How to hire your first startup employee

The time to expand your team has come and you are ready to make the investment of hiring your first full-time employee. Now is the moment to implement your HR skills in order to choose the right person for your startup and here you can find some useful tips to follow.

As your business is still in startup stage, it is very likely your budget to be relatively tight. You don’t want to waste your time and money by taking the risk of poor hiring, so the whole process of choosing the right candidate must be well-planned.

Identify your needs

Create a specific list of all the duties and responsibilities that will become part of the job description of your future employee. Knowing what to expect from the candidates will increase the chances to make the right choice form the first try.

Look for specific skills

Emphasize the technical, business and personal qualities that you look for in your ideal candidate. Create your own requirements for the perfect combination of skills that you need your employee to have and do not compromise with it.

Conduct competency-based  interview

Do not limit yourself with traditional interview questions. Test the skills and professionalism of your candidates by challenging them with work-related task or problem to solve. It is very successful way to outline their ability to work under stress and time-pressure, also to test their creativity and determination along with their competence.

Ask questions

Working for startup is challenging way to start or to continue one’s business career, that’s why you need to know the motives of your potential candidates: why they want to join a startup, how they can contribute to the business and how dedicated are they to the idea.

Trust your intuition

Trust your guts and make your decision based on the whole combination of requirements that you have set. Do not hesitate to offer paid trial period to your candidates. Once you see them in actual work environment you will be able to make your final decision.

Investors look for a “whole package” when they decide to fund or not certain business and the team is one of the factors they take under consideration. Choose carefully and don’t be afraid to take your time until you find your best candidate. Your startup’s future can depend on your decision, so do not compromise when you do your hiring.