5 Things I've Learned About Hiring as an Entrepreneur Integrity is a massive trait to be looked within the candidates when you are hiring for your firm

The main challenge for the Entrepreneur while building a start-up is to build the right team, especially when you are bootstrapped. Choosing the right candidates with a perfect mixture of experienced and freshers' who have the right attitude and desire to learn is key for the Start-ups.

For me, building a right team doesn't mean hiring candidates like me. It is about hiring the candidates who are better than me and provide solutions to the problems.

I have been hiring candidates right from the inception of RentMyStay in 2014. Following are some of the important things I learnt about hiring for the Start-ups.

Hire Candidates with intelligence, energy and Integrity

As Warren Buffet says, hire people with intelligence, energy and integrity. If someone's willing to breach a promise with the ex-employer, even if it is tempting to hire a candidate, it is not worth hiring the candidate. Integrity is a massive trait to be looked within the candidates when you are hiring for your firm. It may be difficult sometimes to tell about the candidate but if there are any signs, ignoring those could turn out to be a costly affair. When you look for the integrity in your business clients, you should probably look for the same in your employees too! Talk to the reference given by the candidate from his previous jobs.

It is crucial for a firm that they don't end up hiring people with no integrity.

Hire candidates who fit in with the Organisation culture

The key in hiring for your firm is not essentially discovering people who thrive in uncertainty but rather finding people who thrive in the sort of organizational culture your organization strives for. Hiring the candidates who fit in to your organization culture is crucial and results will be fruitful. Resist the urge to hire individuals simply because they share the same character traits and background as you. Businesses benefit from having people with different factors of view to challenge and develop the company in the long run.

Save time by screening candidates

Screen-Save time conducting interviews by screening applicants or candidates before hand using the information provided on the application form. Look for unexplained breaks in employment, profession changes and reasons for leaving other employers. Salary, past, professional affiliations, and overall professionalism in finishing the form can also give clues about the applicant. Initial candidate screening could save you huge amount of time and effort required to interview all the candidates.

Be Transparent with the candidate

Employee Agreement is one of the crucial things to keep in mind when you are hiring a candidate. Be transparent in conveying the policies and any other company's information which is required. We at RentMyStay have a transparent Employee agreement and the policies are discussed and inputs are taken and amendments are made if any required. Employee is onboarded after the clear understanding of policies and agreed upon verbally as well as written after thorough discussions.

Employee retention

Retaining employees is one of the crucial things to learn in your entrepreneurial career. It might seem easy to retain the employees by offering them money, equity but my experience at initial stages at RentMyStay say that people don't stay back due to any of these. They want a healthy competitive environment in the office, so that they could have a challenge and a sense of accomplishment in achieving it. People tend to become loyal to their employers when they have a clarity in what they are doing in the organisation and how that would mutually benefit both the organisation as well as the employee.

Mastering the art of hiring the right candidates and leading a high performance team is not easy. It is the department where Entrepreneurs have to be patient and learn a lot.