Charlie O'Donnel of First Round Capital on startup recruiting:
From what I've seen, most companies simply don't get enough people in the top of the funnel. Finding the right person is hard, but it also starts with being a volume game. The more candidates you reach and evaluate, the better the idea you have of who you are looking for and the more you get the word on the street that you are hiring.
Charlie proposes a number of ways to attract candidates:
- Events: go to events attended by the kind of people you want to recruit, and check out the attendee lists ahead of time.
- Social media content from your employees: post content (e.g. blog posts or screencasts) that will get the attention of the people you want to recruit. Try to do this on an ongoing basis.
- The meetup ground war: make it a point to attend local meetups and become a known face, and follow up, building personal relationships with people there.
- Contests: set up contests on social media, some with prizes, others with interviews as the prize.
- PR: PR can also be used for recruitment. In your press releases, mention that you're hiring.
- Talent acquisitions: as it says on the tin: buy a startup for its people.
A solid article, well worth a read.
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