Top 6 Characteristics Every Startup Hire Should Have
What should you look for in a startup hire? More than passion and ability. Start interviewing with this checklist of must-have traits and skills now:
What should you and your team look for in a startup hire?
According to HR data, the average cost of a bad hire is 30% of your new hire’s first-year expected earnings [*]. So if your new hire was slated to earn $50,000, your startup would lose $15,000 if they leave or get fired.
Most startups don’t have this type of cash to burn on a bad hire. Not to mention the drain on your team’s productivity and morale that high turnover rates cause.
That’s why your best bet is learning how to identify candidates who will actually thrive in a startup environment. Because let’s be honest, startup life isn’t for everyone.
But when you see these top startup hire traits and skills on a resume or during an interview, you’ll know you’ve found a serious contender for your next role.
These are the Top 6 Startup Hire Traits and Characteristics To Look For
It should go without saying that your team should be actively hiring diverse candidates with various talents, backgrounds, and professional experiences. These help bring more perspectives and better ideas to the table.
But every startup hire you make should still possess:
1. Passion
Passion is the number one ingredient every startup hire should have. It’s the secret sauce to keeping motivated employees through all the inevitable ups and downs of startup life.
And there will be plenty of those.
Though you can’t teach, give, or even quantify passion, we know it can exist in many forms.
Candidates might be avid early adopters of your product or service. They may be obsessed with emerging trends in your industry. Or they may resonate with and believe strongly in the values and goals of your company mission.
Swapnil Shinde, Co-Founder and CEO of bookkeeping and accounting startup Zeni, says you should look for passion plus mission fit. As he told Forbes [*]:
“Passion exists at the intersection of what you love to do, and what you’re good at… Your mission exists at the intersection of what you love to do, and what the world needs.”
Your candidates must have passion for the role and your startup’s mission. They must genuinely believe you can change the world together.
You’ll be able to feel this excitement buzzing through their resume and when you talk to them during their interviews. They won’t be able to contain their enthusiasm (nor should they!).
If you don’t feel this vibe, immediately move on to the next candidate.
Want more insider advice? Check out these 25+ Tips from Founders and CEOs to Launch a Successful Startup next!
2. Intellectual Curiosity and a Constant Desire To Learn
Intellectual curiosity is considered a superpower by many experts in the startup world, and for good reason.
It’s characterized by forward-thinking, a burning desire to learn something new, and an eagerness for self-improvement. That’s why so many startups make intellectual curiosity part of their ethos when building company culture.
No doubt your candidates will be highly skilled in their respective fields.
But you shouldn’t expect or even want your candidates to know everything. Worse, you don’t want startup hires who think they know everything.
The best startup employees are eager to pick up new skills. They’re always trying to add value to your organization. And they love anticipating and solving problems.
Candidates with intellectual curiosity often deconstruct situations and procedures to understand why they work well or fail. They ask questions, experiment, and relish any opportunity to stretch their abilities and improve.
We like these three approaches for gauging a candidate’s desire to learn and intellectual curiosity:
1. Ask candidates what they do in their free time. Look for people who are studying new topics, expanding their skillset, and enjoying self-improvement.
2. Skip the cover letter; go with a book report. Anne Gherini, Chief Marketing Officer at Shasta Ventures, told Inc. that founders should forgo the standard cover letter in favor of asking candidates to name a recent book they enjoyed [*]. Tell candidates you’d like one or two paragraphs about why they liked this book in your startup job ad.
Gherini says it doesn’t matter if candidates read a lean startup book, cookbook, or sci-fi trilogy. Curious people will highlight what they learned from it and how it made them think.
3. Listen for thoughtful questions during interviews. Curious people can’t help but ask questions. So test candidates by giving them a vague description of your product, pricing model, mission, etc. Then see if they prod for more answers or just nod their head and keep going. You want the questioners every time.
3. Grit and a Positive Attitude
Grit is defined as having courage, persistence, and strength of character, especially in challenging times. Positivity is knowing how to keep yourself centered and in a good headspace when you and your team encounter roadblocks, frustrations, and failures.
Grit and a positive attitude are essential for every startup hire.
But here’s the best part: these traits can radiate to team members and boost overall morale and productivity. Rather than feeling defeated and discouraged, their positive attitude will keep everyone on track and motivated to climb the next mountain.
Startups don’t have time to waste; there’s no room for negativity, cynicism, and moping around. Things don’t always go according to plan. It’s how employees bounce back that matters.
So this type of relentless fortitude and can-do attitude is exactly what you need to reach your startup’s short- and long-term goals.
To look for these mega powers, ask your candidates to give a few examples of when things didn’t quite go as planned in their professional life.
Ask them what went wrong, how they reacted/felt, and what steps they took to overcome the problem. What were the results? How did they feel afterward?
Candidates who reframe these negative experiences as learning opportunities are the ones you want on your team.
4. Flexibility, Adaptability, and the Ability to Thrive In Uncertainty
When it comes to what to expect when working at a startup, candidates must learn that the only constant is change. Everything can be in a state of flux.
In the corporate world, work life is more like Office Space or Groundhog Day; the same priorities and responsibilities day in and day out.
Many people prefer this type of stability and predictable, rigid formalities and expectations. They need to know what to do without asking questions or thinking outside the box. #SorryNotSorry, these people aren’t right for your startup.
Startups often lack concrete processes, procedures, and standard operating procedures (SOP). Priorities change with the wind. And one day is never quite the same as another.
This requires teammates who are flexible, easily adapt to new information and data, and quickly figure out the best approaches on their own.
Don’t have an SOP for a hiccup you encounter? The right employee won’t be scared to create a solution and iterate later if it doesn’t immediately work.
The best startup hires thrive in uncertain or ambiguous environments because it gives them the freedom to experiment, which is exactly how innovation occurs.
During your interview, try to ask questions like these to see how comfortable with ambiguity and flexible your candidates may be:
- How did you feel about the protocols at your last job? Did they guide or hinder your progress?
- How often did policies or priorities change in your last role? How did changes make you feel? Please give an example of how you adapted.
- Are you comfortable establishing and iterating new procedures or policy updates?
- How do you prioritize your day and tasks? If an urgent situation arises, how does that affect your plans?
This trait meshes well with the next must-have on our list…
5. Proactive Self-Motivation
In a startup, there’s always a first time for something. So you want candidates who love being in exploration mode rather than those who prefer perpetual planning.
If all your startup hires are high-level thinkers, you’re not going to accomplish much physical work. You need employees who do the work to test their theories.
But this often means employees must proceed with less than total knowledge.
If startup hires wait to take action until they know for sure that what they’re doing will work, they’ll waste a ton of valuable time and resources. And that will ultimately slow down the rest of your team.
Proactive, self-motivated candidates aren’t afraid to make the wrong move and fail (as that provides another growth opportunity). They have the courage and sense of urgency to pick up new responsibilities without you ever asking.
To find these gems, ask questions during your interview about a candidate’s drive and motivation, such as:
- What inspires you when you’re feeling unmotivated?
- Describe a time in your professional life when you took a chance on one of your hunches? How did it work out?
- When you were in a situation requiring an immediate decision, but could not reach a leader, what did you do?
Find one of these candidates, and they’ll always look for ways to contribute and add value. And that will certainly help launch your startup to greatness.
6. A Collaborative Nature
There’s no “I” in team. Every successful startup begins with a core group of employees hearing and sharing ideas in a respectful, collaborative environment.
Being able to successfully collaborate with others requires the perfect balance of self-awareness, empathy, and vulnerability.
So new startup hires have to be strong enough to share ideas and be active listeners when their coworkers do the same. Their ego shouldn’t get bruised when others give feedback or constructive criticism. And they should be committed to pulling their weight rather than relying on others to pick up their slack.
All your employees should be aligned on the same goals and happy to work together for the greater good of your startup’s future.
So try to ask candidates about their teamwork and collaboration experience using questions such as:
- Please share an example of a time you showed strong teamwork skills.
- What makes a team function smoothly?
- How do you hold yourself accountable for deliverables?
- How have you dealt with a difficult coworker in the past?
If you sense even the slightest bit of ego, you may have someone who’s not a team player on your hands. So keep looking.
Now that You Know What Your Next Startup Hire Should Look Like, Let’s Find Them!
Founders and hiring teams should include all these startup hire traits in their job ads. This tells job seekers precisely the type of candidates you’re looking for (and weeds out those who ultimately aren’t the right fit).
You can use this checklist and interview questions to whittle down the stack of qualified resumes you receive. Then you’ll be on your way to building your startup’s ultimate dream team.
Check out these 5 Hiring Tips For London-Based Startups next!
When you’re ready, post your startup job ad on the best startup job board on the planet: Unicorn Hunt! Our magical beast of a startup job board scores +10,000 unique users every month — and one of them may be your next startup hire!
