How to Make Your Startup Business More Successful as It Grows

11 Dec

If you’re looking to grow your business, something you’ll be thinking about a lot is hiring a larger, more competitive team of employees. But if you want to grow fast and need to hire now, what’s the best way to secure the strongest talent possible in the most streamlined way?

In this piece, we’ll focus on a few ways to hire fast and hire right in order to grow your business. These tips will help expand your team in no time and ensure that you can fast-track quality applicants to your most important positions.

Prioritize Quick Responses to Applicants

One of the fundamental ways of attracting applicants and potential employees to your business is via a responsive application process. Statistics indicate that positive experiences attract applicants, while poor communication, slow response times, and unclear expectations drive them away. Applicants naturally become frustrated when employers take a long time to respond to communications, so as a business owner, your hiring process should prioritize getting back to applicants quickly at every stage, from the first application through the entire interview process.

If you’re struggling to figure out a way to respond quickly to numerous applicants, you can use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to sort through applicants and help to organize them based on your needs. A good ATS can help you stay on top of a large number of applicants, helping you reach them all promptly with your decisions and questions.

Utilize Data and Technology-Driven Recruitment Strategies

It’s no secret that today’s competitive business world is turning to new technologies like AI and search analytics as a means of increasing revenue, influence, and exposure. Artificial intelligence and predictive analytics have become a part of almost every industry. But as it turns out, you can also use data and technology-driven analytics to help recruit new employees, and doing so is a great way to enhance growth.

Various AI tools and predictive algorithms are available to help streamline your hiring process and select ideal candidates. These tools can be used for anything from screening resumes and matching applicants’ skills to job requirements, to predicting employee fitness based on prior experiences, and much more. Of course, it’s important to keep in mind the legal and ethical considerations of using such tools, so if you invest in them, be transparent with your applicants about what you use them for and what role they will play in your hiring process.

Create a Talent Pipeline Through Employee Referrals and Recruitment

If you already have a core team in place and are looking to expand, utilizing and building upon your existing talent pipeline is the surest way to grow your business in a logical fashion. Part of creating a great talent pipeline is clearly communicating the skills and talents you need for each position. We’ve talked before about the skills recruiters look for in product marketing, but if we did not communicate those skills clearly to applicants, no one would know what skills they needed to succeed in a position, and fewer hires would be made.

One of the best ways to build your talent pipeline as a growing company is through employee referrals. After all, who is more likely to know what you’re looking for than those already familiar with your business? Statistics show that applicants acquired through employee referrals were more likely to be hired and retained, so if you’re not sourcing applicants through referrals already, now is the time to start!

Streamline and Automate the Interview Process

When it comes to the actual process of taking on new employees, a great way to help speed up hiring is by making your interview process as streamlined as possible. A smooth interview process makes applicants feel better about your company and takes the pressure off of you as an employer. One of the easiest early tasks you can do to kickstart the streamlining process is create templates for important communications such as job descriptions, invitation and rejection emails, follow-ups, reference requests, and even interview questions.

As you get further into the process of improving your interview methods, consider ways of automating tasks that can free up time for both yourself and your applicants. Look into tools such as automated interview schedulers, video chatting platforms for remote interviews, and online application forms or assistants. These tools, designed to run mostly independently, will help you save time and get through applications faster.

Maintain Brand Focus

On a more personal level, you cannot discount the strength and focus of your brand when trying to attract new employees. Applicants are more likely to take an interest in working for companies with strong, clear goals, a recognizable brand, and values that are well-communicated and followed. Before you start putting out job listings, make sure that your brand, its values, and its successes are front and center for the applicant to see.

In a real sense, highlighting your brand and its focus is very much like marketing your business to potential customers, such as in the case of a home remodeling company that clearly communicates its process, values, and what sets it apart from other businesses to every applicant seeking to work with you.

Make the Applicant’s Experience Worthwhile

If it isn’t obvious from many of the steps listed above, the most important facet of hiring good employees quickly is creating a worthwhile experience throughout the hiring process. It’s no secret that people want to work for companies that treat them well, and you can attract these employees to your business with a hiring process that features strong interpersonal communication, a clear discussion of compensation and benefits, and direct outlining of the roles and responsibilities expected from the offered position.

While it might seem like the hiring process is a minor part of growing your company, you should think of the experience you are providing as if you were a homeowner hiring a remodeling contractor: you want to have a clear plan, strong communication, and a good return on investment. Your hiring process is no different; it will only offer good returns if you invest time and effort into improving applicant experience.

Conclusion

If you're looking to supercharge the growth of your business by hiring quickly and strategically, don’t skimp on the necessities of a strong hiring process. Making use of all the tools available to you as an employer is key to attracting prospective employees to your business, and just as important is your strength as a brand and your skills at communication. By putting the tips above into practice, you can start hiring skilled employees at much greater speed, growing your business quickly and with a path towards greater success!