This document discusses best practices for startup workforce planning and hiring. It recommends following a three step process: 1) Create the right role by defining business needs and prioritizing what can be delegated to create a minimum viable product hiring need. The role profile should specify hard and soft skills as well as motivation factors. 2) Attract the right people by crafting an attractive role description highlighting what the company is building and why people should join without promises of big perks. Consider candidates' motivational drivers. 3) Hire to retain by assessing hard skills and soft competencies, gauging genuine motivation for the role, and realizing Generation Y wants meaningful work and feedback, not entitlement. The conclusion advocates not settling and starting with
2. What is workforce planning?
To ensure an organization has the right people
•in the right places
•at the right time
•at the right price
•to execute its business strategy
3. Startup common pitfalls
“He’s cool, we should work with him!”
“She’s happy to work for free.”
Are you simply hiring people just like you, not what you
actually need?
“I have to create another new project for her.”
How good is she? Are you hiring her for the quality of
her work, rather than because she’s simply
available/free?
Do you actually need this person at this point or are you
struggling to find the right work for her?
Does she have the competencies to be successful at a
startup?
6. Business needs
Things I can/should
delegate
Which stage is your business in and what do you need to
accomplish? Boil down your business needs into 3 buckets,
prioritize and then carve out what you could delegate.
Create Product Make Money Get Funding
STRATEGIC
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
NICE TO HAVE
7. What’s my MVP hiring need?
Things I can/should
delegate
Create Product Make Money Get Funding
STRATEGIC
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
Before you go out and hire, be lean!
✓
8. What should I look for?
HARD SKILLS
aka
EXPERTISE
SOFT SKILLS
aka
COMPETENCY
To carry out the critical tasks that you can’t do
yourself or you need to increase capacity for.
Have a focus! (Bad example: Software developer
who also knows banking operations and with direct
sales experience)
MOTIVATION
Consider the day-to-day tasks. What is the single
most important competency to do the job well?
(Good example: someone that works extremely hard
and can handle the rapid changes)
Finding someone passionate and who can grow with
the role & company. (Ensure that what they want
from this role is what you can provide)
10. What they should know
WHAT YOU ARE BUILDING
WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON
WHAT YOU NEED
WHY THEY SHOULD JOIN
...Without a big name, big pay, and big team
11. Universally attractive role profile
WHAT YOU ARE BUILDING
WHAT YOU ARE WORKING
ON
WHAT YOU NEED
WHY THEY SHOULD JOIN
Innovating the way global companies
hire and retain young talent...
Aggressively expanding our APAC
clientele...
Talent expert to help train and manage
our users online...
Access to top employers and direct
mentoring...
WHAT WE SAY ABOUT LIBBLER:
13. Motivational drivers vs. your attraction DNA
Learning & Challenge
Working environment
Career progressionSense of fulfillment
Lifestyle
Fun & meeting
people
Prestige
Money
✓
✓
15. Where do I hire them?
Sources of hiring:
Referrals from employees, clients, vendors
Target groups e.g. HK Developers association
LIBBLER for high potential business nerds!
Regular role posting sites
(but be aware your role may get lost in the mass!)
17. How do I assess them?
HARD SKILLS
aka
EXPERTISE
SOFT SKILLS
aka
COMPETENCY
MOTIVATION
Easy.
If you don’t have the technical skills to assess
proficiency level, then get someone to help you.
Sort of difficult.
Ask for specific examples instead of saying “Do you
have good teamwork skills?”
Difficult but very important!
“Why do you want to join?”
Gauge whether interest is genuine (e.g. have done
research), demonstrate deliberation of role.
18. Gen Y - the entitlement generation?
Nope. You have to learn how to engage them – SMART tasks & frequent feedback
19. Conclusion #1: Don’t settle!
TECHNICAL SKILLS
RIGHT ATTITUDE
COMPETENCIES
POTENTIAL
MOTIVATED
With the right workforce planning and implementation, startups can recruit top
quality talent.
20. MVP - Minimum Viable Persons
Small projects
Less critical
Longer Term
Strategic
Core
Team
Conclusion #2: MVP to A-team
Experiment with smaller projects. Develop your talent pipeline with the long term
goal to build a core team with the right role & organizational fit.
