Making the Right Talent Match
Think you might be interested in pursuing a job at a high growth startup company? At JumpStart Ventures, we work every day to match people interested in working in the high growth startup world with opportunities that exist at our portfolio companies and at early-stage high growth companies throughout Northeast Ohio.
If you haven’t worked for a high growth start-up before, but think you might be a good fit, make sure that you go in with the right expectations. Consider this:
- If you are one of the first employees at a company that has seed, angel, or venture capital investment, you are as much an investor as you are an employee. You are giving up the relative security of -- and typically higher near-term compensation associated with -- larger company employment. In exchange, you will be working long hours in a very uncertain environment with a founding team that may be passionate but often doesn’t do things according to the rule book (because there is no rule book).
- The stresses at a startup are somewhat different than stresses at other companies. Cash can be very tight, and you’ll know about it. With tight timelines, the pressures for the product to perform and the company to grow rapidly are intense. There is little time or leeway to train people to do their job, so you need to be good at what you do and you need to be able to “fill in” in areas that are not your areas of expertise or focus.
- To enjoy it and be successful, you’ll need flexibility, initiative, humor, adaptability, a focus on excellence, and a continuous improvement attitude.
The upside is that you can have a large impact on the company’s success and, if the company is very successful and creates jobs and wealth, you will likely benefit in many ways.
View the current job openings below and be sure to check back often. If you find something you're interested in, please submit your resume directly to the portfolio company from the posting.
Additional Sites for Opportunities Around the Region
- www.startuphire.com– Now supported by the National Venture Capital Association, this site has a number of postings from Northeast Ohio high growth,venture-backed companies.
- www.ohiomeansjobs.com – There are always a number of Northeast Ohio startup and technology company postings on this site.
- www.careerboard.com – This site has, among other things, some good engineering and IT jobs at early-stage companies.
- www.theladders.com –This site lists high paying jobs in a variety of sectors, including technology, by geography. The company is venture-backed itself.
- Fast Growing or Venture Funded Company Websites – Find some companies that look interesting, and check their web sites for job openings.
- The Weatherhead 100– This list will help you identify the fastest growing companies in Northeast Ohio and from there you can look at the companies’ web sites for position postings.
- Subscribe to hiVelocity to learn about exciting innovation and job news across the state of Ohio.
- Last but not least, subscribe to JumpStart Connect and As It Happens to stay up to date on the latest breaking news, success and events about JumpStart portfolio and client companies.