5 Ways to Build Out Your Dream Team Through Critical Hires
Growth happens. As founders, our work is to create change. But with growth can come new challenges building a team, especially around hiring.
Whether a technical entrepreneur or not, no founder can be an ace of all trades, especially when it comes to knowing how to hire for every position within a company. Mistakes in this area don’t just cost money — they can cost millions. The cost of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a new employee can be as high as $240,000…not to mention the impact a less successful hire can have on a team or company’s performance and culture.
So, how do you make careful hiring decisions? Especially when you need more knowledge on the functions and expertise required for a successful candidate? Check out our five tips below, or enroll in our FREE November digitalundivided sessions to learn how to build your dream team!
1. Start with Research
Knowledge is power. If you don’t fully understand a role or what it takes for someone within it to be successful, you should first research the position and gain more familiarity with its skill sets and expertise. Look internally at current or previous job descriptions. Also, explore other postings or job descriptions for the same roles online. Ask yourself, what repeated skill sets are being requested in your searches? Why would differing skill sets matter based on an organization’s industry or current needs?
2. Go to your internal network
Next, ask employees for their feedback on the role’s needs. What does it take to be successful? Are there unlisted skill sets in the current job description that should be added? What makes for a good teammate, manager, or mentee in this position? What is needed from the role to make the current team more successful? If possible, try shadowing key individuals who will interact the most with the new hire, to get your own sense of the answers to these questions.
3. Talk with the boss
Who ultimately has decision-making power over the hire? Be sure to speak to the manager, CEO, or anyone who has authority over the hire. These conversations will address the organizational expectations, goals, and culture traits the new hire should possess.
4. Go to your external network
Speak to hiring managers within your network. Hiring managers will also understand what is needed to succeed in the given position and have insights into the backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets that will make a traditional candidate stand out as extraordinary.
5. Check references
References are vital in ensuring a potential new hire has the expertise, skill sets, and character to be an ideal fit for the team. Though some companies may consider reference checks outdated, they are an excellent way to ensure a candidate upholds a company’s character, culture, vision, and performance standards. Speaking with supervisors, teammates, and colleagues can give a well-rounded perspective of candidates.
Are you interested in learning more about how to build incredible teams at your startup? Sign up for our FREE November 16th event, Founder to Leader: Building Your Dream Team, with Jenny Zhao, co-founder and chief product officer at IQRecruit. digitalundivided: sessions are a free founder educational series for our community, bringing in leading thought leaders from the field to engage directly with you about entrepreneurship-related topics, such as launch strategy, marketing, operational strategy, and other essential elements of building a vital, scalable business. Sign up here!
