The journey of a start-up company often starts with the idea and vision of one person. If the idea is promising, the founder will soon need more people to join in. To get on with the plan, the founder needs to know the basics of recruiting.
Whether it is a partner or an employee, both recruitments must be based on matching people’s skills to the needs of the company. Hiring friends and relatives is rarely the best solution, if they do not have the necessary skills and motivation for the task. Another important thing to consider is the person's suitability for the values of the company and the founder. An appropriate number of different views will take the company forward, but a complete contrast can create a deadlock in the team. It is difficult and sometimes expensive to solve.
Start with the job description
Creating a job description is a good starting point for all recruitment. Once you know what things need to be accomplished in product and company development, you will be able to make a list of the skills the company needs. The list may include technical product development, marketing, sales, production, customer service, etc. Some things require more work and skills than others. When making the lis, the founder soon starts to understand what kind of job descriptions the company will need now and in the future. The critical tasks often form the role and job description of a key person, who can be also a co-founder.
Many ways to acquire expertise
When a startup buys skills from the job market, it can use exactly the same type of contracts as big companies use. Temporary or part-time employees can be hired for short-term and project-type jobs, or the work can also be subcontracted to another company. It is important to look at each task in a creative way, and to think about how to get it done in terms of quality and cost. It is also possible to get public support for hiring a person or contracting a service provider to do certain things.
With the increase in remote work and international cooperation, some tasks like technical development or digital marketing can be purchased from abroad. Sometimes an advisor sparring the entrepreneur will be able to handle certain things from the to-do list, so new recruitment may not be needed at all.
Don’t get stuck thinking
Too many startup founders get stuck thinking alone about the lack of a partner or a suitable expert. The best way to get ahead is to start working actively to find this person: to make a list of things that need to be done and write a job description and search profile based on them. Too many tasks can’t be combined into one role, so it’s worth having some colleagues read the job description first and ask them if the role is feasible.
Business Helsinki Accelerator also spars with its customers on recruiting issues. You can contact us: startup@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program), or book an appointment over here(Link leads to external service).
