Six Key Lessons on Talent Attraction from Scale-ups
Inspire People have been working with businesses in the Tech for Good space for many years now, and have plenty of experience helping start-ups and scale-ups to grow their businesses and expand their digital teams. .
In this time, we’ve learnt plenty of things about the best way to approach recruitment when you’re a Tech for Good scale-up. In this article, we’re going to share six of the key things that any similar company in the Tech Scale-Up industry will benefit from knowing.
6 Key Recruitment Learnings from the Tech for Good Space
Alignment Values is Essential
Our mission at Inspire People is to help create a better society with the help of technology, which we do so by committing to working with other businesses that share our vision. One of the most important things that we’ve learned from this approach is that, if a client doesn’t have similar values to us, we’re going to find it very hard to work with them.
Similarly, hiring for values as well as skills is critical in start-ups and scale-ups for the following reasons:
Cultural Fit and Alignment: Hiring individuals whose values align with your company’s mission creates a more cohesive, positive work environment. When employees share the same core values, they are more likely to collaborate effectively, stay motivated, and be engaged in their work.
Increased Employee Retention: Employees who feel their personal values are aligned with their organisation’s values are more likely to stay longer. This reduces turnover and the costs associated with hiring and training new staff.
Stronger Motivation and Engagement: When employees are passionate about the mission and values of their company, they tend to be more invested in their work. This leads to higher job satisfaction, better performance, and greater enthusiasm for driving the company’s goals forward.
Better Long-Term Fit: Value-based recruitment ensures that employees not only meet the immediate needs of the role but also have a long-term commitment to the company's purpose. It leads to a workforce that is more dedicated to the long-term success of the business, especially in mission-driven organisations like those in Tech for Good.
Enhanced Employer Brand: Companies that prioritize cultural and value alignment in their hiring process tend to attract candidates who are passionate about their purpose. This strengthens the company’s employer brand, making it easier to attract top talent that shares the same vision.Working with clients that have a similar purpose isn’t just a benefit because it allows us to work towards our mission. It also makes the recruitment process much smoother and more successful, which benefits everyone involved.
2. Scale-Up HR Teams Need Greater Support
Many scale-ups have relatively small HR teams, which often means that it is the sole responsibility of the hiring manager or CTO to interview job candidates. This can create a lot of work for only a small number of people, meaning that some recruitment processes may end up rushed or screening processes might not be as thorough.
We’ve learned that hiring managers often need more support with recruitment when they’re working for a scale-up that is rapidly growing, which is why our services can be so beneficial to businesses in the tech for good sector at this stage of growth. By working closely with HR staff, we help to produce job specs which screen candidates for culture fit as well as skills, and also develop and support interview procedures to ensure that the right candidates are hired.
As a scale-up, your company may not yet have the resources for a fully-fledged recruitment team. You shouldn’t let this impact the quality of your new hires, which is why working with a recruitment partner can be so beneficial.
3. Passive Candidates Require a Different Approach
Another of the useful things that we’ve learned from recruitment in tech for good is that passive candidates require a different approach from recruiters. When candidates have been headhunted instead of seeking out and applying for the role, the best thing you can do is develop an interview process that sells the business and the role right away.
Passive candidates are sometimes the most talented, which means you’ll need an incredibly compelling offer of employment to encourage them to engage in the interview process and potentially accept a job offer. If you’re winning a candidate over from working for a competitor, or simply a role that they enjoy, you need to lead with the benefits of your position and the reasons why your company would be a better fit.
4. Interviews Should be Value-Led
Organisations recruit more successfully when they focus on hiring candidates that share the same commitment to using technology for cultural and systematic improvement and innovation, both in the level of employee engagement and the length of time they stay in the job.
Identifying candidates with the same value-led goals involves interviewing them using value and belief-specific questions to ensure alignment with the company. We’ve helped many of our clients to develop interview processes and ideal candidate profiles that use a variety of questions and assessment criteria to analyse what makes an applicant tick and gauge their suitability for company culture.
Using value-led interview procedures sees retention improve massively, as employees feel strongly about the work that they’re doing and are much more engaged when working towards a cause that they personally support. This increases their enjoyment of work and their job satisfaction, making them less likely to leave a role after a short time.
5. Candidates Require Resilience
One of the most important things we’ve learned about recruitment from our work in tech for good is that candidates applying for scale-up jobs need to be resilient. Growth in these kinds of organisations happens incredibly fast, and there are often periods of chaos and higher stress levels whilst a scale-up team expands.
If a candidate isn’t ready to hit the ground running in a new role, or struggles with change and fast-paced environments, they invariably leave pretty quickly. This is frustrating for employers and can also further contribute to feelings of internal disorganisation, impacting productivity and efficiency.
6. Recruitment Doesn’t End With a Hire
Any successful recruiter knows that the recruitment process doesn’t end after a candidate has accepted a job offer. The final learning that we wanted to share was that it is very important to monitor your new hires in scale-ups, as things move so quickly with expanding teams and technology and new employees can quickly feel forgotten or out of their depth.
We speak to our candidates regularly during their probation period to help them to embed into the team, ensure they have the support and training they need in an ever-changing environment and support the tech team and the candidate all the way. The first few months are the most crucial for settling a candidate into a role and influencing how long they’re going to stay in it, and in a scale-up, you need to offer support so that onboarding goes as smoothly as possible.
Summary
Recruitment in the Tech for Good industry is different from others because of the focus on value alignment from purpose-driven organisations. But as today’s recruitment market changes and more candidates start to prioritise culture fit over other benefits, the advice and lessons we’ve shared in this article are likely to benefit and become applicable to a range of different businesses.
About Inspire People
We believe that technology has the power to change the world for the better and we love working with businesses whose technology or purpose has a positive impact. We help businesses that share our vision access the people, resources and strategic advice they need to achieve their digital transformation goals
Our service is designed to accelerate your digital growth. We’ll connect you to rare specialist talent, experts and insight to help you navigate your biggest challenges and remain competitive and changing world.
Get in touch today to discover how working with us could help you innovate and grow.
Speak to our expert team on +44(0)20 7871 8550 or email hello@inspirepeople.net
