Starting a business is hard, but successfully growing one is harder. Detroit entrepreneurs are cut from a cloth woven thick with ambition, innovation and tenacity—and I'm sure you're no different. And while our community is lush with startups, many experience the difficulties of finding, attracting and hiring talent.
Sound familiar?
Growing your team is important, but the speed and quality of growth is crucial to the success of your business. In order to do this, you need to prioritize the candidate experience, while effectively assessing their potential to add value within their team and the greater organization.
Want a step-by-step playbook? I partnered with purpose.jobs to share my decade of experience building and growing startups with you. Let's get started.
Focus on quality not quantity
Yes, you've heard it before, now is the time to apply it. The number of candidates is virtually irrelevant, it's the quality of the funnel that counts. Hear me out. Quality goes beyond flashy titles and a roster of "cool" companies. It's all about finding the balance between a candidate's behavioral patterns and technical aptitude.
Remind me again what those are
Behavioral cues help you assess a candidate's culture fit, work ethic and ability to survive fast-paced environments. It also gives you insight into their critical thinking skills and motivations.
Technical skills demonstrate a candidate's ability to perform the responsibilities of the role, and it's this experience that allows them to perform better or faster than someone with less experience.
While technical skills and abilities are important, behavioral markers are better predictors of success because it shows what a candidate is capable of on their own and within a team.
Great, so how do I use this info to grow my team?
Glad you asked. The hiring process should be more than just checking boxes in 2 or 3 interviews. It goes beyond the candidate experience and requires your entire team's involvement. There are three main pillars to consider when creating your hiring strategy: candidate experience, behavioral assessment and technical abilities (in that order).
Sweet, so what are the biggest takeaways here?
Candidate experience needs to be at the center of your hiring strategy. Without it, you run the risk of leaving a bad taste in a future employee's mouth, or worse, letting a candidate walk away as a negative human billboard. Next, it's all about establishing who fits your team, and not just the role. Technical skills are important, but positive behavioral cues help protect your team's culture and overall productivity.
A positive candidate experience starts long before the interview. Curious to learn more?
What you'll learn:
- Behavioral and technical interview tips
- How to create a simplified multi-round interview process
- Every question you need to ask a candidate
- How to create a post-interview strategy
- and so much more 😊
Have more questions on hiring, culture or team building? Follow me on linkedin, or shoot me an email at ashley@sproutedconsulting.com.
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Ashley is a data-driven Talent Acquisition and People Ops leader that enjoys building unified cultures that cultivate individual and organizational growth and achievement through her boutique consulting firm, Sprouted Consulting. She has extensive experience leading the visioneering, development, and implementation of innovative talent acquisition and people operations programs in growth-oriented, scaling environments ranging from seed-stage to unicorn. When she’s not helping companies grow, you can find Ashley volunteering for mypitbullisfamily.org, spending time on the water, or laughing with friends while sipping cocktails on a patio.
