Startups and small businesses would be wise not to waste time wishing they could hire like a large corporation.
It turns out that when waging the war over attracting qualified tech talent, big companies don’t always have the edge.
Businesses of all sizes are feeling the squeeze when it comes to luring great minds.
But the anonymously shared feedback that Woo has culled from talented developers shows that the apparent advantages of a large company, such as name recognition or greater resources to search for and compensate talent, aren’t necessarily bringing them dominance when it comes to hiring.
Even small businesses can attract top tech professionals if they know how to work to their strengths correctly.
The secret behind making great hires, regardless of company size, involves challenging conceptions, thinking creatively, and not falling prey to these 5 myths when it comes to hiring:
Myth #1: Only big companies can reach top talent
What one company considers to be “top talent” may be considered only mediocre by another company.
Making great hires is about recognizing great matches.
“The candidate with the Harvard degree, or the candidate with 10 years of experience isn’t always the right person for the job,” explains Liran Kotzer, CEO of Woo. “Sometimes the brilliant candidate with the less prestigious degree, or the candidate with one year of experience, is a much better fit.”
Organizations need to be prepared to adapt to different styles, rather than hiring based on a preconceived culture fit. This means setting aside unconscious bias to recognize talent in different ways.
An AI-powered tool such as Woo.io can help eliminate this unconscious bias and optimize search criteria to find great matches.
Myth #2: Big companies have a larger reach
A big company may have a larger recruitment team to find new candidates, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have wider reach in finding talent.
Seeking talented professionals also involves using time-saving recruiting tools during the search, and applying these tools to efficiently cast the right net to reach top candidates.
An AI-powered platform like Woo automates a large chunk of the funnel by connecting companies to talented candidates that match their job criteria and have shown interest in the opportunity.
This reduces time and increases search efficiency by finding talent that can’t be found in other places, and produces matches with people that are ready to engage in a hiring process. By choosing the right recruiting tool, a single recruiter can do the work of a larger team.
Myth #3: Large companies offer better compensation
The key here is smart budget allocation.
Small businesses should think strategically about which positions will bring their company the greatest potential to boost their performance. These are the positions worth filling with highly talented people, and offering compensation at the most competitive rates.
Having the right person in one of these positions will add more value to the company, and may even end up exceeding the contribution that two less qualified employees could offer.
Myth #4: Top talent prefer to work at established companies
The data that Woo has collected actually indicate that almost 60% of software engineers working at large corporations would prefer to work at a startup instead.
The apparent security or prestige of a large corporation is not the only factor candidates have during a job search.
Smaller companies can use this to their advantage when conducting interviews, to find out exactly what potential new employees are actually seeking when considering a job switch, and emphasizing the perks of working for a startup or a tight-knit smaller company.
Myth #5: Large companies have more efficient hiring processes
Setting up the right hiring flow is what makes for an efficient hiring process, regardless of organization size and resources.
This starts with how the employer describes their company and the specific position in the job post, making sure the tone matches their brand and is aimed toward attracting the candidate they’d like to see apply.
Once interviews are underway, employers should consider how current employees can help create a friendly office atmosphere, so that potential candidates leave an interview with a sense of the work environment and a desire to come back and work there.
Finally, employers should make sure that the recruitment process moves along quickly, by not involving more people than necessary, so that the right candidate doesn’t get snagged by another company.
Ultimately, companies of any size will succeed in recruiting the candidates that benefit their vision and help them grow, as long as they are open to committing the resources they have in the most efficient way for their organization.
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