AllBusiness.com

AllBusiness.com

10 Surefire Ways to Find Qualified Job Candidates

Posted: 28 Nov 2020 11:00 AM PST

The competition for top talent is fierce these days, with many businesses offering competitive salaries and premium benefits to entice the best job candidates to join their company. But it can be challenging to find qualified job candidates, and many small businesses do not have enough time or resources to commit to the grueling hiring process.

To learn some tried-and-true tips on how to find the best job candidates out there, we asked real entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

What’s your favorite and most effective strategy for finding qualified candidates for your business? Why?

1. Use your network

I like to ask for referrals from my team or my network. I find that asking for referrals saves a significant amount of time versus drafting a specific job description, posting it to the right job boards, searching through dozens of cover letters and resumes, and then conducting interviews. —Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

 

2. Reward employees for referrals

An effective way to find qualified candidates is to reward your existing employees for recommendations. At my business, we offer a monetary reward for team members who find other qualified people. Because they know how the job is, they can be trusted to inform other people about the work and to find the best fit. —Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

3. Incorporate flexible interviewing software

Especially during times like these, incorporating flexible interviewing software is key. Implementing video interviewing software is a great way to have a more personal touch than phone interviews and still have that connection when in-person interviews are not possible. It makes long-distance hiring easier and allows you to gain a better sense of the individual’s character and personality. —Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

4. Craft a strong job description

You will find the best candidates by nailing your job descriptions and posting them on approved boards and websites, such as Indeed. Candidates want to make a good first impression, and you should do the same. Poor grammar, typos and complicated words can turn people off. Avoid buzz phrases and get to the point. Prioritize clarity about job duties so that the right people will submit their resumes. —Duran Inci, Optimum7

5. Leverage social media

There are plenty of ways to find new employees, but we like using social media to put up job listings. The people who follow your social platforms are interested in your industry, and some will want to start their careers there. If you can build rapport with your audience, using platforms like Facebook and Twitter, finding candidates will prove to be an easy task. —John Turner, SeedProd LLC

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

 

6. Use Linkedin Sales Navigator

I love using Linkedin Sales Navigator. It allows me to target specific groups of people and I can send them automated messages using a wide variety of tools. It's a great way to prospect and book appointments. It doesn't close deals for me, but it certainly gets me qualified prospects. —Amine Rahal, IronMonk Solutions

 

7. Post on paid job boards

We love using paid job boards to find potential employees. Normally, we avoid free platforms because we are seeking highly qualified employees. After we put up our listing, we usually have a virtual stack of resumes in a few days. —Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

 

 

8. Optimize your job listing

The best way to ensure you find quality candidates for your business is by creating an optimized job listing. Your job listing determines what kind of applicants it attracts, so it’s important to craft one with your needs in mind. Use the proper keywords, describe exactly what qualities you’re looking for, and emphasize soft skills. —Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

 

9. Leverage word-of-mouth

Word-of-mouth is key. Candidates who are recommended have already gone through an informal screening process before their resume hits your desk or they walk into an interview. Your contacts will think twice before throwing any potential contact into the pool because who they recommend is also a direct reflection of who they are. —Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

 

10. Do outreach before you have a need

 

Don't wait until you need to hire. You should have a marketing strategy for internal customers the same way you do for your external customers. You should have a line of candidates when you post a new position. Your strategy can include teaching classes at a college, being active in the community, speaking at events, and should definitely include carefully cultivating your brand and culture. —Kevin Getch, Webfor

RELATED: 10 Tips to Find the Perfect Employee

The post 10 Surefire Ways to Find Qualified Job Candidates appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about YEC. Copyright 2020 by AllBusiness.com. All rights reserved. The content and images contained in this RSS feed may only be used through an RSS reader and may not be reproduced on another website without the express written permission of the owner of AllBusiness.com.

6 Things Startups Need to Know About Cybersecurity

Posted: 28 Nov 2020 08:45 AM PST

By Laird Wilton

Companies will lose $400 billion to hackers this year.

On top of the financial costs, companies can lose intellectual property, personal data, hours of productivity, and consumer trust. What's worse, companies often don't even think about cybersecurity until it's too late.

Not taking a proactive and thorough approach to securing your data and systems early in your startup journey could cause you to lose contracts and stall your growth. If you want to scale a B2B SaaS company quickly, you can't afford to trip over data security issues. Otherwise, you're preventing growth and leaving money on the table when big prospects dismiss you as "too risky."

Startups are an especially vulnerable target, as they may think they're too small to be attacked (they aren't) or they don't prioritize security, leaving their data at risk. Founders often don’t have security on their radar until after a breach happens or when a customer or prospect asks about it.

Even then, they may think they're covered because they maintain a spreadsheet of policies, use the cloud, or aren’t storing PII or confidential information. But this mindset creates gaps that can open doors for hackers looking for easy access to sensitive data, no matter how big or small the company. Fortunately, there are actions you can take now to protect your business.

1. Think about security from the start

Companies, especially B2B SaaS startups looking to sell their software, need to think about application security from the start. It may not seem like a priority when there's funding to secure and products to get to the market. But implementing security controls into the base code at the very beginning will save you an incredible amount of money and time as your company begins to scale. Have your developers use OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project), which focuses on software security to build protection and safety into your foundation.

2. Document everything related to security

As you begin focusing on security and are creating plans for your company's data management, document everything you do. Keep a record of your standards and policies, methods you have used, your implementation plan, and any tweaks—and do all of this before a breach or issue forces you to.

Having documentation of your security procedures will allow you to not only scale faster, but will also give you an advantage when selling to enterprise companies, as you'll be able to quickly and easily answer customer security questions. Once you have buyers or auditors looking at your security controls, they will want to see your policies and procedures, and it will not look good if you don't have any. Having this information will also help you break into more highly-regulated regions like the EU, or into industries with high privacy compliance like health care.

3. Define your team's roles and responsibilities

It's not enough to know that someone in the C-suite is “good at security stuff." If you don't already have a security team, put one in place. Also, don't leave security responsibilities solely to the CTO. Make sure everyone understands their role in keeping data private and systems secure.

Hold security meetings with your team and train everyone on security awareness, even if it's only providing people with free resources. Get this done during the early days of your company, so that you have a culture of security from the start, and you're not scrambling to form a team when it suddenly becomes necessary.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

4. Know your standards and regulations

Do you know which regional or industry-specific frameworks, standards, or regulations your company needs to follow? For example, do you need to comply with SOC 2, ISO 2700, GDPR, or HIPAA? Knowing what standards you'll need to tailor your security practices to early on will not only help you adhere to the right protocols, but when questions come up later in contracts or vendor questionnaires, you'll know how to answer them.

If you're not sure, consider implementing CIS Critical Security Controls (CSC) from the Center for Internet Security, which is a set of baseline standards designed to cover top cybersecurity issues for many types of businesses. The last thing you want is your startup to catch the attention of a regulator because you're not compliant.

5. Robust security leads to healthy growth

Inadequate or non-security implementation will harm your growing startup. Enterprise companies prefer working with vendors that they know are security-minded and won't be a liability in the future. Inadequate security can prevent you from entering various markets and regions, and may also flag you to regulators.

However, a commitment to security early on will build trust with companies wanting to do business with you. This can become a differentiator for your business, which could lead to sales with bigger and more successful companies.

6. It'll be harder to do later on—so don't wait

It will only prove more difficult and more expensive if you wait until you scale to implement security compliance, training, and protocols. With more customers, more employees, more assets, and more technology, trying to retrofit your systems to adhere to security frameworks—or worse, having to rewrite source code—will cost you time, money, resources, and even the trust of your partners and customers. You don't want to discover the company culture and habits you've set from the beginning are clashing with the security procedures necessary to land enterprise clients and increase revenue. A little bit of work at the beginning goes a long way.

Enterprise companies that hold vendors accountable to security practices will only benefit the industry, as more and more companies protect themselves against the constant threats of hackers. Startups should not only put plans in place to protect customer data, but can grow their businesses by adopting a security mindset.

As you scale your startup, be deliberate in creating a culture of security awareness and implementation, which means recognizing the value of protecting any data your company collects. It's never too early to start the process, but there may come a time when it's too late.

RELATED: 3 Digital Security Threats Your Business May Be Overlooking

About the Author

Post by: Laird Wilton

Laird Wilton is a tech entrepreneur, Techstars alumni, board member, and the COO and cofounder of Securicy. He advises B2B SaaS companies on how to implement, mature, and extend information security programs that meet the rigorous standards of high-value enterprise customers. Laird has direct knowledge of the impact security can have on individual deals and the overall trajectory of emerging technology companies.

Company: Securicy
Website: www.securicy.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn.

The post 6 Things Startups Need to Know About Cybersecurity appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Guest Post. Copyright 2020 by AllBusiness.com. All rights reserved. The content and images contained in this RSS feed may only be used through an RSS reader and may not be reproduced on another website without the express written permission of the owner of AllBusiness.com.
Posted by: at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)