scaling your startup: hiring and growing your dream team

Looking to scale your startup through hiring? First, read our guide to enhance your recruitment and onboarding processes and grow your team. 

Have you just started a company or are you scaling your startup? Hiring mistakes like overselling the role or not considering different qualities in candidates can be costly. The hiring and onboarding processes consume significant amounts of time and resources. Hiring the wrong people when your startup is lean and trying to grow can also stall growth and waste valuable cash flow. 

It’s therefore critical to follow best practices for startup recruitment, some of which are outlined below. In addition, it’s important to focus on retaining the talents that you hire, as you’ll be investing copious amounts of time and energy into developing their skills, experience and roles. 

One of the major benefits about hiring new employees in Estonia as an e-⁠resident is that employment registration and payroll can be managed 100% online and in English. The simplicity and efficiency of hiring in Estonia is a major advantage when it comes to HR, as there’s minimal paperwork involved, clear employment regulations, and clear HR regulations make it possible to increase or decrease your staff contingent quite easily and flexibly. 

Being intentional about your onboarding processes can help you to retain top talents, enhance your reputation, and increase productivity. Below are tips for enhancing your onboarding processes and growing your startup. 

Best practices for startup hiring

Whether you have a dedicated HR team or you’re a small startup with people wearing many different hats including hiring new staff, it’s important to be aware of recruitment best practices.

Following best practices can help you to onboard staff quickly, efficiently, and in a way that helps you to retain those top talents that you worked so hard to attract.

Below is a list of top tips for hiring staff for your startup.

1. Create a strategic HR plan for scaling your startup

Having a hiring plan for your startup is critical. As part of your business plan, you should be thinking about what roles you’ll need staff to fill in future and the ideal candidates for those roles. 

Not only do startups need to know which roles will be needed in future, but you may also want a plan for the growth phase of which roles you want to hire first. This helps set a priority list for hiring, and the types of skills that you want to add to your team.

Your HR team, if you have one, can assist by preparing a list of detailed job descriptions so that when the time comes to scale, you have everything planned and in place to expedite the process. 

2. Create a memorable and welcoming application experience

First impressions can be lasting, so make sure your entire application process is unique, memorable, and welcoming. This can help you attract the most talented recruits. Remember that applicants may be applying for various other roles, and how you present your startup during the application phase, can affect whether they choose to work with you or not. 

Being intentional about creating a positive application experience for applicants can set you apart from competitors, and help to cultivate momentum around your new brand and throughout the organisation. 

Sarah LeMotte, Founder and CEO of exaqueo, says that a positive candidate experience in the recruitment phase can give companies a competitive edge in terms of hiring the best recruits and saving costs related to hiring. 

3. Clearly define roles and responsibilities

To attract the right candidates and to retain your newly acquired talents, it’s important to set expectations by communicating clearly what each person’s roles and responsibilities will be. Not only is it prudent to establish these from a business management perspective but it can also help indicate to staff that your startup has a clear vision for the future. 

Having a clear job description also helps encourage people to apply for positions. You can use job descriptions to assign and manage tasks, and some form of accountability framework to ensure a clear distinction of roles and responsibilities across your team.

As part of the job description, startups should also include clear key performance metrics so candidates know how they will be evaluated on the work that they do. This helps build trust and transparency, while setting realistic expectations. 

4. Enhance startup branding to attract top talents

How you communicate your startup, its products or services, and the work that you do matters. The way you brand your startup will help you to attract talent, partners and funding. That’s why it’s important that you don't overlook the role of branding in the startup phase of your business, and that you use this branding when looking for people to hire. 

If you have a strong brand, this can help you attract more job applicants, while also promoting your company. When it comes to hiring, make sure that the careers page of your website is up-to-date and enticing to prospective job seekers. Also, make sure your social media channels are up-to-date, engaging and that you use them in the recruitment process. Your careers page and job advertisements should also communicate your company’s values and unique company culture. If possible, include testimonials and add links to your LinkedIn page and other social networks that establish credibility and trust.

Karla Oder, Head of Marketing at Alma Career Estonia says that job portals and other third party websites are an important part of startup branding to build trust among jobseekers. He suggests that:

In Estonia, two thirds of candidates start looking on job portals. Oder noted that it’s all well and good “to keep your own channels updated but you also have to be where the candidates are”.

5. Verify all candidates

While you may be extremely impressed with the calibre of applications you receive, and use their qualifications and experience to create shortlists, it’s imperative that you verify all qualifications and experience. Sadly, there are many cases of candidates that misrepresent their skills, qualifications and career experience in their CVs and resumes. Not only can this result in poor performance on the job, but it can also represent a significant legal liability for your company in certain circumstances. 

Make sure that you have a verification process built into your recruitment system to safeguard the reputation of your startup. You can either get your HR team to handle verification, or you can outsource this to specialists. In Estonia for example, recruiters sometimes provide standardised tests and online examinations to verify the skills and experience.

If you notice that many of your applicants do not have the skills and experience that you’re looking for, then this may be a signal to change your job ads and application process and improve your hiring communications. 

Oder from Alma Career also stresses that it’s important to have a procedure for how to deal with communicating with candidates about non-acceptance for jobs. While you may not want to hire particular candidates now, they may be suitable candidates in future and it’s important to treat them respectfully, provide feedback, and not alienate them. 

6. Create hiring procedures and protocols

Establishing hiring procedures and protocols in the startup phase can help ensure that as your startup grows, that it applies the best hiring practices and is fair in how it handles applications and hiring. This includes having standard hiring practices for shortlisting, interviews and selection. You may want to train your interviewers so that they are legally compliant in the questions they ask and so that they represent your company values and all job descriptions accurately. 

When establishing hiring procedures and protocols for your startup, also be aware of the various forms of bias and how to minimise those throughout the hiring process. Having a diversity and inclusion statement for your startup can help reduce bias. 

Creating the correct hiring procedures and protocols for small startups can be burdensome, which is why many startups choose to work with reputable recruitment and HR companies to assist with the recruitment and hiring of new employees.

Companies like Alma Career Estonia provide recruitment services and personnel search solutions and have helped 2500+ customers annually over the last 27 years. Alma Career is a trusted member of the e-⁠Residency Marketplace.

7. Communicate your vision, culture and policies

When you’re hiring new staff, it’s also important to communicate your company mission and vision and what you want to achieve, so that applicants can see if that resonates with them.

Furthermore, communicating your unique and distinctive company culture can help to attract candidates that share the same values and ethos. A 2024 survey by PwC on the hopes and fears of the global workforce ultimately found that “achieving [an organisation’s] vision is unlikely unless leaders and workers are driving change together. That starts by helping employees understand why change is necessary and how they can contribute. Through inspirational and transparent leadership, business leaders can build a workforce that’s excited and eager to turn that vision into reality.”

Formulating company policies on a range of topics such as data privacy, remote work, and cybersecurity, can also help employees know what’s expected of them, and can showcase your culture and values. Policies also help avoid confusion and can your startup stay legally compliant, thereby minimising risks. 

8. Get help from an experienced recruitment specialist

Scaling your starting by hiring employees and growing your dream team can be arduous and time-intensive. It requires skills and experience in hiring and the legal technicalities involved in human resource management. 

Getting help from an experienced and reputable recruitment agency or specialist can help you to improve your recruitment process and hire the top talent. During the startup phase of your business, making the correct hiring decisions can have a significant impact on the success of your business and your ability to scale and attract funding. That is why so many startups choose to consult HR agencies to assist them with talent acquisition. 

The e-Residency Marketplace provides a dedicated list of HR and recruitment specialists for you to choose from. Recruitment specialists have a large network of job ad distribution channels in Estonia, which enables them to reach a wide talent pool and use their personal recruitment services, marketing, and employer branding to help you find your startup dream team. Several currently have offers for e-resident founders, which you can read about in this blog post.

How to onboard your new startup team

Do you have a clear plan and vision for how you onboard new team members at your startup? If you don’t then you could be missing out on making the onboarding process more efficient, productive and critical to retaining new recruits. Companies of any size, including small startups, need to have an onboarding process to avoid confusion, to help staff feel welcome, to help train staff, to manage expectations and to save time and money. 

Put yourself in the shoes of a new employee and imagine all the support and resources they may need to be effective, productive and motivated in their new role. That may include providing them with a workstation, computer and login details, and giving them a company handbook of all your policies, key contact personnel and who they can ask for assistance. 

Employee onboarding doesn't end there. From the very first day, you need to think about who will provide a tour of your facilities, who will show them around and introduce them to other staff members, and how to include them in meetings and events to make them feel welcome. 

In the next few weeks and months, you also need to establish a plan for when you’ll have one-on-one meetings and feedback sessions, whether you’ll have a buddy system, and what training and resources you’ll provide to help them perform their jobs and make a positive contribution to your startup. It’s also important to build in regular reviews and feedback opportunities, and to set goals and targets for the first few weeks or months that can be measured and assessed. 

A summary of onboarding tips for new recruits 

In addition to the summary of onboarding tips below, you may want to develop your own, customised onboarding checklist.

Before starting work

• Have a signed employment contract (if applicable)
• Send a copy of all relevant policies
• Get a workstation prepared (if relevant)
• Get all logins, software access and emails set up

On the first day at the startup

• Give a tour of the offices (if applicable)
• Make introductions to all staff (as relevant)
• Introduce to work “buddy” (if applicable)
• Have a meeting to ensure the workstation and all resources have been provided
• Provide an overview of the company mission, vision, values and culture

In the following weeks and months

• Establish weekly one-on-one meetings
• Provide opportunities for feedback
• Set SMART goals and targets, along with KPIs
• Review progress and achievements
• Establish a training program
• Include in team meetings (as relevant)
• Celebrate successes

Tips for growing your startup dream team

As your startup grows and prepares to scale significantly, you’ll need to attract your startup dream team: employees who can help take your startup to the next level. Here are a few tips for growing your team in the early years of your startup:

1. Tap into your network

When it comes to searching for talent to join your startup, your own network and that of your employees may be a great place to start looking. That includes communities that you may be part of, or may want to join to expand your network.

In Estonia, Recrooit is a tech recruitment agency that is based on staffing through community-backed recruitment. E-⁠resident, Nevena Sofranic, founded Recrooit as a referral platform that helps employers find and hire qualified candidates by tapping into a community of professionals who refer ideal candidates for positions.

2. Develop leadership capacity

Being able to lead a startup through the growth phase is no small feat. Make sure you develop and retain staff with leadership abilities who can help navigate the complexities and challenges associated with scaling startups. 

When you hire people who are great leaders, make sure that they are also closely aligned with your mission and vision, and your company values and culture. 

3. Be intentional about values and company culture

Your company values, culture and ethics play a large role in attracting and retaining the top talents that comprise your dream team. That’s why it’s necessary to spend time cultivating your values and culture and finding meaningful ways for these to be expressed throughout the organisation. 

4. Empower collaboration

Collaboration within and between teams can help to drive innovation and productivity while fostering good working relations and helping staff to feel engaged and motivated. 

Empowering everyone to collaborate and share their ideas, make suggestions, and find ways to contribute their unique skills and perspectives can help your startup to thrive. In turn, collaboration can help you grow your team and grow many aspects of your startup. 

5. Champion a healthy work-life balance

Over the last few years, witnessing the ‘great resignation, it’s clear that many employees want a healthy work-life balance. Taking an active role in making sure that your staff are managing to cope with their workloads, while ensuring that their wellness needs are met, can help to foster positive employer-employee relationships and can also help you attract and retain great talents. 

By championing a healthy work-life balance, you can also ensure that your staff feel their best and are able to be optimally productive, innovative, creative, and collaborative. It can also help enhance your brand’s reputation as an employer of choice.

Final thoughts on scaling your startup team

Recruiting and onboarding your initial team members can be exciting, daunting, and confusing. It’s also an opportunity to enhance your HR practices and procedures so that they’re ready for your growth phase in future. 

Following best practices in startup hiring and onboarding can help companies hire the right people, set up the right procedures, and ensure they retain top talent.

This article was written by guest contributor and seasoned digital nomad Andy Stofferis (www.andysto.com).