创业公司如何选择初期员工

    有一种人叫做创业者——他们会创办新公司。还有一些人，会在事业发展壮大之前冒险加入这些新公司，成为创业者的第一批员工。

    初创公司的早期员工也许不像公司创始人那样直接承担着直接的财务风险。但他们无疑也都秉持着强烈的信念，充分信任一家稚嫩的、随时都可能垮台的新公司。这些员工对全世界的初创公司和小型企业都起着至关重要的作用。

    一家新公司招聘的第一批员工绝不仅仅是达到“职位描述”上写的那些条件就足够了。因为一家初创公司与一家已经有经营基础的成熟公司有着天壤之别。

文化契合度

    职业技能固然很重要，但如果团队规模很小，文化适应性则更加关键。在一个小型团队里，每个人都无处可藏，大家都共同面对着一个初创公司会面对的各种强大压力，良好的士气不可或缺。这些初始员工将构成企业文化的基石。

    布莱克•赫尔是华盛顿哥伦比亚特区一家初创公司TroopSwap的创始人，他讲述了自己的经验：“我认为对于一个创业团队，有五个方面的核心素养是非常关键的：完成任务的激情、职业伦理、敢于冒险、奉献客户以及从容面对失败。”

    一家新公司会随时面临起伏波动，所以员工也需要做好坐“过山车”的准备。有些时候，在笔试中成绩最好的应聘者未必最适合新公司。

创业的激情

    大部分的初创公司都不能为员工提供有竞争力的薪酬或福利，所以，它们必须能提供另一些东西——足够有吸引力的愿景和故事，让员工愿意投身其中。公司的初期员工必须相信公司的前途，充满激情地去追求把它变成现实。“初期员工必须将公司的核心愿景当成自己的信念，甚至有时候不惜为此挑战创始人的权威，”meshin.com的创始人克里斯滕•加利亚尼说。

    新员工就像潜在客户一样，如果公司无法清楚地将愿景和价值观传达给他们，就很难说服他们与公司站在一起，踏上新的冒险旅途。

    除了对某种愿景或者理念的激情和信仰，公司还需要员工能承受“创业生活”。“世界上有许多聪明勤奋的人。但你要寻找的那些人，需要能够战胜未知的艰险，与你一起度过跌宕起伏的创业历程，”Yapp的CEO、联合创始人玛利亚•赛德曼说。“录用一个人之前，我会将所有的风险都讲清楚，甚至说得比他们能想象的创业阶段更糟糕。然后，我会密切注意他们的面部表情。”

    但激情也同样关键。“如果没有对目标发自内心的激情，很难熬过创业初期的漫漫长夜。”

判断力和应变力

    在文化适应和激情之外，成长中的初创公司需要有执行力的员工。Mediaite的创始编辑、TheLi.st的创始人瑞秋•斯科拉认为，理想的创业员工需要有良好的判断力和应变能力。“你可能需要在各种领域执行任务，没有明确的工作描述能概括出你要面对的任务。你得靠自己弄明白何时何地、如何处理这些事情。有时候一些幽默感也会有帮助。”

    There are people who start businesses -- entrepreneurs -- then there are the ones who take the risk of working for those entrepreneurs, before the companies are established.

    Early startup employees may not have the same direct financial risk in the business as a company's founders, but they are certainly taking a leap of faith and putting their trust in a young entity that could crash and burn at any time. These people are critical to startups and small businesses around the globe.

    The first employees of a new business must be up for more than just what's written in a job description, because a startup is not the same as an established business that already has a foundation.

Cultural fit

    While skills are important, if the team is still very small, cultural fit is essential. Within a small team, there is nowhere to hide and good morale is an essential ingredient when you are dealing with all the many stresses a startup faces. These first employees will become part of the company's cultural foundation.

    Blake Hall, the founder of DC-based TroopSwap, can speak from experience. "It is vital that I feel comfortable about a core addition to the founding team with respect to five areas: passion for the mission, work ethic, risk preference, dedication to customers, and comfort level with failure."

    New businesses are filled with ups and downs, so employees need to be ready for the rollercoaster ride. In some cases, the best candidates on paper may not be the best fit at a new business.

Passion

    The majority of startups cannot offer competitive salaries or benefits, so they have to offer something else -- a strong vision and story that people can really get behind. Early employees must believe in that vision and have the passion to follow. "Early employees have to believe to their very core in the vision, even if that means sometimes challenging … the founders," says Kristen Galliani, founder of meshin.com.

    Just like with potential customers, if the company cannot articulate its vision and value to potential new hires, it will be very difficult to persuade them to come along on this new adventure.

    Aside from passion and belief in a vision or idea, it takes a certain kind of person to stomach the startup lifestyle. "There are plenty of smart, hardworking people out there but the people you need to take the long bumpy startup ride with you need to be survivors in the face of ambiguous obstacles," says Yapp CEO and cofounder Maria Seidman. "Before hiring someone, I explain to them all of the risk factors and make them sound even worse than they already are for an early stage start up. Then, I watch their facial expressions closely."

    But passion is critical as well. "It's hard to take the long slug of a startup without an authentic passion for the mission."

Judgment and flexibility

    Beyond cultural fit and passion, a growing startup needs people who can get things done. According to Rachel Sklar, founding editor at Mediaite, and now founder of TheLi.st, ideal early startup employees can exercise good judgment and keep things flexible. "You're going to be needed everywhere and no job description can capture all you're going to have to do. You'll need to know where and how to do it all. And a sense of humor couldn't hurt."