Recruit for Your Startup Without Breaking the Bank
High employee turnover is something most startups simply cannot afford, and typically costs up to 50% of an employee’s annual salary. Finding the right individual from the start is crucial to your business’ success.
Don’t let limited resources become an excuse to slack on recruiting efforts. There are plenty of low-cost (even free) ways to attract and recruit high quality, entry-level candidates from the start.
Employer branding.
Your business may be small or recently launched, but you still need to have a distinct, strong employment brand to attract the right candidates to your company. Your employer brand should align with your internal brand and advertising campaigns to give candidates a good overview of your organization. For example, if your company’s main messages are all about creativity and innovation, that’s what needs to be nurtured at an internal level. Having a strong employer brand can help you stand out among other more well-established companies that may draw in a large amount of candidates.
Working with college career centers.
Campus career centers have access to hundreds of students in various fields and industries. They can help you build relationships with these students early on through internship and career exploration programs and on-campus events, so when you begin looking for entry-level candidates, you already have a pipeline of talent in mind for openings.
Leverage these relationships volunteering your time at student career events, participating in campus career fairs and interacting with students. Depending on which activities you choose to get involved in, you might be asked to be a guest speaker at a workshop, have an informational table at a campus event or send a hiring manager to campus to conduct interviews with prospective graduates. Partnering with campus career centers and getting to know students personally helps build awareness and knowledge of your brand. That way, when students start their entry-level job search, your company will be a contender among other, larger or well-known, organizations in their field.
Making use of social media and niche Websites.
Having a presence on the major social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as niche Websites (those focused on a particular industry or field), are a vital way to attract and recruit candidates. It can also be fairly cost-effective, requiring little time and effort to set-up and maintain.
Creating a community of talent.
Building a network of talent enables you to interact with potential candidates before the screening process begins. Platforms and plug-ins, like those offered by Cachinko, can help businesses engage interested candidates in a familiar social setting and maintain a relationship with each individual. From there, a hiring manager or recruiter can gauge a candidate’s passion, interests and dedication to the company by helping the job seeker and employer connect.
Each of the above strategies can help your startup stand out among the your competition and help you bring in the right entry-level candidates to contribute to its success.
Heather R. Huhman, founder & president of Come Recommended, has nearly a decade of public relations and marketing experience, specializing in media relations, content marketing, and social media.
The Young Entrepreneur Council (Y.E.C.) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs. The Y.E.C promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business's development and growth.