The art of finding the best professional for your startup

3 min reading
Entrepreneurs / 29 April 2014
The art of finding the best professional for your startup

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The current economic situation has led to a great change in the job market, which has meant, among many other things, an increase in the demand for employment. If you have a startup or an entrepreneurial project for which you need to create a team, you may feel overwhelmed by the large number of candidates looking for a job.

To create a first-class team it is necessary to carry out a good recruitment process, even if your company is not a big corporation. You have to take into account that the new professional who will be part of the group will influence the development of your business and, therefore, in its future. The success of the business depends to a large extent on the team and their commitment to the objectives of the company, especially when it’s small.

Five Tips

Although there is no magic formula, we want to help you select the best candidate for your business. These are some basic tips:

1. Study the job position

It may seem obvious, but many times a job vacancy is offered without really knowing the tasks to be undertaken by the future employee. Once hired the candidate, that confusion can lead to problems within the organization and in the execution of his work.

When starting a recruitment process, it is convenient to analyze the skills, knowledge, experience, and motivations that the position demands. Based on this, you should study what kind of employee you're looking for and if that person can bring something new to your business.

2. Experience

Once you know exactly the job’s requirements, it’s time to focus on the candidates. In this regard, it is important that you analyze the candidate’s previous works, the projects he has participated in and those he has developed and, especially, how he applied his knowledge.

It is usually said that experience is a plus, but you should also take into account that, besides the knowledge and ability of the person concerned to implement it, the candidate should be able to improve the environment, transfer knowledge and grasp it.

3. Use of the Internet

Nowadays, the Internet is being used by many companies in their selection and recruitment processes. Social networks have become an essential complement to find the right candidates for a job. Profiles on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter can help you know your candidate beyond his studies and professional experience. In fact, LinkedIn has created the Talent Solutions area intended to offer companies solutions in order to search, attract and retain talent. It’s a tool that helps businesses find the professional profiles that match their jobs vacancies. It particularly targets the attention of ‘passive candidates’, those who are characterized because they have a profile that fits your company’s needs but who are not actively searching for a job and therefore are invisible to common online selection processes.

However, you should consider social networks just as a complement: they can’t replace traditional recruitment processes such as the sending of CV’s and, of course, conducting personal interviews.

4. Consider what you can afford

Don’t let the high price of some professionals put your accounts out of balance. As we have already mentioned in this article, before hiring a good professional you should run some calculations and think if you can afford to pay for that high quality, as it is possible that what you invoice your customers is not enough to cover the hourly wage of that person.

5. Self-learning

One of the last aspects you have to consider is the ability of the new employee to learn and acquire knowledge by himself. This is a very interesting advice when facing new challenges in a startup. If the candidate has the ability to learn by himself, that will help you solve problems and implement new ideas that will promote both the development of the business and satisfy the needs of your customers with innovative and different solutions.

 

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