Finding the right person and building a team are worries that any business owner faces, big or small. This continues for a Start up and SMEs as well. They are constantly driven by pressures and competition, keeping them on their toes.

So, what is the hiring process like for a Start up or an SME? Read on to know more.

1.       Decide on the Time:

When do you start hiring? Immediately upon registering the company or you wait for a while to settle in? This is a dilemma for most start ups. Ideally, one should start building a team within a few days of taking the decision to start the business. Spread the word around and use your network to look for that one person who will be your anchor, stick with you through the journey. Ram, who is co-founder of a HR consulting company says "We advice our clients, big and small that they need to recruit that one main person within the 1st month. Why? Because this person will manage the office end of deals while you go promote your business. For any business to grow and succeed, the people are its backbone. They need to believe in the idea as much as the founder and want to help promote the business. I faced issues when i 1st began recruiting but with time, i learnt to start early and recruit those with little or no experience. I give them as much learning as they can get, full freedom to share their thoughts and today they are the reason am still in business". There are a few companies that wait till they are a year old, but by then they would be exhausted and then hiring someone, training them would become quite a task.

2.       Identify your resources

What kind of people do you want to work in your company? You are a start up, which means you need someone who brings in some experience, but more of drive and passion. People seeking high paying jobs or big fancy brands will not fit in here. An idea would be to scour the market for those who are willing to learn, eager to grow and don't mind waiting for the business to pick up before taking home a hefty pay packet. Sangeetha, a HR Manager with a small start-up says "when i joined here, i knew it was not going to be a high paying job, but the business idea was interesting and i felt i could contribute, add value to the company. I follow the same when i hire, i look for people who have ideas, who are eager to get involved in the business and not merely be employee"

3.       Make them part of the family

"When we call people for an interview, we talk to them not like employer-employee, but we make them feel like they are part of this family" says Manar who runs a Falafel wrap business. He and his wife set up this business because of their passion towards food and because they found an opportunity in the market. People need to feel involved, and that the big bosses care about them, otherwise they will lose interest and start shopping around for another job. Many SMEs today have a small team but a strong team, and this makes all the difference to their business. The team is involved in major decision making, idea generation and on ways to market the business better.

4.       Compensation and Rewards

The Carrot and stick approach days are long gone; today it is the carrot that rules the roost. People need to be compensated and rewarded for all their efforts. There are companies that offer incentives when a person fares well, and similarly salaries are revised at regular intervals and so on. Daniel Fernandes, Co-Founder and Head, Comedy @ Beyond Entertainment says, "they are also people, and they come with their set of expectations. Even if we are unable to meet their demands, we should give them what they deserve. My company today is fairly well known and we are doing quite well,  and so i have started incorporating little changes in the assessment process and pay packages". Krithika Nelson of Shopo.in says " we are just a year old, but we pay our team what they would get out in the market. This was a decision taken at the beginning because we realised people are driven by some motivation, and money is a primary tool. If we don't pay what we do, we would have lost them all or atleast a majority to another start up or bigger company".

Now that you are armed with some insight of the hiring process, all set to rope in that team of yours?

smementor@moneycontrol.com