The path to business growth has to start somewhere – where better than your first hire?

Startups should, however, proceed with caution. Hiring your first employee should be a careful process with a number of questions asked and explored before venturing into the employment market.

What exactly am I looking for?

Think about the following:

What exactly am I looking for here? What are the skills, the person, and the position I need?

Are these services I can get as a virtual service, such as reception, PA, administration?

Can this role be outsourced to a consultant or freelancer?

Can this role be done by an apprentice or junior employee?

Once you have decided you need some permanent full-time support for your growing business, go through those considerations, and then make your decision. If you choose to move forward with an experienced role, such as a front end developer to help your growing web design business, there are a number of selling points you can use to attract that hard-to-find Front End Ninja.

What kind of benefits can I offer?

Here are some examples of the kind of benefits a front end developer might look for in a startup:

No bureaucracy

Startups tend to have a more “family feel” to their working environment. The freedom to move without the constraints of layers of management and direction from non-technical board members means that developers tend to have more free rein to do what they like, work with tools they’re comfortable with, and produce products that excite them.

The opportunity to join something at the ground floor

Most developers will want to leave their mark – indeed they strive to have an impact on the marketplace, leaving a legacy of clean and elegant code that future peers will look at in awe and aspire to replicate. In addition, who didn’t once dream of being Employee #1 at Google, Twitter, or Facebook?

Flexibility

As should be obvious from the above two examples, flexibility is fundamental in attracting world-class developers. A recent survey I read highlighted that flexibility in working hours, remote working, operating systems used, technology choices, and benefits were the keys to not only attracting but also retaining quality software developers.

Equity

You might not have much money to play with, which is fairly typical in most startup businesses, but one option is to offer new hires a small percentage of company equity. This is a multifaceted benefit – not only does it allow for a lesser impact on your P&L due to fixed salary costs, but it also ensures the new hire has the exact same goals as you – to make the business as successful and progressive as humanly possible.

How do I find potential employees?

When you’ve thought about the benefits of working for you, you’ll need to think about the hows and whys of hiring your first employee.

Hiring big hitters

While it might seem attractive to hire an employee that has Big Company credentials, they’re not always the best fit. Aside from the cost, it might be a difficult cultural match.

Typically Big Hitters will have had big budgets to work with, colleagues to do administrative work, and aspirations to see clear and tangible career advancement year on year. This isn’t always possible for startups, and that marquee signing from Big Company might just end up costing you a lot more than just the salary.

Sell the opportunity, not the job

Most development roles are, in all fairness, pretty similar. Write code, test for bugs, release, repeat. So it’s the opportunity that sells. Bringing out the goals and aspirations for your startup in the wording of your advertisement will be the key to attracting top talent.

But be realistic. “We aim for global domination within 6 weeks” is likely to end up being retweeted for all the wrong reasons, but “from bedroom to board room in the next 2 years” is likely to sound a little more realistic to the keen reader.

Think about your target audience

Writing advertisements is an art form. Lazy listings will be overlooked quickly, and verbose advertisements will have the exact same effect – too long, didn’t read. Be concise when talking about the business, the culture, and why it is (or going to be) a great place to work.

Highlight the key requirements, but don’t overprescribe. Developers are seriously bright people, and in my experience, given the chance to add to their skill set will be something they grab hold of. Highlight the essentials, but ensure that this list is, at the most, half the length as the “nice to have” section.

Network and ask for referrals

Here at Heart Internet, we have a great referral program, where, at present, around 25% of all new hires come from. It’s free, and it comes with the (albeit verbal) contract of “this person is good”, which, if taken from a respected peer, is highly credible.

Don’t fear agencies

Yes, it is the most expensive option. But if you know very little about your marketplace, ask an expert. For example, if you’re a tech entrepreneur and you need to hire a marketing specialist, you won’t know your editorial from your advertorial.

You only pay for this service if you actually hire their person, and it helps you have an open discussion, explaining your position, and gets them to do the leg work. They could help with writing the job spec or, if they really want your business, even the interviews. Consultants will always want to demonstrate their “deep market knowledge”, and you can bank that information to use for future positions.

Think about the job board

Generic job boards (such as Monster, Reed, and Total) are great for high-volume hires and have excellent traffic, but if you want that elusive perfect hire, you might be fishing in the wrong pond.

Do some research into the marketplace you want to explore, and, in my experience, there will be a job board that caters for pretty much every discipline out there, and they’re often a little cheaper – sometimes free!

This is a bit of a whistle-stop tour of getting your first hire. Later, we’ll scratch the surface of the legal elements you have to be mindful of.

And good luck!