6 Hiring Tips for Startups: How to Attract the Right Talent

672,890 new companies registered in the UK between 2018 and 2019. Considering how many startups are trying to hit the ground running, how they stand out to great candidates and hire the right talent needs some finesse.

For some, working for a startup has become an idyllic fantasy; the buzz of creating something novel, the laid-back office vibes of jeans and trainers and learning from a team who are creative and tech-smart in equal measure. For others, it’s a risk; the potential lack of career progression, the fear of failure or the financial instability.

Just like the companies hiring, the candidate market is constantly changing. Your talent pool cuts across multiple generations, all of whom want different things. Broadly speaking, Gen X (born between 1965 to 1979) like to work independently and value flexibility, Gen Y (born between 1980 and 1994) are tech-savvy and care about collaborative cultures, and Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2015) like social and experiential rewards and expect clear structures and transparency.

When combined with eras of economic and political uncertainty, getting the right people to take on new ventures can be tough.

As the world of work evolves, how can you stay competitive?

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6 hiring tips for startups

For startups keen to grow their team but don’t necessarily have the resources to do so, here are some hiring tips, trends and things to note.

1. Use an agency

Hiring is rarely done by a dedicated HR department – simply because startups can’t afford them. It can fall to the CEO, CFO, Operations Director, or anyone who has the time. If you’re not paying for the overhead of an internal team, it makes sense to outsource it.

Partner with a recruitment firm that not only understands you and your company’s mission, but can be an authentic representation of that mission and relay it to the candidate market. Don’t just settle for the recruitment agency that emails you the most. Do your due diligence on who can best represent what you stand for.

2. Remember your people are your culture

Every time you hire someone, the culture of your firm dilutes. For a founding team of 3, your next hire will contribute to 25% of your company culture. You need to be strategic in your approach. Being able to convey who you are as a business and what you want to attract becomes really important.

Set some parameters for the types of people you want to hire. Translate that to your agency and the candidate market and take your time when deciding on the best match, or even hold interview rounds in different settings with different team members.

Some businesses even ask candidates to complete personality tests to get a clearer picture of character and how they would slot into your existing team.

3. Know that candidates can be risk-averse

In 2016, the world changed in so many different ways, especially for businesses operating in an urban environment. The uncertainty this brought upon made candidates more risk-averse, reluctant to change and apprehensive to move jobs. In 2019, that risk aversion continued to climb. No one wanted to be the new person and people thought they were better off sitting in their seats.

As of 2020, candidates are in a better position thanks to a rise in political and economic clarity. But every business, including startups, need to utilise this and put their money where their mouth is. Committing to what you stand for from a mission and benefits point of view can go a long way.

4. Engage with passive candidates

You could also benefit from reaching into passive candidate pools. This is something that was popular in the post-recession market and is now making a comeback. It simply involves engaging with communities on LinkedIn, for example, to capture the interest of people who are perfectly happy and not actively looking.

But if the trend was for candidates to be risk-averse last year, it’s that they’re expensive this year. This is especially true if they feel like they’ve been ‘head-hunted’ for a role. The trick is to put enough engagement into the candidate community that they seek you out.

All of a sudden, the conversation shifts away from money and onto training, culture and benefits. It becomes about how your business can empower them to do the best quality of work.

5. Create an authentic benefits package

Three years ago, benefits would have been an added bonus to any job offer. Today, there are real expectations for flexibility and dynamic working. Your office environment (and the physical space you occupy) plays a crucial role here by way of inspiring productivity, boosting wellbeing and aiding communication.

But your benefits can’t just be the ability to work from home. Though the perk can be quite fashionable and create a headline, your benefits need to gear towards overall wellbeing. There is a real recognition that working from home all day has its downfalls. You miss out on the micro-interactions of working alongside people, which can be really meaningful in combating loneliness and boosting collaboration.

Having said that, the dynamic working pilot and the ability to work flexibly has its upsides too – not only for parents who need working hours that help them drop off and pick up their kids, but there are positives to fundamentally cancelling the ever-dreaded commute.

Ultimately, candidates themselves want to do the best work in the best environment. One way in which some businesses are finding this middle-ground is by turning their offices from just desk space into a more holistic meeting place, especially if employees are working across multi-sites.

Head offices can act as these hubs for collaboration, networking and connecting, with employees free to set their schedules as they please. Options for breakout space, hot desking, meeting rooms, meditation tents and even sleep pods are becoming more and more common.

6. Find an office that helps

You can shortcut your way to an office that attracts the right talent and boosts employee-wellbeing by letting us help you find the right one. The Knight Frank Flexible Office Solutions team know the office market inside-out, especially those special spaces that make teams say ‘wow’, offer free yoga classes and have creative, collaborative spaces.