hiring

How Do Startups Hire Well?

By Mark Evans in Startups No Comments Tags: , ,

hiring, startupsIn the lean world in which startups now operate, making good hires is more important than ever. In simple terms, startups can’t afford to make mistakes because the hiring process eats up a lot of valuable resources, particularly time.

For fast-moving startups that need people to drive growth, the ability to find and hire the right people is a strategic and tactical priority. This urgency, however, can be dangerous because it tempts a startup to hire for the sake of hiring. The need to move quickly means startups could hire the wrong person.

So how do startups hire smarter and better so they can avoid mistakes?

The most important consideration is making sure they have a clear idea of what job needs to be filled and the responsibilities of the position. If you’re going to be hiring a marketing person, be clear on why is it a priority and what exactly will they be doing to support growth.

As crucial is ensuring an employee is the right fit for the corporate culture. You want people who understand what it’s like to work for a startup, and who are excited about the opportunity to be part of a team building a new product. They need to get the idea startups are flexible, fast-moving and can be an all-consuming activity.

As much as startups want to hire quickly, they also need to be pragmatic about getting the right person. If a new potential hire doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. It’s better to wait than pulling the trigger on a new employee, only to discover they’re not it.

To find the right talent, startups should explore multiple avenues. This includes friends, their networks, investors, employees, job boards and headhunters. The more sources, the better chance of discovering the right person.

Note: Be careful about hiring friends. While they’re a convenient option, mixing the personal and professional can be a perilous combination unless they’re the right fit.

Then, there’s the interview process, which be challenging given most startups have likely not done much hiring. Rather than have someon come in for an interview, look at it as a discussion in which you’re trying to get a better handle on someone’s experience, attitude an experience.

In most cases, you should get a good idea fairly quickly about whether someone has potential to become an employee. For a small startup, potential hires should meet with several members of the senior team so there is collective sign off before an offer is made.

The bottom line is hiring is as much art than science but by approaching the process in the right way, it reduces your chance of making a mistake.

More: A couple of posts from Jeff Richards about hiring: “Always be Recruiting” and “Eight tips from founder turned VC”, which encourages people to hire the best, even if it means paying them more.

Hiring Needs to be a Strategic Exercise

By Mark Evans in Startups 1 Comment Tags: , ,

A couple of weeks ago, David Crow had a post in StartupNorth about the importance and challenging that startups face when it comes to hiring.

The post came to mind during a conversation with a startup entrepreneur looking to aggressively hire. A key point was how hiring has to be seen as a strategic rather than administrative process. It makes sense given how a bad hire can penalize a lean and mean startup that needs to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.

As much as startups recognize the importance of making good hiring decisions, the reality is the process can be time-consuming and, frankly, it’s grunt work.

Many startups look to short-circuit things by hiring friends, or asking friends and employees for referrals. The next stop is job boards or Craigslist. If that doesn’t work, they may tap a headhunter, which is the most expensive option.

An element that goes missing in these situations is looking at hiring as a strategic process. Each person that a startup bring into the fold is important  - be it a developer, designer, marketer, salesperson, account manager, customer service rep or admin.

It means that startups need to have a structured approach to hiring as opposed to doing things ad hoc. It may require them to be patient and conduct multiple interviews before making a decision. It may mean avoiding the temptation to take the easy route by hiring friends.

Taking hiring seriously and strategically is a big challenge given the hiring marketplace is red-hot. Many startups find themselves scrambling for talent to support growth, even if it means hiring someone who might not be ideal. It’s a situation in which startups can make mistakes because there is pressure to make a hire.

The question that needs to be asked is not hiring someone worse than a mediocre or bad hire? It may mean the founder still needs to be the lead salesperson and/or the head of marketing, or that the lead developer still handles customer service. The other side of the coin is by not making a bad hire, a startup can avoid taking one step forward and two steps back.

From your experience, what are the key considerations for startups in the hiring process. How do they improve the chance of making the right decision?

More: NextMontreal has a post on how lean startups should make their first few hires.

 

How do Startups Hire the Right People?

By Mark Evans in Startups No Comments Tags: , ,

If a startup were a recipe, it would include a mixture of a good idea, timing, luck, opportunity and, last but not least, the right people.

As much as everything else might be in place, having the wrong people is lethal for a startup. But how do startups find and hire the right people? Aside from raising money, hiring is probably the biggest challenge and obstacle facing Canadian startups.

In many cases, startups are created by people who know each other from school or who have worked together. They then bring on friends or people they know from work, which are probably solid hires given these people have the same skill-sets as the founders.

It’s when a startup looks to hire people with different skill-sets that the HR process can go awry. In most cases, the founders or management don’t have the insight or experience to make the right decision. It is not that they hire bad people; they just hire the wrong people for  jobs that require the right person.

This is particularly challenging when a startup hires marketing, communications or sales people because these skill-sets are alien to a start-up’s core strength and DNA. Non-developers talk, walk and work differently. If HR is going to go off the rails, this is when it can really happen.

So how can start-up make better hiring decisions?

The key is management/founder recognizing they don’t have the knowledge or experience to do a good job or make the right decisions. This means turning to advisors, investors, the community or HR people for help – not only help in identifying candidates but doing due diligence on potential employees.

As well, startups shouldn’t be afraid about having strenuous hiring practices as opposed to making quick, one-interview decisions. Far too often, a hiring decision is made on a favourable first impression, particularly people who are good communicators.

Startups should also consider hiring people on a contract or project basis so that if a hiring mistake is made, there is less pain if a change is needed. It also lets a startup and a potential employee “date” before they decide to get “married”.

In the scheme of things, hiring is one of the most important things a start-up does but it’s also the most challenging and fraught with a lot of risk.

For more thoughts on startups and hiring, a good read is Forbes’ Tomio Geron, who interviewed Marc Andreessen about his experiences with startups.

Six Tips on Hiring a Social Media Consultant

By Mark Evans in Social Media 7 Comments Tags: , ,

For many companies exploring the idea of social media or taking the plunge into social media, it often makes sense to seek external help. One of the options is hiring a social media consultant, which is no easy task given the number of people who have hung up a shingle recently.

So what should you look for in a social media consultant to ensure the money being spent is well spent? Here are some tips:

1. Communications expertise or experience. As much as social media gets a lot of attention because of the tools involved, it’s a communications medium driven by good content. This makes it important to hire a consultant who understands how to create, pitch and deliver stories to a variety of audiences.

2. Avoid social media “enthusiasts” who call themselves “consultants”: There are too many people who are really into blogging, Facebook or Twitter that decide they can charge for their “expertise”. While they may know how to use social media services, it is a completely different set of skills to counsel companies on how to best to get into social media, the most relevant tools, best practices and how to successfully create social media campaigns.

3. Experience matters. Look for consultants who have a track record. Ask them for examples of campaigns and projects they created, as well as the success their clients have had. It is still early days for social media but enough time has passed that a solid consultant should have some solid real-world experience under their belts.

4. Look for someone with a strong social media presence: It’s one thing to talk the talk but a consultant should also walk the walk. They should have an active and engaged presence on social media – be a blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Tumblr or Flickr. It show that they not only use the tools but you can get a sense of who they are and their stature within the social media community. It is always a head scratcher to find a social media consultant who barely uses social media. If you’re not immersed in social media on a regular basis, it is easy to lose track of how the market and the services are evolving.

At the same time, be cautious about people who talk about how many followers they have on Twitter or friends on Facebook as a sign of their social media expertise. Quantity in social media can be a game that can be manipulated.

5. If possible, find someone who has managed or operated a corporate social media program. This offers insight and experience that can be invaluable when creating strategic and tactical plans because it provides a consultant with a tangible sense of what’s involved in making social media happen. It is like hiring a major league baseball manager; it’s better to hire someone who has played professional baseball as opposed to have only coached.

6. Ask a potential consultant what they see on the social media horizon. Although it is difficult to really tell the next hot thing in social media, someone who knows the landscape should be able to offer some perspective about the trends and issues a company should be aware of. This will help make sure any strategic roadmaps take into account the evolving social media landscape.

Disclosure: Part of my business is social media consulting so apologies in advance if this post comes across as self-serving. The points above are things I think are important, regardless of whether people hire me or someone else.

Social Media Hiring: The Bad and Good

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , ,

On the Sysomos blog, I recently did a post looking at the biggest social media mistakes made by companies, and the things companies should focus on to make the right hiring decisions.

The Mistakes:

1. Hiring people based on enthusiasm rather than experience. Many senior executives don’t understand or, for that matter, use social media so anyone who just has a modest amount of insight about social media comes across as knowledgable. The problem is enthusiasm doesn’t mean someone can use them effectively to meet a company’s strategic goals.

2. Hiring someone with a limited skill-set. People doing social media are “corporate soldiers” fighting on the front lines every day. As a result, they see a variety of inquiries from customers, potential customers, partners, investors and suppliers. This means they need to handle multiple roles – customer service, marketing, business development, sales, etc. If someone doesn’t have the experience or knowledge, they will have a difficult time doing the job without a lot of supervision.

3. Hiring cheap. Given social media is a new corporate activity with uncertainty about ROI, many companies are hedging their bets by hiring cheap. It works because there are lots of people excited about having a social media job. The reality, however, is you usually get what you pay for. Instead, companies need to look at offering more money to attract better candidates with deeper skill-sets and experience.

4. Under-staffing. Another cost-saving measure when it comes to social media is taking a conservative approach to hiring. Most companies start with an individual as opposed to a small team, even if their strategic plan is ambitious and multi-pronged. This is despite the fact the tactics and content creation to support social media programs can be labour-intensive. It explains why many companies’ social media efforts fail due to a lack of execution.

5. The lack of investments in tools to make social media activities more efficient and productive. Even though many social media services are free, the tools to support their use can cost money. Whether it’s monitoring services, publishing tools or ways to automate content distribution, an investment in a solid social media toolbox can make the difference between success and failure.

The Right Approach

To start, companies need a strategic plan or roadmap about where they want to go with social media – even if their initial foray is relatively modest. This will provide insight into the person who should be hired first, as well as those who could be hired later.

For the first hire, the focus should be on someone who has a variety of skills, including, of course, experience with social media.

This person needs to have strong communication and writing skills, as well as a good grasp on marketing and business development. Having someone who can also provide strategic insight would be valuable.

This is important because a company’s initial efforts will play a major role in whether social media will succeed or fail. As a result, it makes no sense to hire someone who lacks enough experience or the right skills.

In other words, don’t hire a junior employee simply because they are inexpensive and enthusiastic about social media.

With a solid person in place to establish a social media program, companies can then look for social media evangelists and tacticians to help support day-to-day operations.

These are people who are going to be on the front lines, talking to people online or in person at conferences, meet-ups and other events.

Again, you want people with strong communication skill, and enough confidence and experience to know what they can handle, and when they need to circle back for support.

These positions can be high-pressure given the flow of information come at them so it is important to have people who can stay cool when things get hot.

If there is enough social media activity to justify the investment, it makes sense to hire people to monitor social media activity. While this is a tactical position, it requires people with enough knowledge and experience to recognize situations that require attention and action.

At the same time, these people also need to quickly determine whether specific social media activity should be routed to particular departments so they can take the appropriate action.

The hiring process depends on how a company wants to approach and embrace social media. Regardless of whether it’s a small operation or a significant part of the business, it is crucial to hire people with the right skills and experience.

This is particularly important for the first person hired because they can make or break your social media efforts.

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