WHAT RECRUITERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT STARTUP RECRUITMENT ??

While I had various jobs since the time I started working, I always wanted to work at a startup, and preferably, contribute to its recruitment and scaling efforts. This opportunity came when I joined?Hack The Box, a cybersecurity company, back in 2020. My dream job had, finally, become a reality! I was exceptionally excited, and now, after almost two years, I feel super satisfied with my decision and ready to share some insights.

Quick note: under no circumstances I am an expert on the topic of startup recruitment, but to be honest, I really strive to become one ?? So, any thoughts and feedback from people that have found themselves in similar settings, are highly encouraged and will be very much appreciated. Let’s start ??

Starting to write this feature, I did a quick Google search. It’s always helpful to get a better understanding of the content that already exists on the topic you are about to talk about, in order to generate something that would be more holistic, including points from research, and ideally something unique, or at least less repetitive and cliche.

What I found, is that most online content about startup recruitment focuses on generic recruitment tips and applications of core recruitment theory. While this is a helpful starting point, for someone with limited experience in recruitment, I feel it does not prepare the individual for the world of startup recruitment.

The main reason for this is the fact that?the existing published content does not talk about the setting and the constraints of a startup environment.?And the most important thing – that all experts mention, both from academia and business – is that anything you do, no matter the best practice, must be aligned with the environment it is applied in.?So, how can a startup recruiter be successful or at least well prepared, without understanding the basics of the startup context? Without this info, they might feel utterly lost in an unknown to them world.

So, in this feature, I’ll try to shed some light on the topic of startup recruitment. Firstly, by sharing some insights about the peculiarities of the startup scene, and then, by sharing some specific actions that will help startup recruiters do their job more effectively ????.

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT STARTUP RECRUITMENT? ??

A startup is far from being a traditional company, or an organization that operates in an established and well-studied industry.

Contrary to established businesses, which are relatively stable and generate mature products and services to which the markets are accustomed,?startups – at their core – have the elements of disruption and scalability.

• Disruption?means that startups create totally new products that either revolutionize markets or create totally new ones.
• And?scalability?refers to the fast growth that startups experience, given they can double and triple in size, in just a year.

The disruption, on the one hand, creates the need for experimentation and risk-taking.?This subsequently means that the environment is highly ambiguous,?as no one knows for sure the results of experimentation and risk-taking. Otherwise, it would not be called risk-taking and no potential disruption would come out of it.

Scalability, on the other hand, creates the?requirement for great flexibility and a lack of structures.?Because, how on earth can an organization double in size in a year, if it is being held back by very rigid departmental structures, processes, and roles? All these need to be constantly revised and reshaped, to enable the arrival and integration of new employees and their roles within the startup setting.

Now let’s think about how the recruitment process actually starts to unfold in a startup environment.

As always, a team or a hiring manager identifies a hiring need and reaches out to the recruiter. Most probably (80-90% of the times, I would estimate) the request refers to a completely new role in the organization.

As the company grows in order to scale and deliver, new roles are constantly introduced. The fact that it’s a new role,?means that there was no one doing the job in the past.?At least, not in full ownership and with a specific scope of responsibilities. So, there is no real-life profile, which has entailed the job’s responsibilities and possessed the prerequisites to deliver. This makes it exceptionally hard for the hiring team to shape and describe the new role.

Moving forward, even if the responsibilities could be defined, which would take quite some time (never have that in a startup)?they wouldn’t be valid for a long time, because business priorities and structures constantly change, as the organization grows and tries to survive in a quite competitive and resource-constraint environment.

Finally, without knowing the exact responsibilities, it’s very hard to define the desired knowledge, skills, and previous working experience required to perform a job. This often leads to the creation of a “wish list” of requirements.

“Let’s include as many requirements as possible. The more the better. The more the requirements, the easier it will be for someone to perform well... having all these achievements.”

… is what many hiring teams end up thinking, without considering that certain combinations of skills and experiences may not even exist on the market or that they might be misaligned with the position’s seniority and salary.

Let’s add to this challenging recruitment situation the factor of the hiring manager.

In most cases, managers in startups are first-time managers with limited overall working experience. They might be exceptionally charismatic and capable individuals that created a lot of value in the early days of the company. But overall, they usually don’t have much working experience in recruitment, not to mention the design of new positions.

But even if they had more professional experience, it is highly unlikely that they could fully utilize it to create much role clarity and confidence in this highly uncertain and dynamic startup environment.

Where does this leave the startup recruiter? In a nutshell, it leaves them in a situation where they need to:

• Navigate themselves through a lot of ambiguity and constant change
• Navigate the hiring manager through a role, which they can not define very well both in terms of responsibilities and requirements
• Address requests and statements such as: “I need someone that has done this for 2-3 years”. (Done what exactly though?)
• Generate a candidate pool that has quality candidates
• Keep candidates engaged and ultimately close a position

Piece of cake, right? ?? …

While it’s indeed challenging, it has its bright side ??. What are those?

• The startup environment gives the recruiter a lot of space to partner with hiring managers, discuss difficult cases and navigate them through the ambiguity.
• The former results in great growth and development for the recruiter. The harder the task, the more growth an individual experiences.
• It gives the recruiter an opportunity to have an immense impact on the business.
• Finally, recruiters tend to grow, as the organization grows, and because they talk with multiple managers from different business units, they become key stakeholders that possess unique info and understanding of the organization.

TIPS FOR STARTUP RECRUITERS ?

I gave some “battles” on these ?? grounds. Some were won, and others were lost. Here are my major takeaways for recruiters hiring in startups:

1. Before initiating any new recruitment process and posting a new job,?conduct an intake session with the hiring manager/team.?Don’t just take a job description. Make the intake a routine step of the recruitment process, so that you can have the best possible understanding of the new positions. Plus, this will give you the opportunity to shape along with the hiring team the new position.
2. Come ALWAYS prepared?for the intake conversation with the hiring manager. This will enable you to navigate the conversation, ask better questions, understand more, and after some time consult the hiring team on the scope of the role. In order to prepare: Focus on similar roles in other companies; Find out what is the career path of the role; Try to understand how fast people get into the role and what requirements it usually takes to get there; What are the alternatives that can lead to the role?
3. When having the intake meeting with the hiring team, try to?incorporate the job into the wider org structure.?Hiring managers rarely do such an exercise. So, when doing the intake conversation, this will help you as well as the hiring manager, to better understand the role and its responsibilities.
4. Talk with various candidates. Take insights.?Try to understand how other departments with similar roles operate and why.
5. Bring insights to your updates/conversations with the hiring manager. Propose adjustments. Example: I have observed that the candidates we are looking for are not so interested in the X part of the role. Could we move this aspect of the role to a different individual on the team, in order not to lose good-quality candidates?
6. Be patient.?If there is a lot of resistance from the hiring team, that means that maybe the time is not right to push further and that the hiring manager needs to make a mistake in order to learn from it. Startup environments are usually quite forgiving and open to try and error approach.
7. Agility in candidates is vital.?One thing might be planned in terms of the role/responsibilities, something else might come up after being 3 months on the job. This usually happens because startups constantly change to adapt and survive in a constantly changing and threatening business environment. With business priorities, roles and responsibilities change as well. So, employees need to be aware of this possibility and capable to handle this.
8. Focus on the alignment of candidates with your environment. Make sure, that the priorities and requirements of your candidates, could be met in your startup. For example, if autonomy and flexibility are something you are proud of as an employer, find people that really appreciate this. This way, they will be happier at the company and more tolerant of changes.

Startups are a challenging place to be. Especially for recruiters and human resources professionals, as these fields require a lot of structure, in order to deliver good results. And, structure, is not something one finds at a startup. But they are also extremely rewarding. At a startup, you end up working with awesome people, very passionate and as a professional, you’ll get the opportunity to develop highly desired skills – very fast – and have a great impact. If these two factors are important to you, don’t miss the chance to join one!

THE END.

Originally posted at igorbobryk.com

Recruitment, and especially, startup recruiting is a topic dear to my heart, so I really hope to have helped you in a way. Share?your thoughts in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me and make sure you don’t miss my future posts by?following?me on?LinkedIn. Finally, if you’d like to get in touch, my email is?[email protected]?or you can message me on LinkedIn.

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