Recruiting at Startups

Hiring good talent is a challenge at the best of times and at the most glamorous of companies, but it is orders of magnitude harder for a startup. At a small company you are typically looking for a very specific skill-set . However, it is very hard (even impossible) to find exactly what you are looking for, so a company has to compromise. Therefore, we have followed an approach where we look for the right aptitude - where a person has the background to build-on and the right attitude.

As they say, Aptitude = (Right) Attitude + P(erseverance) - T(antrums)

There is a great post by Joel Spolsky. The bottom-line is when you are applying for a position in a startup or small company , it is doubtful anyone is interested in your skills in managing 100s of people, or CRM/SAP skills etc. You should focus on your multiplexing skills: your ability to churn out code, while communicating with customers, and yet playing a good sales/marketing person, while offering technical support. Most startups and small-businesses need exactly that kind of "all-rounders".

p.s. Anyone applying to positions at Cognika ought to pay significant attention to these factors.