Six Ways to Find and Recruit Talent Founders share the unusual ways they've found top employees.
This story appears in the September 2019 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
1. Cultivate it.
"We give first access to internships to members of our brand ambassador program, Dormifam. We'll post roles on The Muse jobs site and then let our Dormifam Facebook group know about them a few days before we post them to other job platforms like LinkedIn. That's helped us fill customer experience associate roles and countless internship positions." -- Amanda Zuckerman, cofounder, Dormify
Related: What to Consider When Hiring Employees
2. Test it.
"We ask every applicant to complete a screening task. We're looking for problem solvers, so we ask how they would tackle a big challenge: How would they get started? How would they measure success? We include a link to the task at the bottom of a job posting. The majority of applicants email us their résumés and fail to do the task. So those who do submit the task automatically jump to the top of the pipeline." -- Tara Chklovski, CEO, Iridescent
3. Accommodate it.
"As a fitness brand geared toward moms, we love to hire mothers—and with our current stage and size, people working from their own office works for us. We use sites, like the Second Shift, that specifically work to accommodate women who very much value their careers but do not want the traditional 9-to-5 arrangement." -- Allison Rapaport, CEO, Every Mother
Related: Hiring? It's Best to Take Your Time.
4. Support it.
"Through our work with Molly Maid's Ms. Molly Foundation, which supports victims of domestic abuse, I was recently elected as a board member to a local women's shelter, Empowerhouse. We've been able to provide jobs to survivors who are getting back on their feet. We get satisfaction from hiring these strong and driven women, and knowing that because of those jobs, they can support their families." -- Chrishelle Eugene, franchise owner, Molly Maid
5. Poach it.
"When we were just starting out, we kept a list of the founders of other companies we'd met and would want to work with. We'd keep track of how their companies were doing, and if they were winding down, we'd ask those founders to join us on our team. Those first few people helped determine the culture and DNA of
our company." -- Sam Chaudhary, cofounder and CEO, ClassDojo
Related: The 10 Unique Soft Skills Employers Desire in New Hires
6. Attract it.
"I like people who reach out directly, even when there isn't a job listing. There are so many ways to get in contact with our team, including coming by the Showfields retail space and leaving a résumé. I'm looking for initiative in every new hire, and how they apply and what channel they use says a lot about their level of interest. If they come to an interview and have never been to Showfields? We know right away it's not a fit." -- Katie Hunt, cofounder and chief revenue officer, Showfields
