Startup Tips

How To Hire During Rapid Growth in Startups?

By Fernando Raymond | March 13, 2019

When your company is growing at a very fast pace it is very difficult to know what to do to ensure everything goes right. This is because everything is new to you, and it is important to remember that making a few mistakes along the way is not the end of the world, as long as you learn from them.

One of the biggest difficulty is a company that is scaling fast is the hiring of talent. Finding individuals that can be right for your company with the optimal skill sets can be quite difficult and is often based on a lot of trial and error. There are a lot of things that need to be kept in mind during the hiring procedure for your company.

Only hire the best candidates:

This seems like a very obvious thing. However, when the company is growing slowly in the initial stages you as a company owner will only hire the best. But once the company is in hyper-growth tasks like a client and individual talent recruitment can be quite time-consuming and often gets shunted over to the managers.

While the management obviously is invested in your company they are still looking out for their own personal gain. They will hire smart and driven individuals in order to work under them, but quite often do not hire people who could be a potential threat to their position. It is important that you monitor the hiring process as closely as possible to ensure that this is not happening, and you are not losing out on very good talent.

Fill higher ranked positions with already existing employees:

As your company is growing you will have new positions, departments, and headquarters in your company. The employee is required for these positions should be taken from your already existing staff. Most staff do not want to stay in a job where they are not getting promotions or raises in salary.

It is very important for morale and employee retention that your current employees are your first pick for promotions. This also adds a competitive edge within the workplace, as your employees will work harder if they know that there is a chance they will get a higher position within the organisation. If you do not think your employees are ready or should be promoted at all, then perhaps you need to look into whether they are worthwhile in the position that they are in.

Hire a recruitment specialist:

Have you ever heard the term “Pennywise, pound stupid”? Spending a little bit extra for hiring a recruitment specialist firm will save you money in the long run. With so much of the companies, attention and resources going towards building better products, giving greater kind experience and raising more funds recruitment process often get neglected.

This then results in lackluster employees which then hinder the firm in the long run. Hiring a recruitment specialist firm, and outsourcing your recruitment procedure to them will allow them to use the expertise and connections that they have built over their career to find the perfect employees to help your company grow faster. , if however, you can budget for a full-time expert that focuses solely on recruitment for your firm then this may be a better option than outsourcing.

An outsourced company, while is a good option will not be solely recruiting for your company and will go wherever the biggest commissioners. Recruitment specialists just work for you to affirm will make sure that you only get the best clients, without putting the interest of another higher paying company first.

Make sure your hiring targets are realistic, and do not deviate from them:

When a company is growing at a rapid pace, it is very tempting to hire more people than needed just in case. This is the most dangerous thing that you could possibly do for your business.

At this stage in the growth process, you do not know how large and how fast your company will continue to grow. Therefore by hiring too many employees, you may be left with extra costs of salaries for people that are not needed, but you are bound by the law to employ.

In order to avoid this, it is important that you forecast your earnings for the next three to four years before beginning a hiring round. It is very important once you have reached a final decision as to how many employees need to be hired, that you stick to your estimations unless the growth of your company happens to go above or below your expectations.

With 90% of startups not even reaching the hypergrowth face, it is important once you reach the stage that you are careful to not make any mistakes during this period. To ensure growth stays constant and your company continues to grow managing current talent as well as procuring new talent correctly is essential.