For fast-growing startups, the new year brings new goals, new budgets and new hires. And like last year, 2022 hiring will be challenging with the pandemic still causing disruption and talent re-evaluating work. Now more than ever, HR and recruiting must be fully aligned with company goals. It’s also important to evaluate hiring bandwidth and create hiring plans, processes, and metrics. For hiring success in 2022, here are five things startups should do.
1. Review 2022 hiring goals to ensure organizational alignment
The first thing startups should do is review 2022 hiring goals to ensure they align with organizational goals. Founders should ask how specific roles that are part of overall hiring goals are tied to specific organizational goals. They should also evaluate the timing of when organizational goals need to be met and make sure they align with recruiting and hiring activities.
Once hiring and organizational goals are aligned, it’s important to ensure that recruiters and hiring managers understand these goals and are on the same page. Doing this minimizes the risk of making the wrong hires. It also ensures that both teams understand organizational timelines and makes hires accordingly.
2. Evaluate your hiring bandwidth
It’s important when hiring for startups that founders and recruiting teams evaluate hiring bandwidth. Most startups in early stages have very few resources dedicated to recruiting and hiring. If aggressive organizational goals require dozens of hires in a very short timeframe, one recruiter will struggle. Being honest about what your startup can handle will motivate you to find the resources needed.
Many startup founders think increasing their hiring bandwidth by outsourcing recruiting is out of reach. Many options are expensive, but budget-friendly options like on-demand recruiting are available today. One affordable option is Comeet’s Elastic Recruiting. It provides on-demand recruiting services supported by technology. This solution instantly expands hiring bandwidth to help startups meet organizational goals faster.
3. Create a hiring plan and budget
In addition to evaluating bandwidth, hiring for startups requires creating a hiring plan and budget. A hiring plan outlines strategies and tactics needed to hire the talent your startup needs to meet its goals. The budget shows the allocation of financial resources needed to deliver on the hiring plan. A hiring plan and budget are important because they ensure hiring teams know what to do and have the financial backing to get it done.
Having the right recruiting partner makes creating a hiring plan and budget a lot easier. As a startup, you may not have the capacity or knowledge to do this yourself. An experienced hiring partner will work with you to create a plan and budget that aligns with your startups strategic goals.
4. Create or review your hiring process
To achieve your startup’s hiring goals faster, you’ll need an effective hiring process. If you have a process already in place, now (at the beginning of the year) is the best time to review it. Make sure your hiring process is efficient, candidate-friendly, and enables you to find the best talent for open roles.
If you don’t have a hiring process in place, create one before you start hiring. Here’s a guide we created that shows how a hiring process works and how to create one. Leveraging the expertise of a recruiting partner can be useful, not only for finding the best talent quickly but also for helping your startup establish hiring processes to use now and in the future.
5. Establish and track success metrics
To ensure your startup meets organizational goals and makes the necessary hires, establish and track success metrics. Success metrics keep hiring teams focused and also establish a sense of accountability. Examples of success metrics should include speed to hire, cost of hire, quality of hires, and offer acceptance ratios. Here’s a useful article on hiring KPIs. To establish the right metrics, look at what’s really importance to your organization and find out what the industry standards are.
Hiring for startups, in the new year, comes with new goals, new budgets, and ultimately new hires. It’s an exciting time, but pandemic disruptions coupled with people’s desire to re-evaluate their lives and their work have posed a unique set of challenges. To win in this environment, startups must take the necessary steps needed to acquire top talent. With the right tools, resources and hiring partner, startups can effectively compete and win in 2022.
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