Hiring hacks for start-ups: How to seek the right talent in foreign countries
24 January 2022
For startups, hiring the best international talents can sometimes be very difficult. The founder of a startup assembling a great team needs to think carefully: one member who does not cope with his tasks can bring down the entire team. What are the difficulties startups face, and how to build a selection of the right talents for a novice company so as not to regret it later?
Skills set
For a startup with a small team, the personal qualities of an employee are critical: their values must match the team's view. In the early stages, when the company is unknown in the market, either weak candidates or unique people in their point of view who find it difficult to fit into the corporate culture of large companies respond. When a company already has a long time on the market and has investments, the main challenge is to find people who fit the company's internal culture.
Experience in a key area is also significant, and related competencies in the company will help to pump and help develop. Foreign talent must have the necessary expertise for the company's primary need.
Using non-standard approaches
All issues related to people, raising money, and sales are often the subject of concern for the founder of a young company. Some believe that such vital problems should not be outsourced for a startup to succeed. This is how startup owners look for talent from different countries anytime, anywhere. At the same time, it is not always possible to find a suitable candidate in foreign countries through traditional services such as HeadHunter.
Many startups decide to find talents through, for example, TikTok. Due to clip thinking and the fast pace of life, applicants are unlikely to finish reading a big announcement on HeadHunter, which describes the company's values, mission, and team relationships. It is much more convenient to perceive all this information through a video on TikTok and then find the conditions for a specific position: salary, tasks, work schedule. In addition, this frees you from having to spend a lot of time filling a vacancy and increases the chances that the right employee from abroad will come to you.
Fight against corporations
Startups are under enormous pressure from corporations. Often, you have to compete for specialists with Google and other giants that can offer applicants an extensive social package, work in a large team, and a beautiful career path. Probably, it makes no sense for a startup to fight for such a foreign specialist. Therefore, you have to balance the applicant's competencies and his career ambitions.
However, a startup has something to offer even to corporations, especially young employees. For startups, as a rule, the task of hunting people out of Google is not worth it. Talents are sometimes interested in moving out of the cozy but bureaucratic corporate world to develop position skills and quickly lead the process. At the same time, do not be a cog in a giant machine. And for this, clearly articulate what you can offer the best candidate.
How to check the right talent in foreign countries
The selection criteria for a startup can be standard: education at leading universities, leadership skills and active participation in projects, the ability to build contact with the team. But for a young company, a great desire and ability to learn is always essential.
Sometimes startup founders resort to the help of intermediaries to evaluate candidates and to hire globally. The ability to screen hundreds of resumes of people who are not looking for a job or hire people who can not cope with critical tasks. With the help of international PEO, a startup will have access to the necessary checklist to verify a candidate:
- References from previous jobs;
- Portfolio;
- Evaluate the candidate's profile by the head of the direction or an external expert.
- Etc.
Inevitable difficulties on the way to hire
Be prepared to spend a lot of time. Most likely, it would be best if you had a specialist with a combination of skills that are very few or almost non-existent on the market.
Practice group interviews will help reduce costs with a large number of responses and allow you to clearly and quickly see the personal qualities of talent in the dynamics of interaction with other people.
Finally, find an opportunity in a crisis. Due to the pandemic, many large companies have reduced staff. This means that there are many excellent specialists on the market right now.
