High-Growth Startups are ‘Test Driving’ Top Candidates

Traditional resumes and well-rehearsed interviews just don’t cut it for startup employers. Sure, you might be well-qualified, have the right skills and list a high number under “years of experience,” but these qualifications don't reveal true values.

Startup life comes with terrible ups and downs. Pay is usually relatively low because resources are minimal. When personalities clash, the whole idea can come to a grinding halt.

Because of the incredibly fast-growth and high-risk nature of startups, a lofty turnover rate can be deathly costly. The startup scene is so competitive that “one bad seed can really have an impact on your culture,” Mona Bijoor, founder and CEO of Joor told The New York Times.

So, for some positions, a few funded startups are contracting applicants before hiring.

The New York Times reported that Entelo (a recruiting software company), Weebly (a website host and creator), Joor (a wholesale marketplace) and FantasySalesTeam (a sales software company) are all startups that have a “test drive” system in place before onboarding new folks to their team.

Implication for Candidates: This Technique is Really Hard on Employed Job Seekers

At Entelo, a 20-person team, for instance, prospective hires “are given part-time projects to work on at night or over the weekend. They are paid, he said, a ‘solid consulting rate’ for this work, and the trial period can last two to four weeks,” the New York Time reports.

That’s great—but having to carry out projects and deliver results on top a 40+ hour work week can be a lot more challenging than for job seekers who are unemployed.

At Weebly, the trial period lasts just a week…but it’s a crazy intense week. Weebly requires candidates to take a week of vacation from their current jobs, but Weebly pays them for the trial period.

“You have one less week of vacation, but the next time you take vacation can be a nicer one,” Rusenko says.Sounds like it’s a lot easier than done.

At Joor, folks are hired on for three months and given 30-day milestones. Here, if you’re employed, you have to take the risk and give it all you got.

Although the trial period is very inconvenient for employed candidates, it may be worth it folks who are truly passionate the product, truly unhappy and unchallenged in their current jobs.

"I was tested for the first 6 weeks at Right Relevance ( a topical search engine)," says Sanket Shah, who worked nights and weekends during this period because he was already employed. "It made me slightly nervous but also pushed me to deliver and learn fast."

For Shah, a risk was worth it.

Another solid point: This is ideal for recent grads who truly want to work in a startup culture.

"It could also be said that this route is more appropriate for first time workers fresh out of school, who may not have the recommendations or work experience that make them primary choices," says Natalie Nicole, founder of On Time Talent, a voiceover and advertising company.

The Result? Temp-to-Hire Seems to be Working, But Not for All Roles

This worked for Entelo, Weebly and Joor—but not the sales folks at FantasySaleTeam.

FantasySalesTeam, a software company with only 20 employees, didn’t find as much value in this system after giving it a shot. The company tried working with remote salespeople for 1-2 months trial periods.

This is where it gets pretty tricky.

It doesn’t quite work with roles that require months of buildup before seeing success. “You’re going to need several months to build a book of business until you know someone has really hit their stride,” Bischke explained.

At Entelo, this trial system has been in place at Entelo since 2011, and he’s only fired one person since. Pretty good sign.

Weebly’s been loving this system since 2008!

“We’ve had four people in five years leave the company voluntarily,” says David Rusenko, CEO and cofounder of Weebly told the New York Times. “The trial week is a huge part of that.”

At Joor, as a result of this hiring system, the team was able to reduce attrition from 60 to 30 percent a year.