HR is of vital importance for every business. All successful companies are adept at attracting and maintaining talent, instilling a productive, respectful and unified business culture, and making all employees feel connected, important, and valued. Yet for startups, this process is even more critical. Ask any startup CEO to rank their greatest challenges, and you can be sure that human resources makes the list.

Hiring in particular is littered with universal and industry specific challenges: whether it’s drawing well qualified employees to rural facilities, competing with other businesses to entice highly specialised candidates, or simply navigating the legal minefield of recruiting, every company requires a sound HR strategy if it is to succeed.

Where a large company employing thousands of workers will be able to withstand hiring a few ‘less-than-ideal’ candidates, for a startup, a single good or bad hire can be the difference between success and failure.

Whilst large firms may have a product or employer brand to assist in attracting applicants, startups have no name recognition and no seasoned recruiters; to make matters worse, startups often require the most in demand employees – such as engineers, IT staff as well as revenue generators – placing an added pressure on what is all too often a lacklustre recruitment process.

So, as you can imagine, being well prepared from the outset can mean the difference between cultivating a culture of success, and becoming overwhelmed by people problems at a point where you can least afford to make mistakes. But don’t despair, there are plenty of things you can do, both internally and externally, in order to avoid the pitfalls and build your business on a foundation of highly skilled workers.

First of all, it is important to remember that there are many advantages to recruiting as a startup. There is a certain romance in working for a startup that, when framed in the right light, can be an extremely effective recruitment tool.

Working for a startup requires a degree self-assurance and entrepreneurial vigour, and demonstrates your desire to be a part of something new, something that you have the opportunity to be at the very heart of. Although being part of a small team can be challenging, it also creates a close-knit community. There is unlikely to be much in the way of structure and hierarchy, and you will probably possess a considerably larger degree of influence than if you were part of a larger firm.

Selling all of these positives to potential employees not only makes them more likely to take the job, it also helps you attract the energetic go-getters required for a startup to be successful. Branding is key here – it is important to ensure that your message about your values is consistent whenever there is an opportunity to connect with talent, be it at a networking event or through the type of content you post on social media. Clarity, openness and consistency about your values speak volumes about what it is like to work at your firm.

The best way to source talent is through your own and your teams’ networks. Offering financial incentives to your current employees for successful recommendations taps into talent that is already known to the business. Also if your employees are recommending their friends – then it’s safe to say that they actually like the business they work with. So it is a virtuous circle.

Attending events and building your own network also allows for new connections to introduce talent to your firm. This also puts a ‘face’ to your business. It is the personal connections that make the biggest impact.

Once you start the recruitment process, the candidate experience during and especially AFTER interviews for both successful and unsuccessful candidates makes a big difference to how you are perceived to others. People talk – especially about terrible experiences and terrible also means no follow up and no feedback. So be kind and let people know that they didn’t make the grade, they could be your future employees when you grow.

As for external help, there are plenty of specialist executive search and recruitment firms who can help with selecting the best candidates. For a startup this can be expensive, so this generally works best for more senior, strategic hires where the typically young workforce will not have contacts in their networks. Be selective in your choice of consultant, test them out to see if they truly share your values and understand your culture. Once you feel confident, communicate about what works and what doesn’t and do this sooner rather than later and often, this will help to steer them to find not only the best but also the right type of candidate for you. A third party can add more gravitas to your hiring process and a more objective view on your firm as well as another pair of expert eyes.

When this partnership works, it saves both time and money.