[sunilrs]

After a corporate career for over 20 years, I took the plunge into the entrepreneurial life about a year and half ago with a bootstrapped B2B2C venture.

The challenges of being an entrepreneur are manifold but one of the biggest areas of struggle has been hiring and that is when you realise the immense skill gap and the difference in attitude between the arrived India vs. aspiring India.

Here are some of the challenges I have encountered and while this is as they say a sample of one in research and my experience is also oriented towards marketing and sales rather than other technical skill areas. However, it would be good to get insights from other entrepreneurial BHPians.

1) Length of Hiring Process: The hiring process which would typically take a 30 - 45 days at most in a corporate profile can go up to 3-4 months. There are a lot of cases of individuals just not showing up for interviews after confirming time and interest. To give the latest example, I had scheduled 7 online interviews on a Saturday recently. After corresponding directly with the candidates and just 3 turned up for the discussion. The other 4 did not even bother responding or sending an email or text that they are unavailable. I have seen this happen regularly even when interviews are fixed in-person.

Initially, I used to get really upset since such instances rarely happen in corporate interviews (at-least in marketing) but now I am used to it.

2) Unpredictability post hiring: Even after making the offer, till the person actually walks into office on joining day, there is no guarantee of him joining. Of course I have seen this happen even in the corporate world but the frequency of occurrence is very high. However, it hurts more as an entrepreneur since you are in a stretched resource situation unlike corporates where there is always some spare capability in the team.

3) Interview etiquette of lack thereof: The other aspect which is surprising is that so many candidates turn up for interviews without doing basic research about the company that they are seeking to join. The excuses range from lame (lack of time) to bizarre (I was busy playing games). I experienced this even when hiring in my corporate profile and I always immediately eliminate such candidates. Even after 20 years, if I go for an interview I prepare for 3-4 days and I just do not understand how you can brazenly walk-in knowing nothing about the organisation.

4) Skill: The skill level gap is visible but bridgeable with the right attitude and energy. However the attitude gap is not so easily bridged.

So what are the work-arounds

a) Make the role appear tougher: I make the job sound much tougher than it is in terms of working weekends etc. I find it helpful to get candidates who are looking for a cushier job out of the way. E.g. While we work 2 Saturdays, we tell then candidates, we work on all the Saturdays. I find it helps weed out those looking to coast rather than contribute.

b) Variable compensation: Increasing variable pay proportion vs. fixed pay to help weed out under-performers organically, while being able to better reward performers.

c) Referral: Referral Hiring from existing employees in your own start-up or from those of known people works better than cold hiring.

d) Agencies vs. In-House: There are many agencies which have sprung up on fractional work model which give you access to quality talent at a slight premium over in-house resources. I find myself working with more of them (vs. in housing some skills). There are pros and cons to this approach but I find it more efficient overall.

On a lighter note, while I keep hearing about the unemployment crisis, it does not seem to have touched the Mumbai market given the hiring challenges that one faces on a regular basis.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by sunilrs

After a corporate career for over 20 years, I took the plunge into the entrepreneurial life about a year and half ago with a bootstrapped B2B2C venture.

Oh boy!!
You have summed up the life of a Founder very well.

I have been hiring for Startups at Leadership level since 2011 when even Flipkart, Myntra were in their infancy.

I have worked with Founders, their investors and their Leadership team, the challenges are immense.
Even at the Leadership level, one has to contend with all the problems that you are facing.

From then to now, the journey has it's up and down, but has been most fulfilling. I have places a lot of good talent who have went on to make a name for themselves as strong leaders.

I must commend you for taking the right corrective steps in identifying the best talent. Most founders think throwing money at the problem will make it go away.

All the best with your venture.

[cryptarchy]

Originally Posted by sunilrs

a) Make the role appear tougher: I make the job sound much tougher than it is in terms of working weekends etc. I find it helpful to get candidates who are looking for a cushier job out of the way. E.g. While we work 2 Saturdays, we tell then candidates, we work on all the Saturdays. I find it helps weed out those looking to coast rather than contribute.

The skilled candidates that you are looking for will never accept this. You will get two kinds of people - 1. Who is a fresher, they will work hard, learn and leave for greener pastures. 2. People who don’t have any other option.

My advice to you, get on with the times, it is not 1999. If you want someone to give their every waking hour to you then you have to make them partners in your company and reward handsomely and even that may not be enough.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by sunilrs

1) Length of Hiring Process: The hiring process which would typically take a 30 - 45 days at most in a corporate profile can go up to 3-4 months. There are a lot of cases of individuals just not showing up for interviews after confirming time and interest.

2) Unpredictability post hiring: Even after making the offer, till the person actually walks into office on joining day, there is no guarantee of him joining.

3) Interview etiquette of lack thereof: The other aspect which is surprising is that so many candidates turn up for interviews without doing basic research about the company that they are seeking to join.

Not sure what is your domain, but these are very common issues in the Indian IT industry. We've even had a senior developer working in our US office who had to return due to visa issues going incommunicado after coming to India, even though the CTO had personally made sure he had a job here.

Originally Posted by cryptarchy

The skilled candidates that you are looking for will never accept this. You will get two kinds of people - 1. Who is a fresher, they will work hard, learn and leave for greener pastures. 2. People who don’t have any other option.

My advice to you, get on with the times, it is not 1999. If you want someone to give their every waking hour to you then you have to make them partners in your company and reward handsomely and even that may not be enough.

Exactly. When the world is talking about going towards a 4-day work week, advertising that the folks work on all Saturdays is not a smart move. On the contrary, you should try to make the job more attractive by providing flexibility.

People not doing research could be due to many factors. Being a startup, there might not be much information available online. The HR or hiring consultant might also not be sharing proper information. Many times, they don't even share the proper job description, let alone the company profile. Long ago I remember an incident where the consultant wanted to schedule a telephonic interview with me but wouldn't tell me anything, even the job location. Kept telling me that the interviewer would share the details. Come interview day, the guy started with a question even without bothering with the pleasantries. I interrupted him and asked about the role and location to which he replied that if that was so important to me, then I was not the right candidate they were looking for . I gladly disconnected the call.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by sunilrs

After a corporate career for over 20 years, I took the plunge into the entrepreneurial life about a year and half ago with a bootstrapped B2B2C venture.

Congratulations !!! I'm in a similar boat although its been 4 years, and I've had to do quite a bit of learning and re-learning since.

a) Make the role appear tougher: I make the job sound much tougher than it is in terms of working weekends etc.

Why would you do that? You want to attract people to join you, not drive them away. You are a startup, and not an established brand. The prospective employee is taking a risk in joining you.

There have been umpteen instances of startups being unable to sustain operations and layoffs are common, one doesn't have to make it tougher to attract candidates. Please remember, they are employees, they do not share your passion, and are not in your shoes. Also they are entitled to humane working hours and a work life balance. So my humble suggestion is to treat them fairly and to have clear guidelines on working hours in line with labour laws and not adhoc and whimsical policies.

On a lighter note, while I keep hearing about the unemployment crisis, it does not seem to have touched the Mumbai market given the hiring challenges that one faces on a regular basis.

On a more serious note, its because you have made your offer seem so unattractive. Remember when you were part of the corporate world, people were probably vying to work with your firm, cos it represented something aspirational. Now you're offering a slave job, and wondering why the fish aren't biting. Please consider changing how you present your firm, and you'll see how many people are yearning for a decent job.

[V.Narayan]

The OP has not spelt out his product or domain area. That would help fine tune the advice members can give.

First congratulations of taking the plunge into the world of job creators and moving away from the world of job takers. In your own unique way you are adding to the GDP of the nation.

A start up whether early stage or late stage attracts people due to the excitement of being part of a great journey and the excitement of doing something new and promising. That excitement has to first be genuinely felt by the entrepreneur himself - he/she should be bursting with passion for his product i.e. the new world's greatest mousetrap that he has invented. Only then can he inoculate others, including potential new hires with that passion.

If the business is a miniature version of a WITCH company i.e. offering the same service albeit at a different scale and competing on price, then I hate to say that attracting top talent will be a no win situation.

You are selling hard work, long hours, toil. You ought to be selling passion, the virtues of the new mousetrap, flexibility on working hours, WFH and the vast delegation the employee will enjoy. Most human beings crave for delegation and freedom of action. Most middle managers don't know how those words are spelt. That is the way to make your job offer attractive.

Where potential hires ghosting you and cheating goes that unfortunately is a disease in India's IT sector. Look at hiring individual contributors from Eastern Europe, as "consultants paid by results not hours" if you need their specialized skills. By and large they are professional.

You have not said anything about funding. If your funding is not in place and hires do not see at least 18 to 24 months of capital with you then that is a huge deterrent to future employees.

Best of luck with your endeavours.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sunilrs

After a corporate career for over 20 years, I took the plunge into the entrepreneurial life about a year and half ago with a bootstrapped B2B2C venture.

Congrats, if you have survived 1.5 years so far, you must be generating good enough revenue or have funding.

The employment in a startup is quite different than the employment in larger companies. I had discussed this difference in another thread from the employee's POV.

Originally Posted by Samurai

1) Hygiene Factor: Not talking about cleanliness here. Most of the departments that take care of your needs will be very basic or totally missing. If you need to travel, you may have to book the flight tickets and hotel by yourself. Don't expect extra curricular activities or gym or even group health insurance. You may have to fly economy instead of business class. Even parking could be hard if the office is in a commercial area. The tiny accounting department could be making lots of mistakes unless they have fully outsourced it to an accounting firm. I have seen startups with up to 200 people not knowing how to correctly process the payroll.

2) Result oriented: Startups are in a constant hurry to show results and don't give a damn about process. It is constant chaos. If you are used to highly process oriented working conditions, this will be a big culture shock.

3) Little hierarchy: Even a trainee gets to rub shoulders with the CEO on a regular basis. Strict hierarchy is not maintained, your boss may talk to your team members on a daily basis.

4) Excess freedom: Since the IT staff will be severely limited, you will have very few restrictions on using your phone or laptop at work. None of those BYOD profile things will exist. That also means you get very little help from IT department. Nobody could be taking backups. There may not be any IT management policy.

The above factors may not be palatable to many experienced candidates with corporate experience.

So how are you going to compensate for it? That is where the trick lies.

From your posts, I get the impression that you are still acting like a large corporate. I have seen this behavior from those who spent long time in corporate before getting into entrepreneurship. Well, you can't afford it.

You have to be very humble even while hiring a trainee, because they could take one look at your office and decide it is beneath them. Trust me, I have been dumped by freshers after they discovered we didn't have cafeteria or office bus. Few years ago, a friend was looking for a job with 20+ years of experience. His main criteria was business class travel, he didn't think he can handle economy class unless it was a very short flight. And he got his wish. I haven't flown business class for work even once, despite being founder CEO for 20 years in two companies. Not only you need to remain humble, but you need to hire people with similar humility, and offer them intangibles that corporate career cannot provide.

You can check my 2015 post where I have discussed who to attract right people into startups.

To give more tips, we need more information. What is your current size, what is your financial model (VC/Bootstrap), are you profitable, how many you plan to hire in next two years, etc.

[DicKy]

Don't have much say in this subject except for this part.

Originally Posted by sunilrs

E.g. While we work 2 Saturdays, we tell then candidates, we work on all the Saturdays. I find it helps weed out those looking to coast rather than contribute.

Observing among family and friends, there is an increasing tendency to get used to the two day weekend, especially if their current organisations offer it. Doesn't mean they won't work on Saturdays, ofcourse they do on special projects or year end or to make up for some leave. But if the company flatly mentions that every Saturday is a working day, they will just walk out. Especially if the pay is comparable to or even slightly higher than other companies who offer two day weekends. Has nothing to do with their dedication or work ethics.

[sunilrs]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Congrats, if you have survived 1.5 years so far, you must be generating good enough revenue or have funding.

The employment in a startup is quite different than the employment in larger companies. I had discussed this difference in another thread from the employee's POV.

From your posts, I get the impression that you are still acting like a large corporate. I have seen this behavior from those who spent long time in corporate before getting into entrepreneurship. Well, you can't afford it.
To give more tips, we need more information. What is your current size, what is your financial model (VC/Bootstrap), are you profitable, how many you plan to hire in next two years, etc.

Thank you - No we are not funded, we are a bootstrapped venture, hence even more cautious with our money, since if you are not careful, it can be a bottomless pit. We are a small team of 6 at present and not looking to add more than 3 employees.

Though I would differ in the view that I am acting like a corporate employee still, I am mindful of our budgets and the kind of resources that one can access in those budgets but if you do not get the right attitude then I would rather do the job myself.

Of course happy to get advice and perspectives as always.

[One]

Originally Posted by sunilrs

After a corporate career for over 20 years, I took the plunge into the entrepreneurial life about a year and half ago with a bootstrapped B2B2C venture.

So what are the work-arounds

a) Make the role appear tougher: I make the job sound much tougher than it is in terms of working weekends etc. I find it helpful to get candidates who are looking for a cushier job out of the way. E.g. While we work 2 Saturdays, we tell then candidates, we work on all the Saturdays. I find it helps weed out those looking to coast rather than contribute.

Unlike what most have mentioned about the point above, I am more in agreement with you. There are some excellent entrepreneurs who have seen a lot and given their inputs here. Some of them who commented are people who I really look up to and aspire to learn from. And yet, my view is that if this is working for you, it is working for you. In fact, what you are doing has worked for many companies and there are plethora of examples for it. Maybe it will need to be changed when the job profile changes, or when your company grows, or if you decide to change something - but nothing wrong in whatever works today for today.

On the hiring part overall, one thing you can be certain of is that it always remains an issue - a billion dollar company is as much short of good people as you are today. So while building your company, you might need to spend a disproportionate time in thinking about and then building a culture beyond celebrating birthdays etc.

Wish you the very best in your endeavour. I see you are in Bombay; do ping if you feel like swapping some war stories of our business journeys.

[GrandTourer]

While I sympathize with some of the issues you're facing (running a startup is excruciatingly painful.. hats off to you sir), but I'm appalled at some of the practices you're following.

Originally Posted by sunilrs

1) Length of Hiring Process: *snip snip* The other 4 did not even bother responding or sending an email or text that they are unavailable. I have seen this happen regularly even when interviews are fixed in-person.

Yes, sadly this is the new normal. People have multiple calls from recruiters, and when pitted against a big firm, a lot of candidates wouldn't think twice about ghosting a startup interview. I guess you'll have to live with it for a while.

2) Unpredictability post hiring: Even after making the offer, till the person actually walks into office on joining day, there is no guarantee of him joining.

This is something big corporates face as well. I work with what you'd call big tech, and even we face such issues every time we are hiring.

3) Interview etiquette of lack thereof: The other aspect which is surprising is that so many candidates turn up for interviews without doing basic research about the company that they are seeking to join.

This is just plain unacceptable. I have seen such candidates while I was conducting interviews in my company. You just lose interest in that person from that moment onwards.

a) Make the role appear tougher: *snip snip* E.g. While we work 2 Saturdays, we tell then candidates, we work on all the Saturdays. I find it helps weed out those looking to coast rather than contribute.

Yeah no wonder candidates are not joining even after you are floating offers to them. This is the very definition of toxic, and not to pick on you but most Indian startups follow this policy. What is wrong with just sticking to the truth? If I have two offers, why would I join a place that works all saturdays for example. And this is irrespective of the so called generation. Not even older candidates with families from the "older gneration" would want to work in such a situation. Maybe founders need to get real with themselves and cut out this crap. Sorry to be this blunt, but it's just not a good way to hire.

b) Variable compensation: Increasing variable pay proportion vs. fixed pay to help weed out under-performers organically, while being able to better reward performers.

This happened to a couple of friends, where founders low-balled them and them offered variable pay. It's not about being an under-performer. It's about being aware that as soon as the company stops performing below expectations, the variable component is the first to go. Every candidate has the right to look out for their financial well-being. Why don't you keep the fixed component on par with the competition, and add a performance based bonus on top of it. Positive reinforcement works better that negative. Maybe that will work better in your favour.



In the end, I'd say good luck with your startup, I do hope you do well for yourself. But please do empathize with the candidates, and you just might end up with a really good team that is well compensated and motivated to give you their all.

[xcentrk]

As a fellow budding entrepreneur, I can agree for most of your points. Except the below two.

Originally Posted by sunilrs

....

a) Make the role appear tougher: I make the job sound much tougher than it is in terms of working weekends etc. I find it helpful to get candidates who are looking for a cushier job out of the way. E.g. While we work 2 Saturdays, we tell then candidates, we work on all the Saturdays. I find it helps weed out those looking to coast rather than contribute.

Let's be honest. As a founder, we have the desire or need to work all the week. But why should an employee has the same desire? A resource like that are hard to find and as a person who used to work for multiple startups even on weekends, I wouldn't make this as a norm. People want work-life balance. It is our startup, not theirs. Even if there is any deadline breach, I would request them to work on a Saturday and fix it. Be polite and not ask them to work too many Saturdays.

Being a startup founder, it humbles you after some time. When I work for other firms, I would ask my team to work on Saturday and finish even though it was management's mistake for not quoting enough time to finish the work. But as a startup founder with limited team member, I can't afford to burn them out. Most of my team members perform well in the 5-day work week and for those occasional Saturday work, they plan between themselves and help me out. Treat them like your buddies, and not like managers.

Originally Posted by sunilrs

....b) Variable compensation: Increasing variable pay proportion vs. fixed pay to help weed out under-performers organically, while being able to better reward performers.

As rentioned by @GrandTourer, set compensation based on current market conditions or close to that. And offer performance linked incentive. This way they will get their agreed pay, and on top, if you perform well you will get variable part. Unfortunately I cannot offer this kind of compensation right now as my revenue is not up to the mark, but once I achieve my target I will sure make some kind of bonus or something to encourage my team and to appreciate their hard work.

When we were employees, we often talk a lot about work-life balance, good pay and respect from a firm. But when we become an employer, why don't we offer the same to our employees?

[antz.bin]

A 6 day work week vs a 5 day work week is not just 20% extra hours at work. It is 50% less hours of leisure a week, every week! I doubt you would offer 52 earned leaves for the 52 extra working days (or 26 without a sandwich leave policy in your case) to level the playing field.

If you are poaching talent from an industry where 5-day week is the norm, not many would be attracted if the compensation package is not above and beyond.

It is natural for founders and major equity holders to work above and beyond to further the cause of the startup but it is unfair to expect employees to do the same who rarely have any meaningful stake.

While I do not know the exact details of the compensation package you offer your employees, this is somewhere a lot of 1st time start-up founders falter so putting it out there.

During a startup interview, the evaluation goes both ways. It is not just the recruiter evaluating the candidate, the evaluation is going on the other way as well. I have been there and done that so I feel your pain.

Regarding No shows, there were a lot offers going around in 2021 when there was a hiring boom so no-shows were common for even large corporates. But this is a problem that has existed for startups since time immemorial. Its just the candidates acting the same way that Corporate HRs have taught them to when the candidate doesn't make the cut.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sunilrs

Though I would differ in the view that I am acting like a corporate employee still

Oh, I didn't mean you are acting like corporate employee. I meant you are acting like you represent a big corporate.

Let me elaborate... say you were a hiring manager in Google or Amazon. You can literally define the rules of engagement. If you set a 6-round interview over 3 months, most candidates will put up with it. He/She is looking at the brand and perks of working at Amazon/Google, when he/she deals with you.

One day you quit your Big Tech job and start a company. You are no more sitting on the 10ft tall elephant. Now you are standing on ground or worse, kneeling on ground when you are dealing with the candidate. If you like someone, you have to convince them to join you, and not bestow the offer from the top of the non-existing elephant. I have noticed that the founders with long corporate background find this switch very difficult, while dealing with candidates, customers or vendors. That is why I stressed on humility.

[Chetan_Rao]

Most of what follows is probably reiteration.

In every professional engagement, irrespective of the size of the hiring organisation, there's a 'why should you work for me?' Vs. 'why should I work for you?' tussle.

In a large corporate setting, the balance often leans towards the corporation at the low-mid part of the candidate quality spectrum, the candidate has to justify getting hired. As one moves into the mid-high quality range, even the corporations need to convince the candidate why they should come work for them, to varied extents.

With a fledgling startup, one loses the brand pull, risks are higher amongst a bunch of other factors, so the entire operational strategy (hiring being just one part) has to be very different, and leans heavily towards 'why should I work for/with you?'.

Convincing people you'll succeed starting from scratch is an entirely different ballgame from convincing people you'll continue to succeed with ongoing success already attached to you. Employees, customers, vendors, partners, they all need to be convinced, and they all have their own baggage that makes them lean on way or another, and you don't have the weight of a brand to tilt the scale in your favor, just your conviction.