Beef up on people power

Sanjay Lakhotia

One of the most crucial aspects in the success of a start-up is the founder’s vision; the second but equally important is its talent pool — the workforce that executes this vision and takes it from being just an idea to an actual, sustainable entity. Any hiring and firing mistake can prove expensive at this stage and a frequently changing workforce can mar the brand even before it takes off. The CEO of Zappos, the online shoe and clothing brand, Tony Hsieh, once revealed that bad hires had cost the company in excess of $100 million. As demonstrated by the number of startups that go belly-up within a short while of being launched, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip!

Here is a lowdown on the some of the common hiring mistakes that start-ups make, avoiding which can help traverse the thin line between success and failure:

Not hiring the right number at the right time

Once you move out of the comfort of your home or from that room on rent to expand your business, you need the right people for the job. You need to hire right and to also do so at the right time! Many start-ups miss valuable opportunities because they do not have the requisite human resources to execute and grow. For a business that is sprouting wings, it is imperative to take the leap of faith. Fearing expansion and not hiring people can be detrimental.

In a survey by CareerBuilder, about 43 per cent respondents indicated that they made a wrong recruitment decision because they felt the need to hire someone quickly. As much as it is important to hire, recruiting too many people and rushing through the process may not be a good idea. Organisations lacking a standardised interviewing process are five times more likely to make a bad hire. Make sure to conduct proper interviews and assessments, analyse work samples, check past work records and references, and have a system in place to hire not just the right candidate but also the right number of candidates.

Skills matter, but attitude matters more

Start-ups must recruit candidates with the right approach and attitude considering they are often servicing needs not served earlier. This way the person will be able to gel with the company culture; and conform and adapt to the core values and collective behaviors that make up an organisation. While diversity in people and opinions is essential, it is better to opt for the candidate who is a ‘good fit amongst the team’. There are many examples of organisations successfully hiring a person with a completely unrelated area of experience and training that resource efficiently to contribute.

A good place to start inquiring for potential candidates is through your existing employees. They understand the work and organisational environment and can help find people who are most likely to fit in.

A young start-up can easily become overwhelmed by the market realities of starting and actually running a new concern with a proper team. Here’s the hard truth: every start-up makes hiring mistakes and there is no formula to recruit the perfect candidate for a profile. However, when recruitment is taken as a process that can make or break your venture, the decks may be stacked in your favour. Hire carefully and fire quickly — and following this will help you get it right more often than not.

Not defining roles and setting wrong expectations

Many start-ups fail to outline what they are looking for at every level of their workforce. It is very important to outline roles and responsibilities right at the outset as this will make the hiring process less complex. The idea of a start-up may sound all too glamorous with employees getting a chance to build something from scratch. However, they also need to be ready for the grind ahead, and therefore, you must set the right expectations. Additionally, many companies, particularly startups, may not be able to pitch the idea of the business to a potential candidate effectively. There should be a sense of excitement to attract people to your business. Start-ups do have an element of risk and how you convey ideas to the candidate can make or break the deal. Employees want what they do to mean something — perhaps even more than the salary, benefits, work/life balance, etc.

— The writer is Co-Founder, Noble House Consulting