Best practices for B2B software startups

How to stand out in the war for talent and recruit the right people.

VIE People

Your company is ready to grow. Your idea seems to catch on and you have built a solid first group of customers. You are clearly migrating from a start-up into a scale-up. Maybe you just raised your investment. You are ready for the next step on your way to conquering the world......But now what? It turns out to be really hard to find the right people that can help you grow your business. Sounds familiar? Not being able to find enough talented and experienced staff is one of the most important “glass ceilings” that scale-ups run into these days, says André Lamper, People Partner and Head of new business VIE People Amsterdam. Employers must become more and more creative running campaigns, organizing special events, and offering special benefits and extras to seduce new employees to come and work for them. But how do you stand out in this war for talent?

How to stand out from the crowd?

It all starts with answering two fundamental questions:

  • What is it exactly that you are looking for in new team members?
  • What do you have to offer and why should someone choose to work for you?

This sounds easy, right? ​​ In practice, this is not as easy as it sounds. We experience that leadership teams of scale-ups often have a hard time answering these two simple questions. Roles and responsibilities are still evolving, and the company culture is not made explicit yet. From experience, we know that companies that have a clear picture of what they have to offer and what they are looking for are more successful in recruiting. The better you can define your specific “A-player”, that talented person that not only meets your functional requirements but also matches with your company culture and core values, the easier it will become to recruit your new hires. By focusing on your target group, you can spend your recruitment budget wisely, instead of spending lots of money on (often expensive) recruitment agencies. Here is a 4-step plan to make your recruitment efforts more efficient and successful.

People can develop skills and competencies, but cultural fit is hard to develop.

Step 1 Find your sweet spot Every organization is unique! Most scale-ups offer something that not all organizations can offer: freedom, autonomy, a shared purpose, a disruptive product or market approach, the opportunity to make a big impact. These advantages often set you aside from big corporate organizations that beat you in offering salaries and conditions that are hard to compete with as a scale-up. Set up a meeting with your team members or send out a questionnaire and define your organization’s sweet spot:

  • What distinguishes your company from others?
  • Which elements of your company culture are unique?
  • Why do your people want to work for you and are still working for you today?

Step 2 Define your culture

The people who, in terms of competencies and skills, fulfill all requirements and have excellent productivity are not necessarily your A-Players. Your A-players’ behaviors fully match with the company culture. Cultural fit is one of the most important elements in the hiring process. If a new hire has all the right experience and skills but does not fit in your company culture, he/she will soon turn out to be a bad hire. People can develop skills and competencies, but cultural fit is hard to develop. Set up a meeting with the A-players in your organization

  • Determine what this culture fit is, what kind of behavior is accepted in your organization, and what kind of behavior is not. Make it very explicit. Write it down, using real-life examples
  • Align your recruitment process and interviews with your cultural fit. Ask the right questions and use assessment tools to make sure you hire the right person. Use a case study in the process or invest in a tech tool to support your selection process.

Step 3 Find your A-players via referral recruitment Involve your A-players in the search for new hires! They are your best ambassadors and research shows that A-players want to work with A-players. More than 50% of the successful new hires these days are referrals.

  • Give your team members periodical recruitment updates. Keep them informed who you are searching for and what the most important requirements are (skills and culture fit).
  • Make sure that all your ambassadors can explain what your organization’s sweet spot is so that they all have a clear one-liner why your company is a great place to work when they run into a possible new hire.
  • Ask your team members why they work for you as an employer and ask them to blog or post about it. Get that message out there in the channels where your target group is.
  • Take good care of the candidates who show interest in your organization: they are your future ambassadors. Reach out to those who frequently read, like, and share your company’s social media posts and news flashes.

Step 4 Continuously monitor the happiness and wellbeing of your current employees! Do not forget your current employees! Value them, keep in contact, and make sure you know if they are still engaged and happy. The happier they are, the bigger the chance that they will stay and act as a true ambassador.

  • Use a mood measurement tool to regularly check what the team appreciates and what they think can be improved.
  • Periodically have a meeting with your team members to check in with them, know what is going on in their work and in their private lives, give praise and acknowledgment.
  • Share plans, goals and check if the team is still aligned towards your growth plans.

Recruiting will continue to be a challenging and time-consuming task, but following these steps will help you focus and be more successful in hiring your specific A-players! We wish you happy hunting! VIE People is the People Partner for scaling companies, supporting over 200 scale-ups in the Netherlands.