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Hiring for Your Startup and Beyond

December 22nd, 2014

As a human resources professional, your recruiting efforts will naturally be different when arranging for personnel for a well-established company that is already known to the public, press, investors and the available talent pool as compared to the work you will do to fill positions at a startup firm. You’ll need to hire people with the specific skills needed to take an idea from zero and turn it into a thriving concern.

What Stage Are You At?

It’s important to recognize what stage you are at in the startup lifecycle, noted a recent report by Henry Kim at The Next Web that describe growing a company from zero to $1 billion. As you start out, you’ll be hiring eager, dedicated individuals who have multiple skills to fill in where needed. You will likely be focusing recruitment efforts on less experienced and younger members of the workforce at this point to bolster product development and acquire new customers as rapidly as possible.

Once you approach the $20 million to $100-million scaling phase, you need to turn your attention to important categories such as branding and marketing, sales, finance and HR to give management a solid infrastructure to accelerate growth. By the time you reach the $100 million to $1 billion scale, it’s time to shift your focus on attracting leaders who have already demonstrated success in growing firms on a massive scale.

The early stages of recruitment can be likened to drafting a team in fantasy football, according to a recent post by Ann Diab at Tech Cocktail.

This means having a solid game plan and knowing what traits you will need the most in your new hires. What’s more, you’ll have to build your team for the long haul. You shouldn’t hire based primarily on who is available as much as you should look for people who will obviously fit in well with your team.

Strategies for Growth

When faced with a lot of competition for new recruits, it pays to have strategies for growth, noted Keith Rabois in a recent TechCrunch post. This includes polishing your mission and selling recruits on the idea of having an impact in the world.

You will want to recruit from outside your normal sources, such as finding prodigies straight from the university or industry geniuses who are not wrapped up in launching their own startup but would welcome the opportunity to be a part of your founding team.

There is so much excitement surrounding companies during their initial startup phase, and you can harness this energy to great effect as you search for your first recruits. Human resources professionals will fulfill their duties much more effectively when they have a concrete plan for cultivating a team that can not only hit the ground running but will have the skills and endurance to ride out the inevitable bumps and shakeups that come as you build the business.

 

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Posted in corporate recruiting, Hiring, hiring tools, startup hiring

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What’s Unique About Hiring for a Startup?

November 3rd, 2014

startup hiringRecruiting and hiring candidates for a position at an established firm with a proven track record is different than finding good prospects for a startup company. If you have recently begun handling human resources to help a new firm gear up or are considering working at a startup, keep in mind that you will be evaluating recruits using different criteria than you would at longer-lived firms that have reached some measure of stability.

Determining the Best Candidates

You might be tempted to hire workers that have been employed at one of the major technology companies, since they must have great qualifications to get past the HR departments at such firms.

However, the skills required to do well and thrive in the stable environment of an established firm are different from what’s needed when an organization is still in startup mode, noted a recent report at Forbes.

Rather than considering inexperienced people who are fresh out of college, though, you would do better by looking for candidates who worked at other startups that have gone onto some success and are ready for another position that requires creativity and tenacity rather than one based on making small improvements to an existing platform.

Look for people who have exhibited a high level of competitiveness, as they will be the ones most willing to stay late and do what it takes to reach your organization’s goals. Many startups have done well by hiring people who play sports or who are former athletes, noted a recent report at Entrepreneur. The competitive nature of sports and the need to set goals and remain mentally and physically resilient are good preparation for working in a startup.

Other traits that are worth considering in candidates for startups include having a sense of humor and fitting in well with your corporate culture, according to an article at Mashable. After all, you are putting together a team whose members will be spending long hours together, and you need recruits who can integrate well with others.

These new workers should be flexible as well, since startups usually require people who can wear different hats every day. They will be able to take direction and then work independently to carry out their mission as effectively as possible. Risk-takers who are ready to hit the ground running and show passion and endurance will be more capable of dealing with the unrelenting grind of startup mode.

Your job hiring for a startup will go more smoothly if you focus on the chief characteristics required for success in a dynamic and sometimes chaotic environment. Selecting candidates who are curious and enthusiastic and who demonstrate a passion to compete while maintaining high standards of business integrity will serve you well during the birth of your new company.

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Posted in Careers, corporate recruiting, Hiring, hiring tools, human resources

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Newton Adds Cloud Apply and Auto-Fill Employment Applications to Applicant Tracking System

October 10th, 2014

Cloud Apply and ZenApp provide employers with a competitive advantage by offering their job applicants the easiest and most flexible way to apply to jobs, from any device or computer.

2F5B9818-D4E6-44D3-AF50-80DB23E0B37FRead this press release on PRWeb

Newton, the leading provider of applicant tracking systems and recruiting software for small and medium-sized employers, announced today the release of their Cloud Apply and ZenApp solutions, functionality that empowers employers to provide job seekers with user-friendly careers websites. The new tools provide job applicants with the ability to apply to jobs using resumes stored in cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox. Once resumes are uploaded, Newton’s new solution will also auto-fill the online employment applications for job applicants, creating an easy and expedient user experience.

About Cloud Apply:
These days not every job seeker is using a desktop computer to apply to jobs online. Newton leverages next-generation cloud-based file services like Google Drive and Dropbox, enabling job applicants to upload their resumes to employer’s careers websites with one click from any computer or smartphone.

“It’s no secret that job seekers have long been frustrated with the accessibility of employer’s online job applications. Now with the prevalence of personal cloud storage and the undeniable rise in mobile usage, the timing for Cloud Apply and ZenApp is perfect,” said Joel Passen, Newton’s Head of Sales and Marketing. “With this release, Newton continues to solve the real problems that plague both employers and job seekers. It’s a win-win.”

About ZenApp: Job Applications that Auto-Fill
In conjunction with Cloud Apply, Newton’s product team has significantly enhanced Newton’s smart document parsing capabilities. Available to employers now, the new enhancements will automatically fill out job applications in real time when job seekers upload a resume from any mobile device or desktop.

“You see a job. You upload a resume and the employer’s careers page takes the information and fills out the job application in real-time for you. As an applicant you can do this from a phone or computer. That’s meeting job seekers where they are. That’s making a first impression,” says Passen. “You don’t need to be a sophisticated technology company to use the best recruiting solutions these days. Newton is building smart, affordable solutions for any employer that wants to improve recruiting and hiring processes.”

Earlier this year, Newton released the first completely mobile, responsive applicant tracking system for employers. And now, with the release of Cloud Apply and ZenApp, Newton becomes the most comprehensive, fully-featured mobile recruiting solution for small and medium-sized employers of its kind.

About Newton: ?Newton is an applicant tracking system designed to organize and improve internal hiring programs for small and medium-sized employers (30-3000 employees). The company was started in 2009 by corporate recruiters with the goal of developing hiring software that improves recruiting processes by offering powerful products that are easy-to-use, easy-to-purchase and easy-to-activate. Today, Newton is used by nearly 1000 employers that enjoy great customer service, free support, an intuitive product and constant innovation.

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Posted in applicant tracking software, Applicant Tracking System, hiring tools, HRTech, Human Resources Software

Is Your Company’s Time to Hire Too Long?

September 5th, 2014

clockHow long has it been taking you to bring in new recruits these days? If you’ve been frustrated with the amount of time it’s been taking your company to bring in new hires, you’re not alone. Employers in the United States are taking an average of 25 days to fill jobs, the longest time frame in 13 years, noted a recent report at the Wall Street Journal. In fact, companies with more than 5,000 employees are taking even longer, or about 58 days to make a decision on new hires.

A number of factors seem to be affecting the nationwide slowdown in hiring. For example, companies that are already feeling skittish about the economy may have adopted higher standards than usual, such as requiring applicants to have advanced degrees or much more experience in their field before being considered for an interview.

Economic downturns may have also thinned out the recruiting staff. With fewer personnel in the HR department, it will necessarily take longer to recruit and vet candidates.

Companies seeking top-notch candidates will conduct more background checks as well as require physicals and drug tests to screen applicants. In the meantime, if potential recruits grow weary of waiting for the results, they may move on to another opportunity.

There are a number of steps you can take to speed things up. For example, you can begin by adjusting the job end dates in your future employment notices. A recent post at the ERE website suggests that HR staffers should try cutting their posting times by 20 percent and then see how it affects the hiring process. It’s also a good idea to get your team to start sorting and qualifying resumes sooner, such as well before the job ad deadline.

Another tip: train for expedited hiring, at least for your highest priority job listings. This means focusing on the most promising applicants first, while simultaneously instructing your team about the dangers of dragging their feet. In fact, you should consider taking resumes away from your slowest hiring managers. Once you set up benchmarks for how many days they have to read applications, send the unread resumes to other, faster managers.

It’s also a good idea to pre-qualify recruits by turning to your employees to make referrals. Posting job announcements in prominent locations (the lobby, for example, instead of just a bulletin board in the break room) can make a big difference in how quickly your team can make recommendations of suitable friends and colleagues for your open positions.

Speeding up the hiring process at your company may require efforts on a number of fronts. From boosting the amount of staffers in HR to finding a better third party to conduct background checks or posting jobs with tighter application deadlines, you stand a better chance of recruiting and hiring people at an accelerated pace.

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Posted in corporate recruiting, Hiring, hiring tools, human resources

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Small Businesses Need to Think Big About Hiring

August 6th, 2014

How well is your small hirebusiness doing in recruiting new hires? Even as the economy improves and organizations start stepping up their hiring efforts, you may still find it difficult to attract qualified workers. In fact, more than half of companies still have open and unfilled positions due to a lack of available talent, according to a new report at the Democrat & Chronicle. You can remedy this problem by starting to think big about your hiring process.

For example, when was the last time you and your colleagues put yourself in the shoes of candidates to see why would they want to work at your company? During interviews, make a point of showcasing what makes your business stand out from the competition. You can be assured that the best and most talented recruits will be looking for companies that they match with in terms of values and culture.

You’ll also want to consider starting a program where candidates can shadow your employees for a day to get a better idea of your day-to-day operations and to see if there will be a good cultural fit.

Are you using social media to your benefit? It’s not enough for organizations to use Twitter, Facebook and other channels just to hype their accomplishments or address criticism. Reach out to new candidates through social channels, letting them get a sense of what it’s like to work at your business. When you find a promising candidate on LinkedIn, for example, your next step should be to check other social media for any inappropriate photos or comments to weed out undesirables.

And while you can target more younger people with social media, it’s important to remember the value in hiring older employees for their wisdom and experience, noted a recent post at Forbes. The added benefit is that you will get some talented mentors for the younger members of your team.

At the same time, you need to make sure you are offering fair compensation. Take advantage of the data at sites like PayScale and Salary before posting salary ranges in your upcoming want ads. While you’re at it, why not start offering cash incentives to your team members who refer successful new hires? Your current employees will serve as great brand ambassadors and their knowledge of your company culture will help you recruit applicants that will make a good fit.

Freelancing is another option your organization will want to give more consideration, according to a recent report at the Fox Small Business Center. You mainly benefit by saving money and having a more flexible workforce. What’s more, many freelancers have quite an entrepreneurial spirit that can do wonders for rejuvenating your business.

The bottom line is that if you want to continue growing as a company, you need to start thinking big about hiring. You’ll be rewarded with an improved workforce and an enhanced reputation among jobseekers.

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The Newest Trend in Applicant Tracking Systems

May 29th, 2014

Responsive is the newest trend for applicant tracking systems.

Today’s workforces are freer to work from anywhere they want to work. Employers expect people to be productive while on the move, which requires technology that empowers people to work from anywhere in the world, on whatever device they choose. As a result, workers are fueling the demand for mobile solutions. Employers must respond with responsive products. These platforms understand what screen size is being used to access the platform. Responsive platforms automatically provide context and will appropriately juxtapose the right data being displayed, with the right controls, on any device and on any browser, at speeds we’ve never experienced before.

If a vendor has no plans for creating a responsive version of their applicant tracking system in the next 6-12 months, this should be a huge red flag. 

When it comes to selecting an applicant tracking system, however, many organizations fail to ask the right questions. Employers have traditionally treated the hiring software selection process as a feature comparison—a static selection methodology that often ignores the most critical factor for success: user engagement. Without user engagement employers cannot expect to gain agility, collaboration, and efficiency from their hiring platform. Employers must understand each vendor’s mobile strategy before selecting a product.

Download and share the free Applicant Tracking System Trend Report to learn more.

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Posted in Applicant Tracking System, corporate recruiting, hiring tools, HRTech, mobile recruiting

What Machines Know: Can Algorithms Predict A Career Path?

December 2nd, 2013

Algorithms are quickly shaping and defining our world.

In a TED Talk from 2011, Kevin Slavin points out the algorithms that already affect our daily lives in “How Algorithms Shape Our World.” Most are at least partially aware of how algorithms are used in the stock market–buying and selling at an astronomically fast rate–but may not be fully aware of how heavily they are being used in our culture and day-to-day activities.

The Language of Machines

Physics and programming have begun to track how we work, move, play and shop. Machines are being taught to track our every move, discovering the best ways to sell, advertise and operate with algorithms. Cleaning bots in our house predict the most efficient ways to sweep a room, web history is tracked and searched for our interests and everything from elevators to predicted movie rental sites are being programmed to stay one step ahead of humans in our culture’s capitalist quest for ever-growing convenience, speed and efficiency.

This doesn’t stop with how we purchase–this is heading into the very heart of how we are recruited, hired and promoted. In the article “They’re Watching You at Work,” The Atlantic writer Don Peck writes:

Until quite recently, however, few people seemed to believe this data-driven approach might apply broadly to the labor market. But it now does. According to John Hausknecht, a professor at Cornell’s school of industrial and labor relations, in recent years the economy has witnessed a ‘huge surge in demand for workforce-analytics roles.

From Ivy League to Social Media Analytics

It is common for pedigree to mean something. When an Ivy League graduate with high marks and an impressive resume seeks a job, companies are recruiting left and right—a sought-after candidate for a high-level job. But what if candidates who are better suited for the job are falling through the cracks? Companies are beginning to look at algorithm programs and tests that can determine the productivity, creativity and professional promise of individuals based on everything from social media usage to how they play specifically-designed gaming apps.

Knack is a company that is doing just that. They have developed gaming apps like Wasabi Waiter that have successfully been tested to predict an accurate competency rate after just 20 minutes of play-time. The Atlantic notes:

How long you hesitate before taking every action, the sequence of actions you take, how you solve problems—all of these factors and many more are logged as you play, and then are used to analyze your creativity, your persistence, your capacity to learn quickly from mistakes, your ability to prioritize, and even your social intelligence and personality.

Reason for Concern

It’s easy to worry about the intrusion of machines in our lives, judging our potential. This concern, however, fails to consider the challenges of our current system: over and over it has been proven that with (often unknowing) bias we judge candidates and produce results rife with human error.

Gender, race, appearance and even personality are subject to our partiality and personal preference. Numerous studies show that our society is still not where we expect it to be in unbiased hiring practices. From the Atlantic:

Tall men get hired and promoted more frequently than short men, and make more money. Beautiful women get preferential treatment, too—unless their breasts are too large. According to a national survey by the Employment Law Alliance a few years ago, most American workers don’t believe attractive people in their firms are hired or promoted more frequently than unattractive people, but the evidence shows that they are, overwhelmingly so.

Hiring the Underdog

The inability of humans to remain completely objective forces us to be open to the idea of machines and their formulas to help predict the outcome of the hiring potential in candidates. Undervalued candidates will be found that are better suited for the jobs we are looking to fill. This, of course, begs the question: Will programmers and algorithm writers be able stay away from introducing bias into machine formulas? And in what ways will candidates try to beat the system?

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Posted in corporate recruiting, Hiring, hiring tools, HRTech, Recruiting Technology, screening process

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The Ins and Outs of Hiring a Developer

November 15th, 2013

how to hire a coderIn business, hiring a software or app developer can be a critical decision. Whether you’re hiring for just one project or for ongoing work, developers / coders / programmers are key to bringing digital visions into reality.  For example, when entrepreneur Mike Lemovitz wanted to create a holiday app, he turned to the freelancer hub site Elance.com to search for a developer to do the job.

The Perks and Pitfalls of Freelance Developers

TheNextWeb covered the process in detail in their recent article. Lemovitz’s idea was simple: to create an app that would allow parents to have their children to send a message to Santa and also keep track of the good deeds they were doing. He made the app’s graphics himself in Photoshop and proceeded to post his job description on Elance.

Within minutes, Lemovitz received proposals from developers around the world. Bids ranged from just a few hundred to a few thousand dollars from developers with a variety of experience levels. He responded to a Chinese developer with a great portfolio and lots of positive feedback on Elance, and they were chatting on Skype within two hours of his posting. They eventually settled upon a price of $800 for the project paid in $200 installments at specific “milestones.” Lemovitz had hired his developer.

A New App is Born — Eventually

Within just two days the developer had the first version of the app ready to test. Lemovitz was thrilled — but this is about when the hiccups started. Some slight misunderstandings about procedures and money ensued, possibly due to a bit of a language barrier. The developer seemed to want to be paid before each milestone was reached, and at the end briefly held the project’s code “hostage” in exchange for a 5-star feedback rating. The project ended well and Lemovitz had his app two weeks later, but he also learned a lot about the potential pitfalls of hiring and working with developers.

Some considerations that can help you with the developer selection process include:

1. Portfolio

In app and sofware development, experience and proven success is key. Browse the developer’s portfolio and see what they’ve produced so far. Is their style and vibe a “fit” for your project(s)?

2. Recommendations

Ask for recommendations and feedback about the developer. Talk to past clients (if possible) and ask if they were satisfied with both the development process and the final result.

3. Find a Fit

If your developer will be working in-house, make sure they will be a “fit” for the culture of your company. For example, a developer who has mainly worked with small startups may not fare well at an established financial institution.

4. Start Small

Even if you’re hoping to hire for an ongoing relationship, start them out with a basic, non-critical project to get a sense of what they will be like to work with. Look for work ethic, creativity, communication, efficiency, and how they handle the unexpected.

5. Payment and Additional Work

Be clear about payment terms up front and get it in writing. Your contract should cover every base, including how bug fixes, graphics alterations and any other changes will be handled in terms of both time frame and payment.

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The Keys to Hiring for Startups

November 1st, 2013

tips for hiringWhen you start up your own company, it seems like there is a never-ending parade of tasks competing for your attention. One of the most important things you need to take care of is making sure you have a good system in place for hiring new employees, as that will dictate the pace and psychology of your company moving forward.

Finding the right people for the right job is crucial, but it’s also very important that each person will be a good fit in your startup, culturally speaking, according to a recent post at The Next Web. Here are four key aspects of the hiring process that startups will want to take into consideration as they bring in more people:

1. Evaluate Outside of the Office Environment

Any experienced human resources professional can tell you that the credentials and skills listed in a resume will only tell you part of the story about your job applicants. You need to take the time to really get to know prospective employees, to truly gauge their capabilities.

One useful technique is to move your applicants from the office to see how they will react. For example, request a lunch meeting or ask applicants to go out and grab a drink. Putting them at ease in a more social situation can encourage applicants to speak more freely than if you were conducting their initial interviews in a stuffy conference room or your office.

2. Utilize Technology to Pick Your Needles in a Haystack

Your HR team is likely being inundated with applications from people who are eager to join your startup. What is the best way to determine who are the most promising candidates to bring in to speak with your team?

For example, if you are hiring a programmer, you can help narrow down the applicants with an online coding test. Similar tests exist for other job categories. The important point here is that once you get some initial results, you can follow up with phone conversations or bring them in immediately for further discussions.

In today’s hiring environment, utilizing applicant tracking software should also be able to narrow this task down. Although humans are great at many things such as communication and picking up on subtleties, software can definitly help a hiring manager’s job by sifting through data and bringing top talent to the foreground.

3. Get Everyone Involved in Finding Applicants

Make it clear to everyone in your company that they are involved in the process of finding applicants. Employee referral programs are an excellent first step. Your team members likely know qualified individuals who could make a real difference.  In addition, a proper referral program will provide incentives to those referring team members which will make them feel involved in the entire hiring process.

Remember to also harness the power of social media when you have a need for job applicants. Potential employees may run across your startup via Facebook friends or by reading tweets from your employees.  Of course, Linkedin is always a great source of hiring potential.

4. Make Sure Prospects Fit in Well in Your Culture

It’s crucial that you preserve your company’s culture, especially when you are still in the startup phase.

Even if applicants are a good fit on paper and meet all your technical requirements to do the job, you still need to make sure that they will get along with the other members of the team. A good way to get an indication about whether they are a good cultural fit is by letting them spend some time with your team during interviews and the evaluation process.

By getting your employees involved in finding potential job prospects and taking the time to get to know each applicant, you will be well on your way toward ensuring the future success of your startup.

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Will Machines be our Next Hiring Managers?

October 18th, 2013

automated hiring managerWe are becoming increasingly reliant on machines to take care of so many tasks for us, with computers making suggestions for what next books we should buy online, or what movies we might want to watch next via a streaming video service. Robots assist workers putting together cars on the factory floor assembly line, and some of these cars may be eventually driving themselves rather than relying on humans for navigation and control.

It seems no industry is immune to the effects of computer automation, and this includes area of hiring and employee recruitment. A number of companies are now creating online questionnaires and even video games to help them measure attributes that they are seeking in potential job applicants, according to a recent article at Bloomberg.

With computers able to sift through massive amounts of information more quickly and efficiently than ever before, data mining is enabling companies to automate their processes when it comes to finding the right talent to fill jobs.

It may seem inevitable for us to rely more on automated systems to help us respond to the influx of job applicants. Constant access to mobile phones and the Internet has made it much easier for people to search for and apply to more jobs, which only increases the workload of human resources professionals.

Pros and Cons to the Machine Takeover

There are a number of benefits to using machines to help with the hiring process. For example, hiring managers need to use tools to help them manage the huge torrent of data unleashed by people applying for work, or they stand to miss out on finding the right candidate at the right time.

As many as 3.7 million jobs were not filled in July, the article notes, despite the fact that in excess of 11 million people were looking for work in the U.S., according to statistics from the Labor Department.

Erik Juhl, the head of talent at video advertising startup Vungle Inc. in San Francisco, will start using an online game to help track and record the actions of online players to measure how likely they will be a high performer at a new job.

Evolv is a human resources computer model that helps companies better evaluate their candidates for hourly positions with an online questionnaire.

Drawbacks to using “automated hiring” systems like this include substituting a computer algorithm for your own judgment when it comes to evaluating fresh talent. A program will not be able to determine how well a salesperson functions under high-pressure social situations,  while a seasoned recruiter can make such an evaluation during the course of an in-person interview.

Another problem is that automated systems haven’t been around enough for us to be able to track how well they can do at predicting the long-term performance of applicants, the article notes.

So, while completely automated software can help you filter job applicants for the ability to cover certain  tasks when recruiting to fill positions, these systems are not yet ready to completely replace such time-proven methods of evaluation as the face-to-face interview. This is especially the case for salaried positions that require some nuance, such as how well a candidate might ‘fit in’ with the rest of a team.

The future of hiring may not ever wind up being completely automated, but recruiters and hiring managers can still take advantage of some of these automated tools to assist them in their recruitment process.  The best of both worlds is likely the current solution; a live human being (recruiter or hiring manager) utilizing high tech recruitment software to make their job more efficient.  In this scenario, the software can best handle the data by efficiently finding, processing, organizing and checking on potential candidates, while the person can do what he/she does best – handle face-to-face interviews and provide a ‘human touch’ that could not currently be outsourced to a machine.  In a sense, a recruiting ‘android’ that utilizes the best assets of human and machine is an optimal solution.

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Posted in Applicant Tracking System, automated hiring, Hiring, hiring tools, human resources, Recruiting Technology

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