Original post by FIRAS KITTANEH via Entrepreneur
You don’t have much of a company without a strong, dedicated team. Yet, the hiring process can be challenging, from sourcing candidates, screening and interviewing them to making the final evaluations.
The competition for candidates today means some job seekers might have many tempting job options. Early-stage startups are pitted against bigger businesses with their army of recruiters, heavy branding campaigns and seemingly unlimited swag.
Yet, there are still ways to develop a competitive hiring advantage to reel in the best candidates and convince them to commit to your startup and its mission. Here are five steps that you can take immediately to enhance your recruiting efforts:
1. Be transparent about your needs (and how they may change).
At a startup, staffing needs change frequently, along with the company’s direction, products and goals. Let prospective employees in on all this.
You’ll notice a considerable amount of churn if you fail to appropriately manage candidates’ expectations before they join the company. Overwhelmed with new responsibilities, unsuspecting new hires will find it hard to succeed if they are forced to adapt to a change in job description every two weeks.
To hire the perfect new team member, fully disclose current expectations for the role being filled and how that may change as the business evolves and pivots. Candidates need to be prepared and even excited about the fluid nature of a startup and how that might affect their day-to-day responsibilities. Otherwise those who are underprepared will become bitter and burn out.
