Whether you talk to job seekers or recruiters, these days you’ll hear the same thing – the job market is a tough nut to crack. Job seekers lament of never hearing back from recruiters, or being overlooked completely, and recruiters having job lists that seem to be forever growing!

As a recruiter or manager, you might be feeling the pressure. Advertising hasn’t worked; your well thought out job ad has been tweaked and readjusted several times on the job board, but still, nothing.

Oh sure, plenty of response, but it’s all been tyre-kickers, would-be’s and wannabes. Frustrating! The recruitment horizon is not looking great, but you’re reluctant to lower your standards just for the sake of filling the positions, however pressure is mounting and you’re running out of time and options.

Sounds like it’s time to rethink how you approach recruiting, and try something entirely new. Talent is hard to find, everyone knows this, and while LinkedIn gives you access to a virtual network of talent, it also provides them with a network of potential employers, so you can’t rely on someone’s willingness to jump ship when you approach them.

In many ways, it helps to view head hunting on LinkedIn as a courting process – it takes time and finesse, and is not as simple as giving them a virtual tap on the shoulder and saying ‘hey come work for me’.

So what’s the next available option? Quite simply if you can’t find talent – develop it.

Finding motivated people who are perhaps not very experienced, works in your favour, especially as a start-up – you end up with loyal, committed employees who see the value in what you’re doing and work in a way that gels with you as an employer. That’s what we have done and it’s working exceptionally well for us.

What we’ve learnt – Hire in-house Help

Over the last two years, there’s no doubt that here at Haystack we’ve hired some great people. However, without the right guidance and mentoring, even the brightest spark will fade into uncertainty.

As a result, all our staff have mentors, specialist trainers or consultants.  For example, our Lead Developer gets training from one of the best developers in the country, and our Marketer and Content Writer, receive guidance from mind blowing digital agency specialists.

This approach produces excellent results and the energy in the office is fantastic, simply because we have such a motivated team.

Given that the environment is one of continuous development and learning opportunities for all (including the boss!), with everyone working towards the common goal of Haystack’s success, it’s no surprise that staff loyalty is high!

Hire Specialists Trainers – Not Contractors

Speaking from my own experience, whilst we’ve had some relatively good work done we’ve also burnt through a lot of money trying to achieve and communicate our vision.

Contractors can be great but when you’re a start-up, and your budget is tight, you can’t put too much faith in contractor’s skills. Not to mention, not having the resource in-house can mean losing control of the creative start-up process. This is why if you can; developing your in-house talent is a much better option.

Hiring a specialist in a specific area doesn’t need to cost you a fortune. At Haystack we do fortnightly, one hour catch up sessions, which costs anywhere from around $100 plus. The return speaks for itself.  More output, clear focus, and meeting our goals on a weekly or fortnightly basis means we’re constantly progressing, rather than stagnating for weeks at a time.

Be Prepared to Micro-Manage, but also to walk away

Any venture capitalist will tell you when they invest, they invest in a team. In my opinion, it should never just be about the founder – your team is what backs you up.

The unique thing about developing talent as a founder is you’ve got to be prepared to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty, just like the rest of your team.

It’s certainly more time intensive managing people when they are fresh and lacking in relevant experience. There’s lots of mini meeting’s, quick catch up’s, lots of consultations, and lots of ‘I just need your advice.’ Let’s face it, developing talent is not easy by any means, but it’s worth it, not only for the small wins and major successes, but even for the process – watching your staff develop, evolve, and find their own dynamics, is rewarding in itself.

One thing I do recommend is daily catch ups at the start of each day – even just a several minutes to talk to each team member will do wonders. Review what’s been achieved, what needs to be done next, and quickly refresh any long term goals.

Your meetings don’t need to be long; 15 to 30 minutes should do it, but if the meetings are going on for too long, that’s the time to consider getting hired help.

Invest Time in Finding Good Talent before you need it

It’s important to acknowledge that developing talent is not always an option for advancing a well-established business into the stratosphere. Sometimes finding good people quickly will be necessary if business suddenly booms, or if a new challenge arises that needs to be solved quickly and by someone who knows what they’re doing.

This is where good foresight and planning ahead to identify talent before you need it is essential. Being prepared to develop it is all well and good, but if you need talent now; you’re probably too late.

For example, New Zealand tech company Trade Me has over 80 positions to fill right now. How do they plan to fill them all? They will source it any way they can, job boards, employee references, approaching recognisable talent from other businesses, but they are also willing to develop talent as they go, and promote staff upwards and cross-discipline within the company

A final word

Developing talent is not easy, but it can be super rewarding. My advice is, don’t be afraid to hire raw, untrained talent, simply because you’re worried your employee might leave as soon as they’ve gained the necessary skills and experience.

Surprisingly it’s simply not all about the money. Employees stay because they like the team, they like the energy and most importantly, quality staff will be loyal to the business because the business has invested in them as people.

So go forth and look at your recruiting differently. This way, when shoulder tapping or fishing for talent doesn’t pan out as planned, you’ll have a back-up plan. Develop talent before you need it.

This article was kindly supplied by Haystack Jobs.