How to overcome recruitment challenges as you scale up

When a startup achieves product-market fit, they usually look to scale up and grow their team by attracting and hiring top talent. A task that’s easier said than done.

As you transition from startup to scale-up and your fledgling business begins to flourish, there’s a chance you’ll encounter some recruitment challenges, which may include:

• Determining the right time to scale up. Hasty hiring can lead to poor placements, but then again, being slow in securing top talent (and losing out to competitors) can be equally as damaging. Striking the balance is key.
• Identifying the roles required. What type of roles and skill sets will be vital in enjoying continued success? Answering this means anticipating future needs and proactively planning ahead.
• Balancing hiring needs and growth. When you’re growing your business, finding the time and resources to develop an effective recruitment strategy can be difficult.
• Maintaining a great culture. Your current team has shaped your brand into what it is today. You need to look beyond candidates’ skills and experience to make sure they’re the right fit for your company.

The good news is that with every challenge, comes a solution. Here are three tips that will boost your chances of hiring success as you scale up.

1. Create a future leadership pipeline

Look to develop internally before recruiting externally. Aspiring employees want to know they’ll be able to progress professionally at your company; by providing the right kind of opportunities, you’ll boost retention and keep turnover to a minimum.

A future leadership pipeline is essentially a pool of employees who could fill leadership vacancies as and when they arise. It should set out the process for their development, identify required skills and training and outline how progress will be measured.

2. Shout about your USPs

When you’re vying for top talent, lots of other companies will be doing the same. And if you’re on the lookout for tech professionals, high demand for these roles means you’ve got your work cut out.

Attract candidates by shouting about what makes your business different from the rest. This forms what’s known as your EVP (or employer value proposition); it’s the unique benefits your business offers to employees in exchange for them working for you. Your USPs, so to speak.

We can’t tell you what your USPs or EVP are, because they’re unique to your business model. But if you’re a startup or scale-up, benefits might include being agile, cutting-edge and disruptive. You may also focus on the perks of working for a new business over an established one (i.e. being a part of its success story), or how you’re committed to developing your people.

3. Find a recruitment partner

As we’ve mentioned, creating and implementing a recruitment strategy is a time-consuming process. So, why not leave it to the professionals?

Our new Recruitment as a Service (RaaS) model is an effective way of recruiting the talent you need to drive your business forward.

A monthly subscription fee grants you access to our industry expertise and talent pools to help you recruit as many people as you need. You can add on extras too, whether you need support creating your careers page or developing your EVP.

Want to save time and money on recruitment?  Ask us about RaaS.