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Jul 30, 2019

Recruitment for Tech Startups – 4 Step Guide

By Matt Dodgson

Co-Founder - Recruiter & Marketer

If you’re a Tech Startup and about to embark on some recruitment into your marketing team, then in this video I’m going to give you a simple 4 step guide to make sure it’s a success.

Hi, I’m Matt Dodgson and a Founder of Market Recruitment. And we help B2B Tech firms recruit the very best marketers to help them grow.

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How to Hire Your First Marketer: A Guide for B2B Tech Startups


Step 1 – Clearly define the type of marketer your Startup needs

The role of a B2B marketer has changed so much over the last few years.

If you think about it, marketers need to be creative, good with data, comfortable with technology and be able to influence and persuade senior stakeholders.

And you could argue – those things aren’t compatible.

On top of that you’ve got marketers that can help before you launch your tech solution.

You’ve got marketers that can put together a go to market plan.

Marketers that can help with messaging, conversions, user experience, lead generation, brand building…the list goes on.

So it’s crucial and particularly so if you’re a founder or someone that doesn’t come from a marketing background – that you take the time to understand exactly what sort of marketer you need.

And what marketer you need will always differ from one business to the next.

It’s dependent on the stage of your growth, the support they might have, what you’re willing to spend on marketing and the culture of your business.

And it’s the biggest mistake that Startups make.

Non-marketing leaders end up hiring the wrong marketer.

So, speak to someone like us or speak to an experienced marketer. It will be time well spent.

Step 2 – Write a compelling job advert

Now writing a compelling job advert is a huge topic.

But in a job market like we have in London today, where there’s a ton of B2B Tech Startups looking to hire marketers, there’s one thing that you need to think about.

And that is. What’s in it for them?

Why should they join your business?

And if you’re going to create a job advert that is flooded with great marketers.

Then answering that question has to be front and centre.

And answering that question partly comes down to understanding what motivates B2B marketers in the Tech space in the first place.

But also what your business can offer them.

And were talking about training, career prospects, flexible working.

Whatever it is, make it clearly known in your job advert.

Step 3 – What makes a good Tech B2B Marketing CV

So, by this step, you’re starting to get a lot of CV’s and the real work starts.

And now you need to understand which of these CVs are the best ones.

And for B2B marketers they are definitely some things to look out for.

Stability. 

Ideally you want someone who’s been in a role for a reasonable length of time. Marketing takes time to take effect, so you want someone who can demonstrate being able to successfully do marketing over a period of time.

Results. 

In B2B marketing especially, it’s all about getting a return on investment. And does the marketer in their CV talk about that.

Feel. 

And what I mean by this is, how good are they at marketing themselves? Because, arguably, being a marketer they should be pretty good at it.

Does the CV get across what you’ll benefit from. Does it sell itself.

Step 4 – Interview Questions to ask a Tech marketer

So to end up hiring a great B2B marketer for your Tech Startup, and depending on how specific the role is you’re looking to recruit for, ideally you want to be interviewing at least 5 candidates.

And there are 5 key interview questions that I’d recommend asking all marketers.

But in summary, you want to ask questions that can find out the following;

  • What impact have they had in the jobs they’ve had previously? You want people that have moved the needle.
  • How do they go about doing what they do? Are they more suited to a Startup or a bigger business.
  • What’s their marketing acumen like? Are they able to apply what they know to solve your business’ problems and help it grow.
  • And can you work with them? Everyone has a personality and every business has a culture. There has to be synergy.

So, those are the 4 steps that I’d recommend.

And I appreciate we’ve only gone skin deep on each step, but if you follow them then I’m confident your Tech Startup will attract and hire the marketers that you need to grow your business.

But…if you need some help, then feel free to reach out to me. Whether that be for some advice or to hire us as a recruitment partner to help you.

But either way, best of luck with everything you’re looking to achieve.