Recruiting talent for Startups

Startups can be broadly classified into
-Stealth, Early stage
-Later stage
-Growth Stage

Irrespective of how a start up is classified the recruiting strategy for startups needs to be different from established companies. Here are five things you need to keep in mind when recruiting for a startup.

5-Management involvement
Make sure the entire management team at the startup is signed up and ready to accommodate a prospective applicant on to their calendar to up sell the career opportunity.Obviously the assumption is that the applicant is highly qualified. I am not suggesting that the entire CXO team be available, but depending on the type, level of talent you are recruiting you may want to involve the CTO for tech positions, CFO for Finance positions, CSO/EVP of Sales for Sales positions etc. It's also not a bad idea to get on the CEO's calendar just in case to seal the deal with Superstars.

4-Client references
After the "dot bubble" burst the stigma around working for startups has remained. Many folks even to this day feel less secure about working for start up's than working for bigger size firms. The best way to overcome this hurdle is to prepare and document references and testimonials from the start up's clients. If the start up's client base includes big time Fortune 500 companies or even relatively well established companies that would help in calming some of the jitters of prospective employees and can be used as an effective tool for recruiting.

3-Facts vs. Fiction
During the dot boom days employers and employees couldn't separate fact from Fiction. I Guess we were all guilty to some extent or the other. However in the current market environment it pays to paint the right picture and image. Talk about the companies profitability if it exists, or how effectively they are managing the "burn", growth prospects, size of the market place, biggest competitors in their industry segment, recent customer wins, sales pipeline and projections etc. I guess it helps to be as candid as possible.

2-Peer level involvement
Have every employee in the organization reach out to their network of contacts and spread the word through their peers and in turn through their contacts (Social networking) that their company is hiring. The best way to recruit talent is to use the startups current employees as spokes persons. A happy and passionate employee can sell an opportunity very effectively with a lot of credibility. Encourage the Management to Empower their employees in every which way they can and have them campaign for the company/position in addition to you. Remember your job is to fill the position and you should be creative in using every mechanism available for spreading the word-of-mouth.

1-Attitude-Never say Never
As a dedicated search professional your primary goal is to recruit against all odds. You wouldn't have gotten the search if the position was easy to fill in the first place. Hence keep a positive mind-set to recruit those "purple squirrels" where ever they are.