Top 15 Recruitment Strategies that Start-ups LOVE!

So you’ve established your start-up and you’re ready to start hiring! This is a wonderful, positive sign that your project is taking off.

You’re obviously doing something right but you can’t do it on your own. You HAVE to recruit.

It’s natural to be nervous hiring employees, especially when you are running a startup with no previous recruiting experience.

1. INTERNAL REFERRALS

Employee referrals are the best ways to find the right candidate and the same goes for external referrals. Any individual who has a firm grasp on the industry, the business, and the company culture is a great recruiting source! A referral bonus is a sure way to get a referral.

2. JOB BOARDS

Job boards should be a part of any firms general recruitment strategy. It is very beneficial, especially when it comes to mass recruitment and reaching a larger audience. It’s important to use niche job boards along with bigger job search sites such as www.indeed.com. For example, if you are looking specifically for interns, use www.internshala.com. If you are hiring for a writing position, you could use www.journalismjobs.com

3. EMPLOYER BRANDING

It is always good to have a strong employer brand. Top talent will gravitate to a brand that they’ve heard of and that they want to work for.. You want a candidate who is already excited to work for you and who already knows who you are as a company. Branding to attract top talent is essential to keeping up with the competition. To stand out at a brand, host hackathons. This is a wonderful way to personalize your hiring process.

4. SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITY

Take full advantage of your contacts and networks of your existing employees. By doing this you can spread information about your vacant positions, recruiting activities, and employer brand to thousands of people at a minimal cost. Make sure your company has a solid presence on LinkedIn, Youtube, Facebook, Google +, and Twitter.

5. MASS AUDITIONS

Host mass auditions to observe skills of collaboration, confidence, and teamwork among candidates. Get them to mimic the operations of the company by working on a task and ask existing employees to watch and take notes on each candidate. After the candidates leave, have an open discussion with the rest of the staff to discuss the day’s events and decide which candidates are the best fit for the company. Not only is this a fast way to secure a great hire but it is also a fun group activity for the entire office to enjoy.

6. PUZZLES AND BRAINTEASERS

Huge companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft are well known for having their employees pass recruitment tests in the form of brainteasers and puzzles. When solving a puzzle, candidates can demonstrate their problem solving ability. When solving a brainteaser, applicants can show how they behave under pressure and how they apply their judgment.

7. ATTEND EVENTS AND MEETUPS

Try thinking outside of the box and sourcing for talent outside of job fairs. You as a recruiter can Go to places and meetups that aren’t even recruitment related. This is a good way to meet new, interesting people and figure out exactly what you are looking for outside of a candidate’s CV. For example, if you’re looking for a software developer in Bangalore, you could attend a software developer focused meetup in Bangalore to find your ideal potential candidate.

8. ONLINE RECRUITMENT PLATFORMS

Make your life a LOT easier by using the help of online recruiting platforms such as evalground. Evalground is a testing platform that allows recruiters to test potential candidates in a manner of fields from coding to english proficiency. Tools such as these allow for the entire recruitment process to be smooth sailing.