How startups can compete for top tech talent
It is every startup’s dream to attract the best tech talent when scaling their business, yet it is not always an easy process for smaller enterprises.
As challenging as everything from hiring to standing out from big competitors can be, attracting the right candidates for your organisaiton is far from impossible.
In some ways startups have the edge in attracting talent – for example, compared to large corporates, they could have more appealing company culture, job perks, and hands-on training. But there are hurdles you’ll have to clear first. Here we list some of the challenges for startups during recruitment, and some advice for what you can do about it.
Hiring challenges
The challenge of hiring when you are a startup business is that most people are unlikely to know about the company and what it does.
Particularly with the shortage of tech talent across the board, a lot of job seekers will desire well-known and well-paid organisations. In fact, a survey by Indeed found that 86 percent of agencies say hiring IT professionals is a difficult task.
However, it is often not advised to just rely on job boards as a startup, as it is unlikely you will attract the best talent.
Networking and tech events are a good place to start as you can easily spread the word of job openings in a cheap and tech-focused environment.
Make the recruitment process fast
It is also important to make sure that the recruitment process is fast and easy.
This means choosing the right candidates for the business, not just those that share your vision but people that can add to the company culture and add a range of new skills and idea.
As a startup, productivity and diversity are critical, so ensure that candidates can add this to your organisation and really widen your talent pool.
Invest in employee-friendly tech
Financial investment is a difficult stage in the growth of any new business, but some investments are crucial, and one of them is having the right technology in place.
As a tech startup, having the best software that is needed to get jobs done quicker and easier can help make everyone’s lives simpler. Dealing with bloated, legacy code and dated applications can seriously contribute to brain drain.
It also helps to build your brand when people can see that your startup is tech savvy.
Provide training
As mentioned before, company culture is an important thing to have in every business and startups should ensure they develop a healthy and productive culture from the start.
Research from TalentLyft found that 25 percent of candidates see company culture as one of the top reasons to change jobs.
If you work towards fostering an appealing, inclusive culture, your startup will stand out from competitors. Among other things this means creating an engaging work environment and opportunities for growth.
One of the best ways to provide this is through training. Not only will this help your employees perform better in their roles, they will also feel like the company is investing back into them, and providing room for growth as well as achieving their day to day tasks.
Whether that is coding or programming training, a startup is more likely to attract candidates by offering growth opportunities.
Job benefits
Finally, part of the company culture that will make your startup stand out from corporate are perks that big businesses do not tend to offer.
Job benefits such as flexible working hours, discounts and free lunches are great benefits that a lot of startups offer.
Consider things like remote working or travel discount to draw people in. Any company that puts the needs of employees first is most likely to build a culture based on mutual respect, and ultimately, win talent over.