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Of the three main ingredients of a startup, namely idea, money and people, the easiest to come by is the idea followed by funding. But finding talent, let alone retaining it, is the biggest challenge the world is facing.

Startups, especially, are very vulnerable as more often than not they start with hardly five people. In many cases, the figure freezes at one. Can a startup survive with such a low strength? To quote a D&B report, “Businesses with fewer than 20 employees have only a 37 percent chance of surviving four years of business.” I’m not saying that this means lack of right talent is the reason, but it could be. Actually, forget about failing, will a venture start up at all if you don’t manage to get a good set of people?

A good understanding of the co-relation between a person’s requirements and management’s expectations and vice versa can make this seemingly behemoth task simple.

What does a candidate look for in a prospective employer?
* Money
* Brand
* Value addition

Most small businesses are perceived to be at a disadvantage in the first two categories. But in value addition, there is ample scope for scoring over the giants, which any startup should leverage strongly on.

Even the seemingly better monetary remuneration of the established organizations can be compensated with benefits like small profit-based increments. Moreover, if you look closely, you’ll find that the sky high pay packages offered by large organizations are mostly attractive CTC figures with a modest in-hand salary.

Emphasize on this factor to your advantage when you recruit. It may even so happen that small businesses can offer a better take-home. In that case, resist the temptation to cut back because it may drive off a valuable candidate.

Small is better
Identify the positives of working for a small company vis-à-vis a large one and make profiles around them so that it highlights the ‘WIFY’(What’s in it for you) factor. For example, some of the reasons why one should prefer to work for a small organization or a startup are:
* Not another spare-part role
* Plentiful scope for professional development
* No bureaucratic environment
* Opportunity to find your cup of tea
* Better visibility and career growth
* Bigger piece of the success pie

Make sure that the roles and responsibilities of the job profiles emphasize as many of these positives as possible.

What to look for?
Some of the qualities you must look for while hiring a person are:
Flexibility: A characteristic of a small business is lack of role clarity. If you hire a person with Victorian stiffness, he’ll have a tough time working in a role whose definitions keep changing.
Enthusiasm: The environment is constantly changing and new ideas and initiatives keep pouring in. A person who is overwhelmed by such a fast-changing atmosphere will end up being depressed and isolated.
Jack of many trades: In a small organization, one can hardly expect to have the same schedule everyday. So the staff has to be comfortable with the possibility of multitasking.

References
Although mostly ignored or hardly used, references are important means of background checks. Starting from the referrals is also good.

Employees form the backbone of any organization, more so of a small one, so choose yours carefully. Employer-employee relationship is like a marriage; choose the right one and you are done for the rest of your life; otherwise divorce is an option, but you have to start all over again.

©Entrepreneur July 2010

Tags:
HR, motivation, personnel, startups, talent