3 ways cash-strapped startups can form a winning team

Photo credit: Verkeorg.

Hiring manpower can be resource-sapping, especially in the early stages of a business where there’s little resources to spare. Other obstacles include the long working hours and the risk employees could face when joining a startup (90 percent of startups fail within their first 3 years).

How, then, can startups hire the best talent? What are resources, tricks, and techniques that can be used?

Take a look at these strategies:

Promote your brand as an employer

Put your company top of mind. Differentiate yourself from large corporations by leveraging content. Share your company’s mission and values, post photos showing how life is in your office, and promote your work culture on various social media channels. Get yourself out there.

Salesforce did a fantastic job at leveraging Instagram to showcase the exciting lives of their employees (they used hashtag #dreamjob for the campaign). From adorable baby photos to different snaps of the satellite offices in various countries, the company’s Instagram account highlighted the best aspects of being a part of the team.

Since January 2017, the company has also been promoting its culture, using the #EqualityForAll hashtag. To make it easier for talents to jump from browsing Instagram to applying for a job at Salesforce, the company has inserted a profile link to their careers page where the campaign’s theme continues. This creates a cohesive message across all platforms and further empowers the company’s employer brand.

Other than social media (and this is perfect for startup founders), get on as many speaking engagements as possible as well. Sell your story. Inspire, educate, and attract, and you will soon get top talent knocking on your door!

Reach passive job seekers on social media

According to Betterteam, the biggest untapped source of potential talent is the group of people who aren’t looking for a job. They won’t see your job ad or visit your career page.

Therefore, you’ll need to promote your job posting on your company’s various social media channels and make it appealing with visuals. Encourage your employees to share with their friends about the available positions in your company. With that said, you can consider executing an employee referral scheme. You can use a platform like PeerBrief to streamline the process.

You can also check out the likes of Wantedly, a social media platform where people and companies meet based on passion and values, rather than money or benefits.

Write winning job descriptions

Here are four simple tips to ensure that your engagement with potential job candidates is high.

Pitch: The mindset must be right. You are selling to a passive job seeker. He/She may not be looking for a job, so be clear about what’s in it for him/her?  Pitch like you would to an investor or customer.

Compare these two opening lines, and you will see the difference.