322 FRONTIERS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH 2011 WORKING FOR A START-UP? INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF ‘VENTURE PERSONALITY’ IN THE RECRUITMENT OF HUMAN CAPITAL  Steven A. Edelson, Walsh University, USA J. Michael Haynie, Syracuse University, USA Alexander McKelvie, Syracuse University, USA ABSTRACT New irms often have dificulties recruiting key employees, impacting the growth and viability of the irm. The majority of the literature has examined this dificulty from the hiring irm’s perspec- tive. In this paper, we adopt the job seeker’s perspective and build on work in organization behavior and human resource management to examine job seekers’ preconceived notions and perceptual differences of ascribed organizational personality characteristics based on irm size and age. We empirically ind that job seekers attribute certain personality characteristics to startups and these characteristics signiicantly affect whether seekers will evaluate the attractive of working for these irms on the basis of perceived it. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. INTRODUCTION New irms often struggle to recruit key employees (Williamson, Cable & Aldrich, 2002). Many candidates perceive employment opportunities with start-up ventures as inherently risky based on such factors as ill-deined organizational structure and work-roles, and also due to uncertainty with regard to the long-term viability of the irm (Cardon & Tolchinsky, 2006; Williamson, 2000). Yet attracting the ‘right’ human capital in the start-up phase of venture creation has been demon- strated to be central to achieving [and sustaining] competitive advantage and long-term growth (Delmar, Davidsson & Gartner, 2003). In fact, arguably the signiicance ascribed to the successful recruitment of key employees to new ventures should exceed that of larger irms, given that fact that employees in new ventures tend to take on a myriad of tasks, and also because ‘founding’ employees tend to have an enduring impact on the development of the irm (Heneman, Tansky & Camp, 2000; Berkley, 1999; Baron, Hannan & Burton, 1999). Moreover, recruiting the ‘right’ type of employee is increasingly dificult, given the on-going battle for the best talent (Chambers et al., 1998; Trank, Rynes & Bretz, 2002), and the increasing importance of human and social capital in a knowledge-based competitive environment (Unger et al., 2009). In this research we draw from extant scholarship in organizational behavior and human resource literatures focused on the relationship between organization personality and the recruitment of key employees (e.g. Breaugh & Starke, 2000). We extend those theoretical prescriptions to a new venture context. Speciically, we propose that an important antecedent to successful recruitment of key personnel to new ventures relates to the ‘signaling’ mechanisms embedded in the recruitment process; that is, those signals that communicate information related to the potential for person-organization ‘it’ in a new venture context.