Long interviews, generous bonuses: 5 employees hiring rules in the United States

The launch of a business in an unfamiliar country always requires thorough preparation - it is necessary to take into account the mentality, the legislation, and the specifics of the market. Vitaliy Aleksandrov, CEO startup Food Rocket , in a column for The Bell formulated 5 main rules on how to assemble a team of professionals in the United States. In the past, Alexandrov is the founder of the CRM marketing agency Out of Cloud. In 2019, he took up a business in the field of Fudtech. The entrepreneur launched Food Rocket in 2021. This is a mobile service of express delivery of products-an analogue of Yandex.lovka and Samokat, working in San Francisco. In April, the startup attracted $ 2 million from the Baring Vostok funds, Altair Capital and other investors and plans to open 200 darredors on the western coast of the United States by the end of the year.

Find a local partner

Without a local partner in the United States, it will be very difficult to develop a project to foreign phantors. To reduce risks, it is better to find such a partner at the stage of starting a business. This will help even in small things: for example, a US citizen can register a legal entity in a tax online in one day. The non -resident will have to send documents with ordinary mail - this will clearly require more time and effort. In my experience, up to a month.

Of the 70 people in my team, about a third - Americans. My Cofunder Jerrin James is a former top manager of Amazon and ex-Facebook employee with super-laid experience in building a business in the field of delivery. Another important acquisition is our HR Business Partner (HRBR, HR-Business Partner) Masha Schneider. She has very deep knowledge in the field of personnel management. Prior to that, she worked in a similar position in Hertz - an international car rental company.

In addition, our analyst Ambush Sharmo previously worked Head of Analytics (chief analyst) in the Gopuff startup, one of our main competitors. The microsclads of this company, like ours, are located in densely populated areas, but the service specializes in snacks and alcohol.

The composition of our team clearly proves - regardless of which country the entrepreneur decided to develop a business, many problems will be easier and faster to solve with the help of local specialists. They better understand the specifics of the market and feel the user need, are aware of mentality and understand the subtleties of work, including legal ones. Of course, you can always do everything yourself, but months or even years will take it.

Build the brand communication

Hiring teams in a startup is a key task, the development of the business depends on the correct solution. In America, there are a very large funnel of applicants: there are many people and they easily move from one company to another.

It is especially important to build the right communication here. Applicants for key positions should want to work in your company. As I said, all our key employees came themselves, thanks to a well-implemented PR strategy. Neither Jerrin, nor Embush, nor Masha, we specially haunted.

Our way of searching for professionals is publication in American media. Having learned about us, our future partners themselves contacted me in Linkedin.

We got to the team of high -class specialists who used to work in technological giants or our competitors. This is a very characteristic practice for America-in Silicon Valley there are many examples when Tech giant employees go to a startup and receive options. Just one example - back in 2017, 17 cars developers moved from Apple to a startup on creating autonomous driving technologies ZOOX (later absorbed by Amazon).

Cool specialists are ready to go to young projects precisely because there is a high probability that they will shoot and bring a career rise and greater material benefit. If the startup takes off, ordinary company managers become millionaires. The market is large and developed, transactions are constantly in hearing, therefore there are many such stories.

Prepare for long interviews

In Russia, people are not so skillfully presented, so at the interview you can immediately understand whether a person corresponds to a resume. But almost all American top managers have a very good drink. They have been taught this since childhood.

In interviews, they actively use the acquired skill, and not always for the benefit of the employer. Often, brilliant speech diverges greatly with reality. The candidate shows himself not what he really is. A conditioned top manager often cannot clearly answer questions about his duties in previous projects or tell cases from past experience.

Alas, such an example was in our practice. We hired an American to the position of a category manager - we were bribed by a very cool experience in large companies. At the interview, she struck everyone with her pitch. She had to be fired after 9 days, because in fact she turned out to be a very weak specialist.

In the United States, it is worth being prepared for a long hiring process. As a rule, interviews for a new position take 2-3 months. When selecting candidates, it is important to give practical tasks and test the applicants “in the field” - to verify the level of competence, the ability to flexibly think, understand the company's values ​​and correspond to them, analyze their actions and draw conclusions from errors. The list of questions and criteria is always individual for a specific position. But the more there are, the lower the risk of disappointment and quick dismissal.

Carefully study the law

Especially in terms of hiring and dismissal of staff. And be sure to hire a lawyer who will help draw up hiring agreements. Lawyers in the United States are expensive, but their work pays off with more than. It is better to spend $ 30 thousand on a lawyer than to lose hundreds of thousands due to a poorly drawn up contract.

The legislation in the United States is entirely on the side of the employees, even in the fact that the Russian will seem a trifle. In California, employees care with special attention. For example, an employee, after dismissal, may apply to the labor inspectorate, and the company will have to pay $ 20-30 thousand only for the fact that when dismissal you used the “wrong words”. For this definition, a statement of the fact of incompetence, an indication of non -launchedness and much more may fall under this definition.

We also had to pay compensation several times upon dismissal. And we have contracts by which we undertake to pay in case of dismissal up to 6 monthly salaries.

In addition, the USA is very serious about discrimination. According to the law on civil rights of 1964, organizations with a state of more than 15 people are prohibited from refusing hiring on the basis of race, color, gender, religion or nationality. And since 1967 , the Law on Discrimination on Age in the Field of Employment (ADEA) has been in force. It prohibits the refusal of the workplace for a person older than 40 only because of age.

Each state may also have additional restrictions. Information on the laws of the States can be obtained in the State Department of Labor.

Discuss the trial period, motivation system and bonuses

Many aspects of labor relations in the United States are not enshrined in law. For example, the duration of the test term is established by the employer, and the issues of overtime, on the contrary, are strictly regulated. Whether the employee will work extra time upon dismissal depends on the form of the employment contract. In AT-Will (hiring, without a written document), he can leave at any time, in the Just-Cause (the Regulation in the employment contract obliges the employer to indicate the reason for the dismissal or pay compensation in its absence)-no.

One of the important points is to fix the trial period in the written employment contract. It is also advisable to prescribe the KPI so that the employee clearly understands what he should do and what result is expected from him. And be sure to check the implementation of the KPI every week or at least twice a month.

In our team, everyone has a “fix” and a bonus. To evaluate the effectiveness, we use OKR (goals and key results) and track dozens, if not hundreds of metrics on Dashboard. Each metric has weight. For example, bonuses are influenced by margin, EBITDA, OSA (the availability of products on the store shelf), OPH (orders per hour), Click to EAT (time from user click to receipt of the order).

In addition, in the United States, it is necessary to clearly study the “bonuses” system for employees in high positions or have achieved certain career successes. For example, top managers receive “golden parachutes” upon dismissal-they are paid immediately from 2 to 12 salaries.

There is also a practice of options - issuing a certain number of shares of the company to an employee when achieving agreed results. This approach works well in startups, where there is no way to immediately provide high specialists with high salaries. The ability to become a co -owner of a business is becoming a good motivation.

We also strive to ensure that each employee has options. Some employees have already received them. After the investment round, and we will continue to give options to those who do not have them yet.

If we describe our hiring process in the United States very briefly, then the principle is best suited: “Think globally, act locally.” In Food Rocket, we are building a largely American company, but with an emphasis on a global approach. Among our partners and top managers are Russians, Americans, Hindus. By forming values, we take a little from each culture and create our own. Each team member sets an impulse. In our opinion, this is the most correct decision.