The Startup Recruiter: Your Brand Ambassador?

At IT World Web.com in India the most of the Clients that we support are funded startups. We love working with and we enjoy learning from them. They also inspire us to build products that can help them and other companies change the way IT talent gets recruited.

In the past 2 years, we have worked with 200+ startups across India mainly from Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore. What we have observed in that time, is that startups who have acquired any funding and are building their company are wasting their marketing money by thinking they are building a brand. The reason for this statement is hidden in the following fact.

Startup founders don’t know who their “make or break” brand person within the company is.

When I have personally asked founders who they think their company’s biggest brand ambassador is, most of the time they look at me with a blank, empty look that says “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“What brand ambassadors? We are spending money on advertisement, bill boards, social media to build our brand. We don’t have a Shah Rukh Khan to endorse us and become our ambassador (most of them chuckle when they make such a statement)”.

In a startup, everyone from the coffee boy to the CEO is a brand ambassador.

Startup founders do not realize that the biggest brand ambassador within their company is the person who is in fact considered least important – the Recruiter.

The Recruiter a brand ambassador? What are you talking about?

My answer is based on a very simple calculation and backed up by countless stories from candidates who have attended interviews at startups. Some of the stories are inspiring, other horrifying. The change factor: The Recruiter.

Here is a simple example:

If you as a startup just received your Series A funding your focus most probably is to hire 10 developers. If your interview to hire ratio is 20:1 your recruiter must speak to 200+ people to hire the 10 most suitable ones.

In most startups, the Recruiters are very young, unexperienced people with poor communication skills. They are better in coordinating rather than selling.

Selling? Why does a Recruiter need to sell?

Oh yes, a Recruiter is very much of a sales person. He/she needs to sell the job opportunity, the vision, mission of the company to a potential candidate. The world of recruitment has changed a lot since the time people were lining up in front of your office based on a 2 lines add in the local newspaper. Now we are operating in a world of “talent shortage “where the guy with the skill rules. It means that the candidate is in “the driving seat” and he sets the rules of the game. He has choices. He wants to be pampered. Most importantly he needs to understand “WHY” he should choose for your company and invest a year of his career in working for you. Hence the Recruiter comes into the picture to sell the job opportunity, vision, mission of the company and most importantly “WHY” the candidate must choose for your startup among the other 5 offers he is holding.

How many startup Recruiters do that?

Answer is: Less than 10%

From what we have seen and experienced so far, less than 10% of the startups have a hands-on Recruiter who knows what the company does, can do a great sales job and convince the candidate at least to consider the startup as a possibility for his career. Unfortunately, in roughly 90% of the cases the Recruiters are not able to articulate the line of business the startup is into, why it exists in the first place and why the candidate shouldn’t miss the opportunity to become part of that culture.

So, coming back to the hiring example where the Recruiter has most probably spoken to more than 200 candidates in the search for hiring 10. If you fall into the 10 % startups where the Recruiter is a great salesperson, after the 200 interviews you will most probably have 200 ambassadors out there who can say something positive about your brand. As you know in the tech world, especially in India each techie has a circle of at least 5-6 very good friends they would talk to when discussing about their job search and interviews experience. If each of the 200 candidates that the Recruiter spoke to shares the great experience they had during the interview and the inspiring story about your startup that they have heard from the Recruiter. Then you are looking to 1200+ brand ambassadors within the tech skills you are currently and going forward hiring for. You are becoming a brand in the tech community, which in the long run will give you great rewards.

In case your startup falls into the 90% of the cases then you might be considering 1200+ ambassadors that spread news that could do more damage to your brand than good.

Considering the above cases, we see that the Recruiter you have on board plays a very critical role in the future of your startup. We call startup Recruiter “the CEO of talent” within the company. If you wonder where you company is going to be in 5 years, have a look at your Recruiter first. He is the captain of the talent on your ship.