Hiring For Startups: Lucky Hunter practical tips

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We at Lucky Hunter love startups :) For more than five years, we have been helping numerous startups find their team members. We have a deep understanding of the challenges startups face when searching for IT specialists. We also know what founders should do to identify outstanding candidates without sacrificing requirements.

If you are currently looking for IT talents and feeling a bit uncertain about your next steps, we are here to help you. In this article, we are going to share tips and tricks on how to hire the best candidates, even if your project competes with other companies for the best IT candidates.

Startup Hiring Challenges

We will not state the evident points, like 'there's a deficit of candidates', or working at startups is always a risk.' Today, we offer you deeper issues.

Inconsistency between requirements and working conditions

The expectations set by the startup founders may not always align with the practical working environment. You have the freedom to seek out a highly skilled senior professional, even if their office is situated far from the city centre. No one prohibits you from doing so, and you may discover a qualified expert willing to join your project, even in the face of challenging conditions.

However, there is one crucial thing to remember. To attract such talent, you must be prepared to provide enticing incentives, such as a competitive salary (stock options may not be sufficient in this scenario), engaging and ambitious tasks within a promising project, and the potential for rapid career advancement.

In the evolving landscape of the modern business world, startups face an increased challenge in gaining the attention of potential candidates. Potential employees are now more selective, favouring established companies with a strong market presence. Consequently, assure candidates that your organisation can offer them a stable income for six months to a year.

Learn more about types of business in the UAE.

Attracting a specialist to join a startup relies on establishing favourable working conditions. However, the definition of comfort in a professional setting varies from one specialist to another. To address this issue effectively, you need to define the profile of your ideal candidate, making it the second issue faced by startup founders.

Candidate Profile

It is good to understand the necessary hard skills and tech stack a candidate needs to work on your project. But there are other important points to cover: soft skills, experience, level, and motivational strategy.

You need to have a clear understanding of these points before you start the search. Unfortunately, not every founder bothers answering these questions, leading to predictable outcomes.

So, before researching, you need to determine the specific profile of the specialist you seek. Maybe you require a motivated Junior-level specialist, or you opt for someone more experienced. It depends on future tasks and your goals.

It might not be an easy task, so do not hesitate to reach out to IT recruitment agencies for assistance. IT recruiters will pose several questions regarding your project and goals to determine your candidate profile and save you some time.

You have made a candidate profile and set the requirements. Next step?

Move forward!

Make a job description according to all the rules, and share it online.

We’ve shared some tips on how to write a compelling job description.

Be an active searcher: there are a lot of channels like LinkedIn, Telegram, Facebook, job boards etc.
Establish communication with IT specialists.
Program the interviews and be honest about your job offer. Transparency in communication is the best tool to attract the best candidates.
Make an offer (and do not wait too long to do so), and if your candidate has received a counteroffer from the company, immediately send them this article :)

More useful tips

Based on our extensive experience, it is evident that effective motivation is a key factor in hiring an IT specialist. Your goal should be to spark the candidate's interest by demonstrating that working at your startup is an attractive and inspiring opportunity. Charm them ;)

Genuine interest in the project is crucial for achieving this goal. If you collaborate with recruiters, remember that while recruiters will do their best – your involvement holds significant weight, as they will ultimately work for your organisation, not the recruitment agency.

Furthermore, we've observed that smooth progress is best achieved through swift processes. It includes providing prompt feedback to candidates, minimising the number of selection stages (particularly in the case of startup hires, eliminating test assignments), and attractive offers.

Any delays in the hiring process increase the likelihood of a candidate accepting an offer from another company. While it's a harsh reality, it allows you to be better prepared and hire only the best IT specialists.