you open the job. You need to create a great employer brand, and build and nurture relationships with great people who you think might be a good fit at some point in time! Being proactive means that you are already halfway done when you create the job opening!