How to Recruit For Your Startup Effectively and Accurately

By Samuli Ahola

 

If you have ever worked in a startup, you might have an idea about how important succesful recruitment is for young, small businesses. After all, for majority of startups, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week doesn’t seem to be enough for taking care of all the necessary tasks. But meeting all the possible candidates and scheduling those meetings can turn out to be time-consuming and troublesome. And the time you spend on recruiting, could be used for something productive – developing your products, meeting potential customers, making money instead of spending it on recruitment.

 

Bad recruitment is no doubt damaging  and expensive for any company. However, for startups (who most often operate in small teams where teamwork is crucial) it can be even fatal. Recruit a bad fit, and your team’s productivity will fall considerably.

 

So what can be done in order to avoid these pitfalls and make sure, that you recruit the right people effectively – without spending any more time on these important recruitment processes than necessary?

 

Save your time & money for the best!

 

Compared to larger corporations, startups have an edge which helps them significantly – they are not afraid of taking advantage of new technologies. They are agile, act quickly, and the benefits of effective technological tools can be seen in everyday work right away. Startups are also often viewed as attractive employers – in other words, their employer image is fresh. But in the other hand, startups cannot compete with salaries and benefits with larger corporations, they have to convince their candidates with something else.

 

Having a good employer image is a good start. But candidates require proof – they want to experience a good recruitment process where they are constantly communicated with, and they need to see what differentiates you from other employers.

 

Solution: effective, engaging technology!

Considering all these strengths and weaknesses that startups have when it comes to recruiting, it would simply be foolish not to at least try out video interviewing. With recorded video interviews, you can easily engage your whole team in the process and see if the candidate fits the team and your company’s culture. Time savings? Need for scheduling interviews is almost totally removed from the process. Not to even mention the time spent on interviewing non-suitable candidates. If you have ever recruited, you know the drill – the candidate walks in, you have booked a full hour for the interview, but you know within a few minutes that this candidate won’t be a good fit. Still, you have to spend the full hour for the interview. When it comes to cost-effectiveness, video interviews can offer huge savings – no need to fly all the potential candidates to personal interviews. Compare costs of video interviewing service to the cost of hiring a recruitment consultant. With a monthly cost of $250, you might get to drink a cup of coffee with a recruitment consultant.

 

Candidate experience?

 

Image: www.socialtikmag.com

 

How do the candidates experience being interviewed on a video?  For the most part, they love it. Having the option to record their answers  as many times as they want, whenever and wherever they want to has been welcomed very well.

”Awesome and so convenient to use for recruiter and for also candidate. I think this is a great method for applicants to send their best answer and for recruiter no need to ask same question again and again !”

- Candidate feedback, October 2014

 

”Hello (company name)! Thank you so much for inviting me to the interview. It was indeed fun and exciting! Your initial interview process is innovative! Good Job! :)”

- Candidate feedback, November 2014

 

”I must say I have never answered questions in this matter for a job interview but it helps you think more about this type of company, and how they stand out above other companies.”

- Candidate feedback, March 2014

 

”I am amazed about the video interviewing tool! It's a great idea! This was my first experience using it and I must say that It looks like a great tool for both sides of the table. Congrats!”

- Candidate feedback, September 2014

 

More candidate feedback can be found here: https://recruitby.net/en/candidate-feedback/

 

In 2014, recruitment is marketing from both sides of the table. By offering a great candidate experience while maintaining a fresh, attractive employer image you might separate yourself as an employer and help your startup to attract the future superstar in your team. Here's an excellent example of using video in various ways creating a unique and memorable candidate experience - in a positive way! https://recruitby.net/en/customers/reaktor/

 

What about the process itself?

 

Video interviews speed up significantly the most time-consuming part of the traditional recruitment process – scheduling interviews and interviewing potential candidates.

 

Typical workflow:

 

After reading candidates’ CV’s, all you need to do is to record a few questions (or use text questions), send them to the candidates – and wait for their replies. Meanwhile you can concentrate on the things that are beneficial for your company, you can be making money or developing your product  instead of spending time on scheduling  interviews with candidates who end up not being good fits for your company. After the candidates have replied to you, screen through their videos and invite the best ones for a personal interview. Simple as that.

 

For a reason, HR & recruitment  departments are often viewed as a dinosaurs when it comes to adopting new technology and making the most of it. Startups do not have to battle bureaucracy or wait for managers to make up their mind, if a new technological tool can be adopted or not. There simply is no reason for startups to act like a dinosaurs, when they can be cheetahs instead – and make sure their team will only get stronger when it grows.

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