Hiring Practices That Attract Investors [webcast]
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Growing your business to the next level takes more than a great idea -- it takes funding. Did you know that investors say the number one thing they look for when deciding to invest is talent? From SC Moatti, Managing Director of The Angels' Forum, you'll learn: - 3 characteristics investors look for in a strong team - The hiring recipe that spells failure - Why diversity and culture matter - And more To learn more, visit us here: http://bit.ly/2cCJq8E
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Hiring Practices That Attract Investors [webcast]
- 1. Hiring Practices That Attract Investors September 20, 2016
- 2. Welcome to “Hiring Practices That Attract Investors” The webcast will start momentarily. Grow your business with LinkedIn Talent Solutions ADVERTISE your open jobs with Work With Us Ads 2 BUILD your brand with Career Pages 3 POST your Jobs with Job Slots 4 FIND top candidates with Recruiter 1 Request a demo and further explore Talent Solutions bit.ly/contacttalentsolutions
- 3. Hi! It’s nice to meet you. #hiretowin Suzanne Tran Sr. Marketing Manager LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/suztran SC Moatti Managing Director The Angels’ Forum linkedin.com/in/scmoatti SC Moatti is the managing director of The Angels’ Forum, an early-stage hybrid venture fund, and founder of Products That Count, a community of 12,000+ product managers and innovators that produces a popular speaker series on product design. A mobile veteran from Silicon Valley and a pioneer in the areas of mobile, innovation and leadership, Moatti served as an executive at companies like Facebook, Trulia and Nokia, launching and monetizing award-winning mobile products that are now used by billions of people. Moatti is also the author of the best-selling book Mobilized: An Insider’s Guide to the Business and Future of Connected Technology.
- 4. Today’s session will cover: a. The Trends: SMB Growth & Investment Data b. Investor Evaluation Checklist c. Talent Is a Priority: Makeup, Structure, & Culture • Top Management Characteristics • Diversity & Culture Play a Role • Most Common Mistakes And Pitfalls d. Top Hiring Areas to Focus On e. Best Hiring Sources for Top Talent #hiretowin
- 5. SMB Growth & Investor Data #hiretowin 1
- 6. 6#hiretowin Competition For Funding Is Fierce 550,000 New owners emerge monthly 2015 44% Investment Increase vs. 2014 VCs $128.5B In 2015 2016 Promise for SMBs Sources: Forbes, Kauffman Foundation The State Of Emerging & Growing SMBs 7 of 10 New employers survive
- 7. Investor Evaluation Checklist What Investors Ask And Look For When Evaluating A Business #hiretowin 2
- 8. 8#hiretowin Investor Evaluation Checklist 1 Overview 10 second summary of What you do For whom So they can do what Where 3 Demo Showcase what will be sold Live demo Video mockup Illustrative mockup 4 Market Understand market landscape What’s the problem Why does it exist How big is the opportunity 5 Solution Know your value proposition What is your solution How can you solve it faster, cheaper, smarter 6 Business Model Specify how you make money What are you selling What’s the pricing model Where can it be purchased 2 Team Proof that team is qualified Work history Network & reputation Skills Culture
- 9. 9#hiretowin Investor Evaluation Checklist (cont.) 7 Customers Understand the user base Who are you targeting How will you reach them What is the messaging 9 Financial Overview How much money is expected Expected revenue Expenses 3-year forecast 10 Funding How much is needed How much is the ask Where will the funds go Detail team growth & investment strategy 11 Milestones Detailed milestones for success What is the future vision What are the milestones over 3 years time 12 Legal Status Company legal stance Where are you incorporated Are there plans to relocate some all of your team 8 Competition Who are you up against List major competitors Understand competitive advantages
- 10. 10#hiretowin Top SMB Pitfalls 1 2 3 4 5 Underestimating time needed for fundraising Poor presentation & interpersonal skills Insufficient detail about the business’s future plans, cash flow & use of funds Poor reputation & representation of leadership team Poor team structure & growth planning
- 11. Talent Should Be a Priority Investors look for a strong management team, workforce & culture #hiretowin 3
- 12. Strong Talent Results In Success The Impact Of Talent 12#hiretowin TALENT Is the #1 area of focus 3X Likely to grow into large businesses 4X Likely to create more jobs 4X Likely to exceed profit goals 5X Likely to exceed sales goals Out perform competitors 22% In YoY profit growth Can increase company value by $1-2M Sources: Gallup, Berkus Technology Ventures,
- 13. 13#hiretowin Evaluating Management & Leadership Teams The 1st Step In The Talent Evaluation Process:
- 14. What is culture? Importance Of Culture 14#hiretowin
- 15. Business Impact Importance Of Culture 15#hiretowin Employees are 12% more productive 14:1 Businesses out perform the S&P Index 2.5x More revenue growth 34% Less turnover 63% Better performance from female founder Founding teams under 25 perform 30% above average Sources: Forbes, Columbia University, First Round,
- 16. Measure Your Culture How You & Investors Can 1 Employee confidence in management 3 Employee retention & knowledge transfer Adaptability to change 2 Glassdoor Adaptability questionnaire NPS & Turnover Rates
- 17. 4 Ease of hiring Conversion Rates Recognition 6 Simple Assessment Employee Voice Survey 5 Employee Diversity Measure Your Culture How You And Investors Can
- 18. 18#hiretowin Top SMB Pitfalls 1 Mismatch between job and hire Take the time to create a hiring plan and to detail the roles you’re looking to fill 2 Lack of work / life culture 29% of American employees resign due to work overload and lack of healthy work-life balance (Cornerstone) 3 4 5 Below market compensation packages 66% of employees whose offices provide free snacks or beverages report being extremely or very happy with their current job (PeaPod) Feeling undervalued 75% of employees receiving at least monthly recognition (even if informal) are satisfied with their job (BambooHR) Stunted growth + lack of coaching, guidance, and leadership 51% of employees report they receive “no input” or “input only once in a while” from superiors on how to perform better in their roles (Mercer)
- 19. What Roles / Departments to Hire Into First Questions To Ask #hiretowin 4
- 20. Where To Start Hiring What Roles And Departments To Prioritize 20#hiretowin
- 21. Best Sources for Top Talent Tips #hiretowin 5
- 22. Sources for Top Talent Tips & Tricks 22#hiretowin
- 23. LinkedIn is a good starting point! Tips & Tricks 2 3 4 FIND top candidates with Recruiter 1 ADVERTISE your open jobs with Work With Us Ads BUILD your brand with Career Pages POST your Jobs with Job Slots 23#hiretowin
- 25. 25#hiretowin Key Take-Aways 1 Competition for funding is more competitive than before Know your business inside and out. 2 Prioritize hiring top talent and building a strong culture Prioritize building a high-performing and respected team. Don’t overlook the importance of culture. 3 4 5 Measure your culture and continue to keep employees engaged Employee voice surveys can reveal key findings and allow you to implement solutions. Build a hiring strategy Detail a strategy in advance for headcount and where to hire for the year. Align your management and hiring teams on the type of candidates you are looking for. Use a mix of hiring tools In addition to traditional job postings, activate modern recruiting tools (social professional networks, employer branding, referrals) to generate more awareness.
- 26. LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers a full suite of tools to help you find, attract, and hire top candidates. Contact us to learn more. Call 855-655-5653 or visit bit.ly/contacttalentsolutions Let’s connect! #hiretowin SC Moatti Managing Director The Angels’ Forum linkedin.com/in/scmoatti
- 27. ©2014 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Hinweis der Redaktion
- My name is Suzanne Tran and I’ll be your moderator today. I am a Sr. Marketing Manager at LinkedIn with a focus on helping hiring managers and talent professionals of small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Specifically, I work with a team of analysts and research specialists to develop educational tips, tricks, and other recruitment resources that help SMBs find, attract, and hire quality candidates for their growing company. I’m thrilled be be joined today by SC Moatti, managing director of The Angels’ Forum, an early-stage hybrid venture fund, and founder of Products That Count, a community of 12,000+ product managers and innovators that produces a popular speaker series on product design. A mobile veteran from Silicon Valley and a pioneer in the areas of mobile, innovation and leadership, Moatti served as an executive at companies like Facebook, Trulia and Nokia, launching and monetizing award-winning mobile products that are now used by billions of people. Moatti is also the author of the best-selling book Mobilized: An Insider’s Guide to the Business and Future of Connected Technology. ---- SC and I work with small to mid-sized businesses (or for short, SMBs). Small businesses are defined as companies with fewer than 100 employees (or less than $50 million in annual revenue) whereas a midsized business range between 100 and 999 employees (or annual revenue between $50 million and $1 billion). This is also how Gartner has defined small and mid-sized businesses. In both of these segments (small and mid-sized companies), a common, important, and often reoccuring area of focus is always around fundraising preparation whether it be seed, angel, series A, B, or C funding. And part of that focus is around building a strategy for what the company should do or where it should focus once funding has been achieved. For emerging startups, this session will give you insight into what some investors are looking for when considering investing into new businesses. For established small to mid-sized businesses who are preparing for hypergrowth, we hope today’s session will provide you with useful tips and tricks that will help you better prepare for your next round of funding and team growth.
- Today’s live webcast is engineered for leadership, management, and talent acquisition teams of small to mid-sized businesses. In the next 45 minutes, we’ll cover… Trends: How talent impacts impact your company’s ability to attract funding Investor Evaluation Checklist: A common list of items investors look for during investment analysis Why Talent is a Priority: Investors evaluate the management team, employees, and culture Management Characteristics Diversity and culture that matter to investors Common pitfalls Top Hiring Areas to Focus On: What roles and departments SMBs grow out first The tools small to midsized businesses can use to do the best hiring Ok, so let’s take a look at the economic state of emerging and growing SMBs.
- Fundraising is tough especially because new and growing businesses are competing for investments. According to the Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. is on the brink of an entrepreneurial boom. Meaning, new markets and industries are bringing a renewed era of small business and startup growth. In fact, data shows that… 550,000 new business owners are created each month. To put it into perspective, 330 people out of every 100,000 adults will have launched a business by the end of 2016. And, although it’s true that many of these companies will may not survive to continue on into the next stage of fundraising, there IS a HEAFTY % of surviving AND THRIVING businesses that do. According to Forbes.com, 7 out of 10 new employer firms survive at least 2 years, half at least 5 years, a third at least 10 years and a quarter stay in business 15 years or more (Forbes.com). What this tells us is that competition for fundraising and attracting top talent to your company is fierce! 3. Once a business enters a growth period, common places to find money is venture capital firms or angel investors 2015 saw a 44% increase over 2014 investments VCs invested $128.5 billion into 7,872 deals worldwide in 2015 This is the largest investment since the dotcom bubble in 2000 Source: Forbes In 2016 into 2017, there are signs that more investments will continue to be had for SMBs. That’s great news because your company could be one that receives VC funding which we all know helps growing businesses: Grow faster Adopt more professional structures earlier Are more likely to be acquired or go public Source: Forbes But, investors don’t invest in anyone. They’re looking for truly innovative companies who have a higher chance of being greatly profitable. The way they evaluate companies are through a myriad of very specific questions that helps them better evaluate the potential of the SMB.
- With that, SC, would you be able to share the key areas that you and other investors zero in on?
- There are 12 distinct categories that investors ask to delve into and are accompanied by a list of hard hitting questions. It’s important to prepare a strategy for each. Remember, you only get one chance to woo a business angel investor. Make it a good one! Overview: Although it sounds simple, many companies are not able to CLEARLY articulate pertinent information in just 10 seconds. Investors are pitched all the time so it’s critical to build a powerful overview that can quickly address all of the necessary points investors are looking for. These include: What will your business do For who So your audience can do what And Where 2. Team: This is the second and most important area of interest for an investor which is also a topic that ties into the other 11 categories. Here, we want to know what qualifies you to execute your idea successfully and better than the dozens of other companies in your space. This includes work history, network, and skills. Your history with your team is very important: did you work together in a prior company or did you meet last week at a conference? At an early stage, the key driver of our investment is the people, particularly how hungry and coachable you are. 3. Demo. We almost always require a demo, or at least a mockup. 4. Market. What is the problem, why does it exist, and how big is the opportunity? 5. Solution. Your value proposition: how you solve this problem faster, cheaper, smarter. 6. Business Model. How do you make money? Who pays, how much, from where?
- 7. Customer/user. Who they are and how many? How will you reach/acquire them? 8. Competition. Know every competitor and what are the current solutions to this problem, and why they aren’t addressing your market adequately. List the major competitors, understand their processes and what your competitive advantage is. 9. Financial Overview. What are the expected revenues, expenses, and EBITDA three years out? How long will this round’s cash last you? We typically fund companies sufficiently so that they can run 18 months until the next funding, if needed. 10. Funding. How much are you raising and how are you going to use the money? To grow a team, to support overhead, to expand? How much have you raised thus far and from whom? 11. Milestones. What is your vision for the future, measured in milestones for the next 3 years? Note that in our board meetings, we will evaluate your progress against these milestones. 12. Legal status. Where are you incorporated? Are you planning to relocate some or all of your team?
- There are a number of mistakes and pitfalls SMBs make when meeting with investors but the top 5 are: Underestimating time needed for fundraising Insufficient detail about the business’s future plans, cash flow, and use of funds Poor presentation & interpersonal skills Poor reputation and representation of leadership team Poor team structure and growth planning And to points 3,4, and 5, there is clearly a reoccurring theme and focus around teams, hiring, and culture. Investors are consistently evaluating team structure and dynamics throughout the fundraising process because this investors want to feel confident that the team is strong to lead and grow the business. Poor leaders, teams, and culture often times results in constant turnover, delaying the growth of a small business which can ultimately result in the failure of the business which equals lost investor dollars.
- Hiring top talent is a HUGE priority for investors and it should be the same for leadership.
- [Talent] 1.) The number one thing they look for when deciding to invest is TALENT Talent is a company’s lifeblood A great idea cannot overcome a flawed team 2.) High-quality talent is: 3 times more likely to build large businesses and to grow them significantly 4 times more likely to create jobs 4 times more likely to exceed profit goals 5 times more likely to exceed sales goals Source: Gallup 3.) High-quality talent adds value because it: Outperforms competitors by 22% in year-over-year profit growth Increases the value of the company by $1M to $2M Sources: Gallup and Berkus Technology Ventures When investors start the process of evaluating talent, they first look at the leadership/management team. Most investors realize that it's important for a company to have a good management team. The problem is that evaluating management is difficult - so many aspects of the job are intangible. It's clear that investors can't always be sure of a company by only poring over financial statements. Fallouts such as Enron, Worldcom and Imclone have demonstrated the importance of emphasizing the qualitative aspects of a company. There is no magic formula for evaluating management, but there are factors to which you should pay attention to…
- Before we get into this section, I want to note that for the hiring managers and talent professionals on this call, you recruit and hire at some point for your business. Whether you’re sourcing and recruiting candidates directly OR interviewing, your role is to ultimately help with hiring top talent. You are all working together or maybe for smaller companies, contributing individually to hiring employees. By this, you’re all contributing to making your business more appealing to investors through the hires you make for your team, department, and company. When you’re interviewing/screening especially for manager to C-level roles, try to double click into each of these categories. These are the same ones that investors look at. 1.) PROFILE: Hiring starts with the management and/or founding team. VCs look at the team’s profile and credentials. 2) SKILLS: What we’re looking for are signs of Complementary skills Same appetite for risk Compatible communication styles Proven work experience relevant to the current role of the SMB being evaluated Ability to understand the needs of the customer Ability to communicate a vision 3.) PERSONALITY: Investors also look for personality traits: Coachability Honesty Enthusiasm An attitude of putting the business first even if it means stepping aside or into a lesser role An ability to articulate thoughts and plans Confidence Humility Desire to work hard Ability to authentically care about employees and customers 4) CREDIBILITY: Proof is in the pudding as they say. Investors conduct due diligence to ensure these above mentioned items are validated by peers, coworkers, partners, etc. So, it’s very important to have a positive reputation. Ability to create products that solve the customer need Aptitude for public speaking But, many investors will go a step further into evaluating the team and company culture because what they’re after is FULL DISCLOSURE of a company’s inner workings (and evaluating culture is the one of the best areas to truly understand how things are operating).
- But what is culture and what are the specific reasons why investors really think it’s important? 2.) What is culture? Culture is fostered by all employees across all seniority levels It’s what your company stands for It’s a connection of talent to mission It’s a consistency between values and priorities It’s your team dynamics (personalities, skills, interpersonal connections, etc.) 3.) Why does it matter? Culture influences productivity, creativity, profitability, value and growth rates Strong culture also attracts and retain the best talent And it attracts diversity But don’t take my word for it. Here are some heavy hitting stats….
- Employees are 12% more productive Businesses outperform the S&P Index 14 to 1 (Standard & Poor's 500, often abbreviated as the S&P 500, or just "the S&P", is an American stock market index based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies having common stock listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ. The S&P 500 index components and their weightings are determined by S&P Dow Jones Indices.) Companies have 2.5x more revenue growth than competitors with poor cultures Sources: Columbia University, Forbes 4.) Strong culture also attracts and retain the best talent The turnover rate at companies with strong culture is 34% less than companies with poor cultures. So, strong cultured companies have averaged 14% turnover vs. Companies with poor cultures that have a turnover of 48%. When employees resign, they take with them all they have learned in their role, leaving the next person to re-learn the nuances of the position. One report estimates that employee turnover can cost upwards of 150% of the lost employee’s annual compensation. 5.) Gender diversity Companies with a female founder performed 63% better than all-male founding teams Source: First Round 6.) Age diversity Founding teams with an average age under 25 perform nearly 30% above average Source: First Round Based on this data, clearly culture directly and indirectly influences the business’ productivity and bottom line which is investors always have their eye on. Culture is as important to a company’s health as any financial indicator. Some would argue that culture is the single best predictor of long-term performance and viability.
- Company culture can be a vague concept, hard to define. But there are ways to tackle it head-on and to ensure that a company, as an investment, has a positive culture. 1. Employee confidence in management: Employee confidence in management translates into a stable and high-performing organization. A good gauge for this is Glassdoor‘s measures of employee satisfaction by way of CEOs’ approval ratings. Consider what percentage of reviewers approve of the CEO. 2. Organizational flexibility and adaptability to market change: A company that has high team morale is in a better position to respond quickly to market forces. Employees who enjoy working together are more likely to bond together to get the job done. Measure adaptability with the I-ADAPT or JAI tool. The Job Adaptability Inventory (JAI), contains 132 questions (15 – 18 questions per dimension). Another similar tool is the I-ADAPT measure (I-ADAPT-M). It focuses on adaptability as a personality-like trait which describes individual’s ability to adapt to organizational changes. The I-ADAPT-M also has eight dimensions (crisis adaptability, stress adaptability, creative adaptability, uncertain adaptability, learning adaptability, interpersonal adaptability, cultural adaptability, and physical adaptability), with 5 items for every dimension. 3. Happy employees are successful: When you like your job, you enjoy coming to work, and when you enjoy coming to work, you’re more apt to be productive. As I’ve written previously, a healthy workplace environment allows employees to prosper and subsequently grow the company. Try asking employees a simple question: “How likely would you be to recommend this company to a friend or colleague as a place to work.” Scoring a company this way can create a measurement of the attitude of the employee base (net promoter score) Employee turnover rates: What’s the average tenure at the company, and how does it compare with others in the same industry, or even to the Fortune 500? If the average tenure is less than a year, the company might not have an environment conducive to long-term business growth. 4. Ease of hiring and winning the talent war: Companies that are thought of as great places to work attract great talent. In a competitive talent war, candidates choose their next employer judiciously, and more often than not their choice isn’t based solely on compensation. A company with a healthy culture has an easier time hiring. Measure candidate response rate and hire conversions 4. Employee diversity: Employee diversity adds to a company’s ability to effectively innovate and compete in the marketplace. Shareholders should be able to simply assess the employee makeup of the company and whether it benefits from a variety of perspectives to problem solve and innovate. 5. Employee ownership and incentive structure: A company should have in place an incentive structure that recognizes high performers and allows employees to share in the success of the enterprise, whether through equity, profit-sharing, or any other programs to align incentives. Culture starts at the top and permeates an organization, and it’s instrumental in driving financial success. So let’s get culture measured in the S-1. Meanwhile, before you buy shares of the next hot IPO or blue-chip, ask yourself: Does this company focus on its employees and drive a great culture? If so, the chances are better for outsized returns on your investment. Plus, if you think (now or later) that your company will go IPO, you will need to file a S-1 which details company culture. 8.) The most important diversity is talent The founding team should have members with different strengths Visionary Expert Salesman Leader 5.) What kind of diversity is important to an investor? If a team isn’t talent diverse, the company needs to identify gaps and create a hiring plan So here, we look for:
- 4. Ease of hiring and winning the talent war: Companies that are thought of as great places to work attract great talent. In a competitive talent war, candidates choose their next employer judiciously, and more often than not their choice isn’t based solely on compensation. A company with a healthy culture has an easier time hiring. Measure candidate response rate and hire conversions 5. Employee diversity: Employee diversity adds to a company’s ability to effectively innovate and compete in the marketplace. Shareholders should be able to simply assess the employee makeup of the company and whether it benefits from a variety of perspectives to problem solve and innovate. Things to look for are mixed race, sex, and expertise (e.g. Visionary, Expert, Salesman, Leader) 6. Employee ownership and incentive structure: A company should have in place an incentive structure that recognizes high performers and allows employees to share in the success of the enterprise, whether through equity, profit-sharing, or any other programs to align incentives. Culture starts at the top and permeates an organization, and it’s instrumental in driving financial success. Questions you should ask yourself (because Investors will ask you), are: Do you focus on hiring top talent? Are you engaging your employees? Are you and is your team driving a great culture? If so, the chances are better for outsized returns on your investment.
- 1.) Startups often make common hiring mistakes, but this can cost you when you seek funding. Here are some of the most common errors that can really hinder your efforts in building a healthy culture: #1: Mismatch between job and hire and/or not screening well enough for both role AND culture fit. Take the time to create a hiring plan and to detail the roles you’re looking to fill.There are templates and exercises you can do including InTake meetings, job description drafting and peer reviews, etc. #2 Lack of work / life culture Burn out is one of the culprits of why employees leave a company. In fact, according to Cornerstone, 29% of American employees resign due to work overload and lack of healthy work-life balance (Cornerstone) #3 Below market compensation packages And, with competition being fierce, having an attractive comp package is part of keeping employees happy and retaining them. But, it doesn’t always have to be about base salary. You could couple an “at market” salary with other benefits like food, culture, etc. As an example, according to PeaPod, 66% of employees whose offices provide free snacks or beverages report being extremely or very happy with their current job (PeaPod) #4 Feeling undervalued Everyone feels appreciated if their work is recognized. The more GENUINE ways you elevate and celebrate your team the happier they are with their job. BambooHR reports that 75% of employees receiving at least monthly recognition (even if informal) are satisfied with their job (BambooHR) #5Stunted growth + lack of coaching, guidance, and leadership And finally, when an employee feels he/she does not have growth opportunities, guidance, and confidence in leadership, this is another reason why they look to leave their role. Mercer notes that 51% of employees report they receive “no input” or “input only once in a while” from superiors on how to perform better in their roles (Mercer). That’s more than ½ of a workforce!!! As you build a culture program, ensure you’re addressing each of these to prevent your company from falling into these common pitfalls.
- Ok. So, we talked about: Section 1: The state of SMB growth and the fact that competiton for funding is getting super competitive Section 2: If you want to be one of the companies to be consider for funding, you need to nail the 12 areas that investors evaluate Section 3: Talent is the top priority for investors so, you need to ensure your leadership team, employees, and culture are strong Now, in section 4, lets go into what happens if you’re a lucky company that gets funding and where to invest in hiring first.
- Every company and industry is different so the structure and hiring priorities will vary. However, AS AN EXAMPLE, here’s what the order of hiring priorities and focus could look like. So, for technology companies, as your revenue growth allows: Hire a really good person to own Technology/Engineering Hire a really good person to own R&D/product development Hire a really good person to own G&A (accounting, finance, Assistant -- enables you to maximize your productivity) Hire a really good person to own sales Hire a really good person to own marketing Hire a really good person to own customer service Hire a really good person to own HR/Talent Acquisition But, one of the most common questions CEOs (or leadership teams) ask board members / investors, are….where they should look for top talent. Often times, we’ll refer candidates but I suggest using a mix of tools/platforms.
- In this last section, lets look at key sources for top talent.
- With recruiting highly-skilled talent as the top priority, SMB leaders are asking, “Where can I recruit quality talent?” Job boards and social professional networks are the leading sources of quality hires for small business. Interestingly, enterprise organizations use social professional networks, employee referrals, and their career website more heavily than SMBs.
- SMBs are limited on funds and resources so finding an all-in-one recruiting solution is an effective way of having to spend the time to manage different tools and technology. That’s where I think LinkedIn could be an effective way for emerging AND growing SMBs to post jobs, build an employer brand, and proactively source highly qualified talent in one place.
- With that, let’s go into the key areas that investors zero in on.
- 1. Competition for funding is more competitive than before Know your business inside and out. 2. Prioritize hiring top talent and building a strong culture Prioritize building a high-performing and respected team. Don’t overlook the importance of culture. 3. Measure your culture and continue to keep employees engaged Employee voice surveys can reveal key findings and allow you to implement solutions. 4. Build a hiring strategy Detail a strategy in advance for headcount and where to hire for the year. Align your management and hiring teams on the type of candidates you are looking for. 5. Use a mix of hiring tools In addition to traditional job postings, activate modern recruiting tools (social professional networks, employer branding, referrals) to generate more awareness.