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With the success of startup businesses becoming increasingly difficult to achieve, hiring the right people from the jump can be the difference. Unlike major organizations, startups cannot afford to pay employees who do not pull their weight.

How can hiring managers wade through the riffraff and find the right hires? What do they look for in successful startup employees? Here are a few helpful tips that can help startup companies land employees who will benefit from their direction.

Let Employees Know About Startup Life

Starting a company sounds glorious, but there is a lot more to it than most people realize. Those success stories that we hear about are surrounded by hundreds and thousands of failures. Simply put, getting a startup off the ground takes a lot of work and is often a turbulent road.

Discuss these things with potential employees. They may be looking for something steadier – like the big organization experience – that completely contrasts startup life. Let them know what to expect from the jump and see if they stick around.

More Than Experience

Experience is important and can play a major role in the success or failure of a startup. After all, those who have been there and done that may know how to navigate the terrain better than others. But experience isn’t the only thing that matters.

Intellectual curiosity, for instance, can be a real asset to a startup. The best employees are often the ones who want to learn and whose goal is to solve problems. Companies that adapt quickly are the ones led by this type of employee. For startups, where things can change quickly, that is an essential trait.

Listen Past the Resume Pitch

Anyone can craft a cover letter. Startups need to ask thoughtful questions to truly find out how the candidate thinks. Finding intellectually curious people – those who want to ask further questions related to a problem – is an asset.

Problem-solving is part of life in any company. In a startup, it can mean the difference between success and failure in short order.