Why Candidates Want to Work at Your Sizzling HOT Startup

Startups are still hotter than ever. When it comes to VCs, 80% of capital last year went to just three states: California, New York and Massachusetts. And with cities such as Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville with growing startup scenes, no matter where you live there is most likely an emerging company near you.

If you’re one of these startups and want to get great people on your team, make sure you’re doing the following things to become the hottest place in town to work:

1. Your company has a mission and vision.
   If you don’t have the resources yet to offer big paychecks to your employees, you must be able to convince top talent to come and work for you by building a company with a mission and vision that excites them. As a leader, being transparent about your long-term vision with your potential employees will allow your company to stand out from the competition.
2. Your employees are raving fans.
   You hire fans of your company and product, which means your employees will work harder than people who see work as just a job. Fans are also great for word-of-mouth marketing. If they truly enjoy working for your company, they will tell everyone they know, and eventually, those people will want to work for you as well. If some of your fans do not have the right skills for your startup, you might want to consider hiring them anyway. Attitude many times trumps skills in some roles.
3. You hire remote employees.
   If you’re in a city where you don’t have access to, for example, technology talent, you go to where the talent is, virtually. Hiring remote = you have opened up your hiring pool by not limiting yourself by a zip code, state or even country. Plus, remote working options are an effective no-cost perk that will attract quality employees. Remote working not a viable choice for your company? Offer flexible working hours, such as working from the office three days a week and two days at home to entice talent to choose your organization.
4. You offer attractive perks. 
   Speaking of perks, you get creative when it comes to attracting top talent. While employee benefits such as health insurance and 401K are still valued the most and have a significant impact on staff retention, other "perks" can help differentiate your organization. Soft benefits such as flex time, on-site childcare, well-stocked pantries, nap rooms, free subscriptions and classes are making a difference in today's workplace.
5. You strive to be a great place to work.
   People who enjoy their jobs, co-workers, and environment will work harder, churn less, and add more value to your company. If your current employees are happy with their work environment, they will talk to their friends about it (see #2, raving fans). By building and maintaining a great company culture, you are known as a great place to work and great people want to work for you.   
6. You’ve built your brand since day one.
   You effectively market your company on social media, blogs, events, meetups, showing people what it is like to work for you. Everyone wants to invest himself/herself to take their career one step further and a hot, new brand with possible growth opportunities is appealing to top talent.
7. You hold on to existing talent.
   Your company fosters constant growth and your employees get to be around other talented people who inspire and motivate them. Learning from each other and celebrating each other’s successes helps your team build momentum. And when you have great talent, it becomes easier to attract even more talent.
8. You offer challenging projects. 
   Talented people want to be challenged by exciting, new projects. You do so by giving your employees big, stimulating, ambitious goals that they will meet, and thank you for.
9. You talk about your company online.
   You are open and have a blog, and contribute guest content on relevant sites. You have built your brand into a thought leader, and talk about your company and share the lessons you learned. As a result, talented people read your writing and some of them will want to join your team.

No matter what city you are located in or which technology or product your offer, if you are taking each of these steps, you are ensuring that your startup remains irresistibly HOT to outsiders. And once you bring in the best talent, don’t forget to consistently make sure you don't lose them faster than you can say "You're hired."

TELL ME ABOUT THE TALENT OR JOBS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR.                                                                                                    Get in touch with me today!