Peddling jobs

IN BICYCLE racing, even the keenest competitors will temporarily huddle together against the common foes of mental fatigue and headwinds. Such co-operation among rivals is found also in the cluster of start-ups near Old Street junction in London, known as Silicon Roundabout. Business tips are shared over a pint in the district's artfully shambolic pubs. And fierce competition for talent has forged a more formal alliance.

In the last weekend in May, more than a hundred London start-ups gathered in a converted brewery in Brick Lane for a two-day jobs fair, which attracted about 1,900 job-hunters. The event was billed as Silicon Milkroundabout, a nod to the “milk round” tour of university campuses by big recruiters. The idea for the fair came from Songkick, a live-music website based in Hoxton Street, at the heart of London's expanding tech hub. It was thought only a handful of firms might take part in the inaugural fair last May; 45 did, and around 500 engineers turned up. A second event in October lured almost 1,500 techies.

By banding together, smallish firms can collectively sell the idea of working for a start-up—something that is unnecessary or impossible in places where the concept is better understood and rivalries are fiercer. (“This wouldn't happen in Silicon Valley”, notes Dan Crow of Songkick, who worked there for years.) Part of the appeal for would-be employees is the cool informality on display. Firms' pitches were often little more than a table, the almost mandatory Apple laptop and an easel to which a card with the firm's logo was affixed. Job-seekers sporting even open-collared shirts might feel overdressed: the entrepreneurs typically wore jeans and T-shirts. There was table football and a free bar sponsored by Badoo, a site for seekers of casual social encounters. Social-media start-ups rubbed shoulders with better-known names such as Moshi Monsters, a game-playing website aimed at children, and with the new breed of finance websites that connect the cash-strapped with the flush.

Can such fledglings compete for staff given the pay and job security offered by established tech giants, banks and consultancies? “The good news is that the best people don't make money-driven decisions,” says Pete Smith, one of the event's architects. Start-ups are risky, but a wise job-seeker would do some homework to discover if a prospective employer is backed by patient investors with deep pockets and industry know-how. With the greater risks come benefits that big firms cannot match. Employees at a start-up help to shape the firm as it grows up. And because there is less scope for specialisation than at big firms, jobs are more varied and employees can acquire skills quickly.

Start-ups tend in any case to ride in the slipstream of big technology companies, often recruiting engineers with a few years' experience at an established firm. Charles Delingpole, co-founder of MarketInvoice, a site that finds cash for small businesses until their bills are paid, is scouting for at least one software developer to add to the firm's staff of 13. His ideal recruit would be someone like Ivan, standing alongside, who joined after a two-year stint at IBM. If funds stretch to four people, he will hire a fresh graduate. But even firms that are seeking only experienced staff are keen to meet students who they may poach later.

Keeping one eye on future recruits is essential for the kind of firms that have grown up around Old Street—adolescent outfits whose headcount will multiply quickly if they survive. Some are already scrambling for staff. IdeaPlane is a Soho-based firm that sets up social networks within businesses to foster collaboration. Profitable after just two years, it is looking to add 20 to its staff of 27 by the end of the year, says Lucy Wei, who patrolled the firm's stall at the Brick Lane jobs fair. Like cyclists huddled in the peloton, London's start-ups hope they can break away from the pack to sprint for victory.