Expand Startup Skills Without Hiring

📈 A Ton of Great Things This Week❗️

8 Ways To Expand Startup Skills Without Hiring

As your startup grows you will undoubtably face the challenges of missing skills. But this does not always mean hiring. There are ways to bring in new skills without the expense and risks of hiring. Try these:

📙 Exceptional report: Beyond hiring: How companies are reskilling to address talent gaps - McKinsey & Company

#1 Upskill and train your existing team members

• Provide training, workshops, and training for new skills and reward progress

• This is a great way to retain employees and help them grow

• Be aware of workloads and what is reasonable to expect

• Coursera, Udemy, online colleges, LinkedIn Learning are good resources

#2 Examine your organization structure and adjust based on changing needs

• Do this before you start hiring

• As your needs change ensure your organization changes accordingly

• Realign people accordingly and provide training

• Do not carry headcount that does not address changing needs or cannot respond

#3 Expand your use of Gen AI, open source and automation tools

• Ask team members to lead this effort and bring in new technology

• Open AI (and others), Wordpress, Guthub are good examples

• Closely track progress and results

#4 Collaborate with your advisors and consultants even more

• Ask for their input and guidance at a deeper level, draw them in to help solve specific skill gaps

• Bring in advisors with new skills that offset your own

#5 Leverage current freelancers and consultants

• Engage current resources to provide a wider range of services and knowledge

• Expand your network to find new freelancers

#6 Run internal innovation challenges

• Have the team brainstorm solutions where there are skill gaps

• Team thinking will help find and drive new solutions

• This is a good way to see who has skills outside of their normal responsibilities

#7 Offer internships and apprenticeships

• Look for specific skills that could lead to hiring in the future

• Students may have capabilities you need and a high interest in working for you

• Work with universities and your network to locate top talent

• Ask who your employees know and can find

#8 Partner with other startups and businesses

• Examine your needs and look for companies with that expertise

• Example: work with a marketing agency in return for providing your services or technical support

• Share knowledge and expertise to provide mutual benefits

• Develop a mutual mentorship

• Work with startups you do not compete with

Signs It is Time To Hire

Congratulations! Your startup is growing!

How do you know when it is time to hire?

1. You face consistent and routine skill gaps for long-term needs that cannot be addressed internally

2. The cost of consultants or other external resources exceeds the cost of hiring new employees

3. Founders and exec team are spending too much time on operational and administrative tasks

4. Bonus tip - Team members are overworked, even if they are not telling you

5. Bonus tip - Consistently missing opportunities and deadlines

📙 When To Hire In Your Small Business - Forbes

📙 Special Report

“For startups seeking early-stage funding, requirements have definitely gone up’”

Awesome report by Kevin Dowd for Carta

📙 Recommended Reading

“Top 10 Growth Hacks for Startup Founders”

By Daniel Levi for TechStartups

Parting Thought

You Can Help

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