Earlier this year, we celebrated our four-year anniversary. It wasn’t easy getting to this milestone, but I’m proud we have been able to build innovative products. Recently we were nominated by NOVA’s 2017 Greater Washington Innovation Awards, opened offices around the world, and have developed a customer base that relies on our company daily. However, what I am most proud of is the group of people that work at our company today.

There are many books about building a team and creating company culture, but actually following through is another story. As startup companies grow, they must continually source great hires to ensure highly productive teams. At Glue Up, we’ve established some strong recruiting practices that have helped our company develop into the successful team we are today.

Smart Recruiting Practices from Glue Up

1. Fuel growth with diversity.

   We believe people of different cultures and backgrounds bring different interpretations of events and innovative methods of problem solving. Our 70-person team comes from 16 different countries. This range of backgrounds helps us generate innovative ideas, boost problem solving, and increase our team’s creativity. Diversity allows us to create products that better serve cultures and clients around the world.

2. Hire for experience.

   Experienced hires have been key to moving our company forward. People who maintain industry knowledge and experience can take a problem and create a solution that’s better than anything we had before. These individuals often use hindsight to conduct important decision making; they foresee, avoid, and reduce potential bumps in the road. Finding the right mix of experience and competencies is essential for navigating complex roles and market environments.

3. Find people who want to “do”.

   Because we are a fast-paced company, seeking hires who have a strong, hardworking spirit is vital. Self-motivators who thrive on pressure often work faster and smarter than their counterparts. These individuals accomplish tasks not just to meet their supervisor’s expectations, they work to exceed them. Not only this, hires must have an instinctive nature to solve problems outside of their regular workload. Sourcing as many of these “doers” as possible is critical to sustaining long-term company growth.

4. Embrace and curate your culture.

   Company culture, made up of employees’ values, practices, assumptions, and beliefs, evolves over time. As Glue Up has grown, our culture has moved in unanticipated, yet rewarding ways. We have gradually turned into a focused, solution-driven company that heavily relies on employee collaboration. We have embraced this sense of forward-driven teamwork and finding people who match this culture has been critical to creating an environment that enables our natural company identity and shared pursuits.

5. Pinpoint passion.

   Getting to know prospective hires during the interview process is crucial to determining whether a candidate is good fit. This involves taking time to learn a candidate’s motivations for wanting the job. Understand the candidate’s long-term goals, career track record, and reasoning why he or she has chosen this particular line of work. It’s only after doing so that you can really start to grasp whether your candidate has a passion to succeed.

Sourcing Right People Pays Off

Sourcing the right blend of experience and talent takes significant time and energy. But it all pays off when you find the right people who can keep pushing the company forward. New talent always means new opportunities. And relying on solid hiring practices will ensure you and your team get where you want to go.