How should startups recruit & retain top talents in Hong Kong (Part 1 of 2)
HK Startup founders, admit it. Hong Kong has never been the best startup hub to start a new business. Comparing to Silicon Valley (or even Singapore which is always our virtual competitor) - the ecosystem, talent structure, education and government supports are not in our favor. If you are one of the entrepreneurs in Hong Kong that has founded your startup against all odds, you have my total respect, that’s definitely not an easy thing.
But one thing thats even harder than starting a new business in Hong Kong is to recruit and retain talents. The difference in 2–3x salary differences comparing to banking jobs and small talent pool are usually the main problem. So as a founder or HR at a startup, how should you recruit, or more importantly to retain talents?
I am fortunate enough working in 3 of the best startups in Hong Kong (my LinkedIn profile), together with the discussion with other field professionals, below are my 2 cents on those subject.
Part 1. Recruit Talents
Know which website to recruit startup talents
This might seem like a no brainer to people in the field, but in fact during some chit-chat with founders, they are still using some traditional ways for recruitment. The standard means for them would be recruiting via their own website, put it on well known recruitment site like jobsDB, then share it on Facebook and hope for the best. Honestly, I think those are not a bad way to recruit, if you are well known enough. If not, I doubt if this is effective. And to folks in the field, jobsDB or other traditional way is usually not the first priorities to when seeking for a startup role.
Personally, I think posting on LinkedIn should be a viable option (even if you are not a well known startup). Some other good recruitment sites job seekers like to browse are AngelList (I got my first startup job there), WHub, Startbase and Tech in Asia (for Asia talents). Most of them are free, so if you can just copy & paste the JD, why not post it to various channels? Let me know if there are other good websites, I will update later!
Don’t waste bullets on Headhunters or events
No disrespect to professional recruiters (aka. headhunters), however in Hong Kong not much professional recruitment agencies are specialized on recruiting startup posts. I have seen headhunter who doesn’t know the difference between Product Manager and Project Manager when she inboxed me for a PM role on LinkedIn. And mainly find suitable profiles using keyword search on LinkedIn, I doubt you could do the same easily. I am not saying you could not find one if you don’t have time or a dedicate HR department, but try to find one who understands the trade. Personally I don’t know much but Terminal 1 should be one of the best (disclaimer: not commercial).
For events, and I mean those startup recruitment events. They are getting more and more popular these days. It’s quite debatable that whether those events will work, I do know startups that can find good candidates from there, but I am not a big fan. First, the 90% of the participants not in the field (most likely they are trying to get a way into startup) so not likely you will get the “A” profiles. Let’s assume the quality of participants are decent, problem of those events are they are dominated by 1–2 well known startups.
Last time I went to one of those events with my good friend, my observation was people were all crowding up for Uber & Easyvan booths. If you not that well known, it will get very competitive for you to have a really good chat with the participants. Moreover, it’s difficult for you to have a long chat with the participants and see whether there’s a fit, so generally speaking I found the ROI pretty low joining those startup events.
Personalized Message on LinkedIn
As mentioned above, LinkedIn is a good channel to identify your target profiles, even better you could have a good understanding about their backgrounds. A tailor made inbox message will definitely draw their attention on you and your startup. In my startup journey, 2 of the posts are through LinkedIn inbox messages from founders directly. They have studied my profile and crafted a message that could draw my attention. I think solely one message would not be enough to close the deal directly, but at least it could create a chance for a coffee chat and see if you guys have a fit.
Tips: If you are not the founder or senior management, you may contact prospects in the name of senior management or CEO, who will know its not them?
I once received a LinkedIn inbox from foodpanda CEO direct regarding job opening, even I am quite certain he didn’t actually reach out himself, but I still felt surprised and positive.
Branding & Organize Startup Events
Let’s be frank, branding does matter for job seekers. When they are looking through your company profile, it will browse online to search everything about your company. So try to get on the press and let them know what you are up to. 2–3 articles online will give them confidence that you are not just a trust fund baby trying to impress (which happens a lot). If you don’t have that reputation or network, there are PR agencies that specialize in tech media. My friend Tim’s startup HelloReporter is a good one that helps countless of startups to go viral (disclaimer again: not commercial).
Startup Events
Another viable way to recruit to organize startup events for professionals. It’s a smart move to have your employees organizing meetups and showcase the unique part about your company. It’s a good way to attract talents to join on a specific topic and have time for you to network with them. If you or your employees don’t have the ability to be the speaker, you could always find outsiders to deliver speech, it would still do. However it would be much better to have your employees to be the speaker.
The first startup I worked at— Onesky is expert in this. Their staffs organized bi-monthly tech or designer meetups which during the event their engineers or designers will talk about some in-depth topics and showcase the code base. Organizing those events will also show to others the “Silicon Valley style” culture they will work in.
I once heard a participant at an OneSky meetup saying “Damn they are good! I wanna work with them!”. Hey, who doesn’t want to work with “A” players?
So that’s the Part 1 on recruitment part. Next I will focus more about how to retain talents for your company, you can find Part 2 here. Thanks!
