7 Problems Startups
Face with Campus Recruitment
Campus Placements and Working at
Startups are two equally promising trends in recruitment that
are shaking things up for the corporate world. Question is, why don’t they
go together? What’s stopping startups from tapping into this wide pool of
talent that’s so much like them- new to nuances, eager to excel, and
intelligently innovative?
Here are 7 problems startups face with campus
recruitment:
1. Lack of Brand Value
By far the biggest reason startups avoid/fail at campus
recruitment is the lack of brand value attached to them. Especially at
particularly prestigious colleges, a number of students are looking to work in
big companies with a multinational reach, hundreds of clients, and a million
dollars worth of turnover. Given peer pressure, parental pressure, and a
worldwide fear of the “big, bad world”, how can cash strapped startup with an
idea; 5-15 people and no 10 clients compete? In addition, the
best things about startups for those who’re made for their way of life are
the worse things to those who aren’t i.e. the adventure, risk and
growth. A number of fresh graduates who are unsure about what to do with their
life, may opt for bigger companies just because they there’s a lesser chance of
failure.
2. Missing out on talent
Startups want students who’re willing to take the road
less travelled and take their first job with an unknown company with no name,
no name and no brand, but they only want talent from the most famous, branded
colleges? Isn’t that beyond hypocritical? As more and more
startups read this post- or, miraculously, think of it on their own- they’re
starting to target the Yale’s and the Harvard’s, missing out on a
whole plethora of ingenuity, creativity and raw talent that lurks
in lesser known colleges. Even worse, they sometimes employ very
non-startup like recruiting tactics and are very often afraid to
be innovative when they hire. Meanwhile, the brilliant young minds, dissatisfied
with working at big companies, but desperate to be entrepreneurial, are
starting on their own ventures, with too many of them being unable to follow
through (someone needs to make the two parties meet!) In
addition, this is leading to a whole new problem of fierce competition
wherein startups are unable to get talent because other startups got
there first!
3. Waste of time
What with the long drawn process of choosing the right
colleges, contacting them, coordinating with them, etc, a lot of time goes into
just getting onto campus, let alone getting to the hiring stage, which in
itself involves taking a number of unsuccessful interviews, conducting tests,
etc. In addition, once applications are received, a lot of time goes in
sorting through them- be it resumes and /or selection test results- which would
come in large numbers, as opposed to a hire through referral (sigh, if only
there was a better way to do
it).
4. Waste of manpower
The founders and co founders would invariably be deeply
involved in the slew of additional tasks thrown up by campus recruitment, since
hiring for a startup is too important to be a subsidiary function. They might
even opt to visit the campus to speak to students directly and make an impression. In
addition, company representatives need to attend campus fairs, interviewers
need to be ready to chosen and prepared (note: most startups usually do without
an HR manager/department), and invigilators need to be sent to monitor test takers,
collect answer sheets, bring them back for evaluation, the works. That might
just be more people than a startup employs (sigh, if only there was a better way to do it).
5. Wrong people
Company representatives at the campus fairs are
sometimes seen looking bored or disinterested, instead of inviting
students to have a chat. Worse, they’re unable to effectively answer all their
queries, saying things like “We’ll get back to you on that”. This lets students
detect a lack of professionalism, which can be greatly damaging to a startup’s
reputation. In addition, startups aren’t in the business of hiring
recruiters or HR professionals, since they rarely hire in bulk, and so, campus
recruitment may throw up a number of tasks that aren’t anybody’s forte.
6. Unclear expectations
True to character, startups can sometimes get a
little too excited and cross the thin line between idealism and ambiguity.
They may get so focused on finding the right kind of person for their startup
that they lose sight of the skill set, competencies and abilities they need in
a potential recruit. Their job description might thus look lackluster or
incomplete, with their job specifications too being just motley of terms like
“dreamer, innovator, out-of-the-box”. In addition, just because a
candidate is a fresher doesn’t mean he/she has no way of differentiating
himself from his/her peers; there are just as many college goers who do nothing
but what they’re told as there are those who spend their 3 years as
productively as possible. Though neither is good or bad, the two kinds of fresh
grads are meant for different kinds of jobs, and startups sometimes don’t
decide which one it is they really need.
7. Dealing with the young
With the entrepreneurial spirit affecting experienced
professionals just as much as the
young guns, startups are in no better a position than any big
company with seasoned recruiters with whom students may feel they have a
generation gap. They too have to deal with the stress of students
who don’t respond to official invites, miss interview dates, keep recruiters
hanging, demand exorbitant salaries, and explicitly lie
on their resumes. In addition, startups sometimes make the
blunder of not communicating clearly enough with students- making many of the
same mistakes they fault students for, like forgetting to get back in touch
with them, not sticking to dates and deadlines, etc- which comes off as a lack
of seriousness, intent or survivability. Another
opportunity startups miss out is converting
interns into full time employees.
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