Hiring Tips for Scaling Startups (Teams of 25 & Growing)
For your business to truly scale, you need to put yourself in a position where growth can occur without being hampered. A key element of this is expanding your team.
When you’ve made some hires already, you know the kind of people you want on your team. Now, it’s time to build a winning team. For this, you need three things — the right people, in the right roles, at the right time.
These tips will help you find the right people to help your startup grow from strength to strength:
#1: Optimize Your Reviewing Process
When hiring, there’s no need to settle. The time and cost of high turnover surpasses that of establishing an effective screening and selection process.
Whether you get 10 applicants or 100, ensure all resumes are reviewed before jumping into things. Remember, somewhere among all of those resumes is your next superstar team member. If you’re struggling to manage volume, speak with an HR consultant, or check out some resume scanning software to help optimize the process..
Plus, the more resumes you get, the bigger your pool of potential future employees becomes. Someone who narrowly missed out on one position could be the perfect fir for another. Even if they are not a good fit for the position you’re currently interviewing for, they could be perfect for a role you’ll be hiring for somewhere in the future.
#2: Maximise Your Interviews
Just like the person you’re interviewing, you should prepare for the interview too.
Obviously, every candidate and interview will be different, but you should map out some key topics to ensure you identify the best fit. The questions you ask during the interview process should help identify whether a prospective employee has that blend of passion, potential and experience needed to be effective in the role.
Be open and honest about the organization, the role, and what’s expected of the person who fills it. If a new hire finds that things are not as advertised, you may end up hiring for the same role again in a few weeks — that’s a lot of valuable time wasted.
#3: Include Existing Team in Process
This is a very important, yet often overlooked part of building a winning team.
Nobody knows the ins and outs of your company’s culture better than your current employees. That’s why some team members should be involved in the hiring process.
After you’ve done an initial interview with a strong candidate, arrange for some existing team members to conduct a ‘culture fit’ interview.
This allows both the candidate and your team to see if they would fit well together. It’s also a great way to jumpstart the team on building rapport with a potential new hire.
Truly Tip: When getting employees involved in the hiring process, give them time to consider candidates alone and then as a group. This will help avoid selection bias.
#4: Have a Structured Onboarding Process
An incoming employee’s onboarding experience is directly linked to how long it takes for them to get up-to-speed — they’ll be keen to do so as quickly as possible.
It’s essential that you give this some thought before their start date. One simple thing you can do in advance is to have all the key tools, technologies and equipment set-up and ready to go when they arrive.
You should also involve your team when appropriate. Having different departments show the new hire the ropes at different times means no one department has their entire schedule blown up. Plus, your new employee will get to meet and engage with more of their team.
Truly Tip: New employees will have lots of questions, such as how to use the printer, when they get paid, where’s good for lunch…. Consider putting together a welcome pack that addresses these frequently asked questions.
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