Startup Hiring Plan Template

Strategic Hiring Plan for Series B SaaS Startup

Company Overview

• Fast-growing SaaS startup that has raised a successful Series B round
• Aiming to rapidly scale engineering, product and sales teams to accelerate growth
• Unique value proposition for candidates: opportunity to have major impact, work with cutting-edge tech, competitive comp, great culture

Hiring Goals

• Double the size of the engineering and sales teams in the next 6 months
• Make 15 key hires:
  • 8 engineers across frontend, backend, DevOps
  • 2 product managers
  • 5 account executives
• Strengthen employer brand and candidate experience
• Improve diversity of candidate pool and hires, focusing on underrepresented groups

Employer Branding Strategy

• Refresh careers page and job descriptions to better convey culture, mission and impact
• Highlight employee stories, tech stack and product roadmap
• Increase presence on social media, tech blogs and industry events
• Encourage employee advocacy and referrals
• Publicize DE&I initiatives and employee resource groups

Sourcing Tactics

• Leverage team's networks for high-quality referrals, offering generous referral bonuses
• Proactively source passive candidates on LinkedIn, GitHub, Stack Overflow
• Partner with coding bootcamps, universities, diversity-focused organizations
• Run targeted ads on tech-focused job boards and social media
• Host meetups, hackathons and webinars to build talent pipeline

Interview Process

• Standardize interview process for each role with clear evaluation criteria
• Start with recruiter phone screen to assess basic qualifications and sell opportunity
• Follow with hiring manager interview focused on technical skills and team fit
• Incorporate take-home assessments or pair programming for engineering roles
• Include cross-functional interviews to assess collaboration and values alignment
• Ensure diverse interview panels and structured feedback process
• Make decisions quickly and keep candidates engaged throughout

Onboarding & Retention

• Assign each new hire a buddy and mentor
• Create 30-60-90 day onboarding plans with clear goals and milestones
• Schedule regular check-ins with manager and HR
• Offer training and professional development opportunities
• Recognize achievements and impact in company meetings and communications
• Conduct stay interviews at 90 day mark to gather feedback
• Monitor engagement and attrition data to identify issues early

Success Metrics

• Time to fill for each role
• Candidate NPS and feedback on interview process
• Offer acceptance rate
• Number of employee referrals
• Diversity of candidate pool and hires
• New hire 90-day retention rate
• Hiring manager satisfaction

By implementing this strategic hiring plan, the startup can efficiently scale its engineering, product and sales teams while strengthening its employer brand and diversity. The focus on candidate experience, structured interviews, employee advocacy and onboarding sets the company up to attract and retain top talent for the long-run.