Pramod Chaganti, General Manager, TMP Worldwide (develops and deploys employer brands by leveraging software, strategy and creative). Pramod has spent the last 13 years in the recruitment vertical in a variety of management roles. He has served at Monster Gulf as Branch Manager UAE and previously Sales Manager – Global Accounts & Retention, Telesales Manager, Monster, Key Account Manager, Monster India, Telesales Account Manager, Monster.com.

Recruiting a team is one of the foremost challenges Startups face. Being seen as a great place to work therefore becomes critical – this session tends to tackle how effectively you can grow your employer brand with the aim of attracting best talent while keeping costs low.

This was an interactive session with points and counter points of view. Here are the Lounge47 key takeaways:

1. Get clear about your vision before talking to potential hires. Think as far, wide and long as you possibly can as a Startup

2. List what you can promise your employees and deliver in full. Superficial offers will lead to disappointment and disillusionment

3. Be honest and upfront

4. In the first stage of a Startup, Founders that share the vision and passion come together however in the second stage when a founding team is required the vision is required

5. Building “employer brand” becomes important as your Startups grows and requires more people

6. “Employer brand” is nothing but a specific promise made to current and future employees

7. Be wary of the traps. “Cool” employer is more than the table tennis table in the corner of the office. Focus on depth

8. Design and aesthetics of your image to the world is more and more a hygiene factor

9. Your entire presence be it website, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter or print should project the same messages and promise that your “employer brand” stands for

10. Use your personal networks and in-house abilities to develop content, be it text or video to put your Startup out there. Rough videos that are creative and interesting and convey the “employer brand” promise should suffice. Do not aim for Hollywood quality

11. Culture is another selling point for new employees. Founders influence the culture at a Startup through their personalities 12. Current employees and what they say to the outside world is important and needs to be managed on a day to day basis.

In summary, success in hiring today has moved away and beyond the one-to-one interview. The face to the world – be it of the Founders, the growing team, product or service needs to be managed carefully to make the Startup attractive to potential hires. Thinking “employer brand” is a good start.