Startup ventures find it very difficult to get key employees on board. There are a number of things they can do to get the right people to join them
When Dhruv Agarwala and Kartik Varma set out to realize their dream of starting a financial planning business a year ago, there were challenges lined up for them at each step of their entrepreneurial journey.
From registering the company – iTrust – to grappling with skyrocketing real estate prices, it was more than just a bumpy ride for these Harvard graduates.
| Things That Work |
| 1. Referrals |
| 2. Help from your investors |
| 3. Stock and profit sharing |
| 4. Association with a credible brand |
| 5. Discuss the dream threadbare. Get them to share your passion |
| 6. Offer autonomy and growth opportunities |
| 7. Be upfront and honest about challenges |
After setting up a modest office in Gurgaon, the duo soon discovered that getting the right people on board to help drive their dream was even tougher. “We have had instances of people who have come to this place, and called the headhunter and said, ‘I don’t want to interview, I don’t like the place,’” says Agarwala. A swanky office was not the only thing that prospective employees were seeking. Salary expectations made things more difficult. “Most people looked for about 25-40% jump in salaries even if they were changing jobs after just three months,” says Varma. Some, who did turn up for initial interviews were apprehensive whether “we are going to get funded or not.” Thus the hunt for the CTO took about three months, still not that bad by any standard. Many startups go through much longer time and interview cycles before they find the right people.
In a country where even established hotshot employers are finding it difficult to attract and retain talent, it is no wonder that startups are finding the quest even harder. For instance, a top retail chain, looking for its head of merchandising with 10 years of experience, had a hard time getting a matching profile in India. It had to finally recruit from Southeast Asia.
The issues for all startups are similar—untested idea, simple office, minimal support systems, modest salaries to offer without the icing of perks, and zero brand name, not to count unknown promoters who are yet to line up funds.
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| Entrepreneurs should be sensitive to employee needs and also ensure that rewards are proactively disbursed during the employee’s tenure with the organization. — Madhu Bhojwani, CEO, EmmayHR Services |
Talent crunch is hurting companies badly and startups are no exception. Analysts believe there is not enough talent available to keep pace with the requirements of one of the world’s fastest growing economies. “With the gap between demand and supply for talent widening, candidate expectations have changed dramatically, with employer brand visibility and market benchmarked compensation taking centrestage,” says Madhu Bhojwani, CEO, EmmayHR Services.
However, Gita Dang, Senior Client Partner, Head Global Technology Markets, Korn / Ferry International feels that it is erroneous of startups to feel that they are in competition with established big-brand companies. “The profiles of people who aspire to join startups are typically those who don’t want to be part of an established big-brand company. In fact, the real competition for a startup is from other startups, which have the ability to attract and retain these candidates.”
There is also another angle to this story. Top managers in big-brand companies usually baulk at the idea of moving to startups, possibly due to their low appetite for risk having got used to comfort zones, be it as small a thing as someone to carry your bag into office, or five star hotel rooms and airport pickups. Even if they finally get ready to take the plunge, and when it comes to discussing compensation, they try to hedge against the perceived risks. “People in big-brand companies do not want to take risk. Even if they do; they demand higher compensation to protect themselves in any eventuality,” agrees Animesh Dasgupta, Practice Head, Executive Access. “Compensation is essentially a risk-reward combination. Many people in large, established organizations have a need for predictability—they have a low risk-reward profile,” says Dang.
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written by Nimesh, June 12, 2009
My name is Nimesh and along with a friend, we are planning a startup in the Education sector. While we are convinced about the business, we want some market research to back our understanding. We are looking for executives who can conduct this research for us. Being a startup, we are bootstrapping and hence would like to balance the research vis-a-vis the costs.
Looking for some guidance in terms of how to best go about getting this market research done. Are there any companies who cater to providing executives on a temp basis? Any assistance would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.
written by Kapil, February 16, 2009
We have hired several Top Tilents from Hot Spot competitors who have Million Dollors business and huge infrastructures, almost thousand time bigger , comparing to our small start up company of just 5 people initially.
The sucess lies is Sharing our VISION and PLANS. We as enterpreniuers have great vision and dreams about the business. We belive strongly in our dreams and expect the prospective employees to become part of it. This is where I think,sharing of Dreams, Plans and Vision plays vital role, as it clearly gives an idea to the candidate what is going to be the future of the company.
Belive me, and try this for your next interview, and I am sure , that your conversion ratio to hire good people will be greater than earlier.
written by Prajakt Raut, September 29, 2008
As a healthcare support desk service, it was important for us to hire high quality talent that was passionate about the assignment and committed to the tasks they undertook.
In order to hire such high quality talent, we decided to explore 'felxible terms' and 'work out of home' options. We realised that this approach opens us the talent pool beyond what is traditionally possible. More importantly, it gets you talent who is driven not by monetary compensation but by the excitement of what you are doing and the interst in participating in what they believe to be a potentially exciting business. Also, because of the advantages and flexibility it offers to professionals, their commitment to the task is self motivated.
You can read more about our experiences on hiring and entrepreneurship on my blog - http://prajakt-headsandtales.blogspot.com/
written by waqar azmi, July 30, 2008
Waqar here ,I run this company called Sutra hr where we only hire talented people for Startups & Entrepreneurial driven companies.Currently we are working with some of the best startups in india like Komli,Burrp.com,Seventymm.com,Zoomin.com,Mkhoj,Iksula etc. Some of there core Business & Tech team have been hired by us.You can get more info at http://www.sutrahr.com.
We have been covered in press also ,chk out these links
http://alootechie.net/Not mentioned?q=node/650&source=1
http://www.watblog.com/2008/04/22/update-new-launches-in-indias-webduniya/
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My name is Manish, I have started one of its kind portal in India i.e. shaadimagic.com. I am searching for employees in all the major cities of India but as It is a startup and we dont have offices all cross India. Therefore, we would like to recruit a people majorily on commission basis. Is there any agencies to whom we can outsource the sales work on commission basis or we can employ people on commission basis.