For a startup hiring a team is one of the most important steps as not having the right team is one of the top five reasons of startup failure. However, it’s essential to remember that when choosing your future employees, you need to consider not only their professional qualities but personalities as well. You’re building a team, which means the people you hire must all get along and be able to work together. Some types of persons aren’t capable of that and it’s them you need to watch out for.
3 Types of People to Avoid When Building a Startup Team
1. The ‘yes-man/woman’
An employee who is ready to say ‘yes’ anytime no matter to what you ask of them might seem like a godsend. This type of worker is particularly tempting for startup owners, who are usually low on funds and need their employees to perform a wide range of duties.
However, this is one of the worst types of people to have on your team. Please note that this doesn’t mean that a ‘yes-man/woman’ is a bad person. But they can be an exceedingly unreliable worker because they take on too many things to do.
2. The control freak
It’s good to have ambition and developed organizational skills. However, the very definition of a control freak is a person who undermines those around them to make them fit the mold designed by their own mind.
A necessary element for your team’s success is finding people who will complement and enhance each other’s strengths. A control freak will never allow for that to happen and will be extremely detrimental for the company, especially in a leading role.
3. The whiner
A whiner is a negative person who whines all the time. They might complain about the job, their life, their cat, their relationship, or the current environmental situation. The topic is irrelevant as it’s their torrent of negative words and emotions that makes these people bad for teamwork.
Note that a whiner might be a good professional, but they will bring the morale down. For a startup that’s bound to struggle at the beginning, such an employee might spell disaster.
How Can a Startup Hire the Best People?
First of all, to attract good employees you need to provide them with benefits and good salary. A PEO (professional employers organization) can help with that. But as there are many of these companies, be sure to get a PEO comparison first.
A PEO will allow you to cut costs due to tax breaks, so you’ll be able to ‘afford’ higher qualified professionals. It can also provide employee benefits that will encourage best candidates to consider your new business. Some PEOs even help with recruitment.
However, don’t forget that you’ll be the one to say the final word on hiring someone. This means you have to know how to identify the types of people that can bring down your business, which is hard if you only have a few short interviews.
To get a better understanding of prospective employees, forget about traditional interviews. Instead organize an informal meeting, preferably in public, like a park or a café. Aim to make the person feel natural and comfortable so they’ll open up and show how they truly are in real life. Going to a place where some interaction is a necessity will give you a better idea of their social skills and ability to get along with the people they don’t know.
Bear in mind that no matter how good you are at reading people, you won’t be able to make a perfect choice 100% of the time. That’s why it’s essential to monitor your employees closely and replace any individuals that break the workflow until you build a perfect startup team.
