Hiring employees for your small business can be tricky as business owners are not HR experts! But you have a business to run. Small business owners might think they don’t need an HR department like a big business. But the truth is an HR consultant can be extremely helpful as soon as you start hiring employees or independent contractors so you understand all of the pieces of the puzzle. Check with your HR expert or payroll company to determine whether your new hire should be considered an independent contractor or employee.
Be clear about the position you wish to fill:
Take the time to clearly identify what you really need. Answer a few questions first:
- What will be the specific responsibilities of the person we hire – What exactly will they be doing? How might the current responsibilities of my team change?
- Do I want to hire someone with experience, or am I willing to train that person? (experience will cost you more money, training will cost you more of your time)
- What is the growth potential for someone in this new position? What could they grow into?
- Does the new person need any specific training or experience before I hire them?
- How will we define success for this hire after 6 months or 1 year? Use these metrics to identify some interim success steps.
- What is my plan to set aside enough time for training the new person so they are set up for success? (even experienced hires will need your time to learn your systems and how you do business).
- When this new person is fully trained and capable, whose time will be freed up and how will they use that additional time productively?
Interview your candidates:
- Don’t ask simple yes or no questions in the interview. Ask something that engages your interviewee and requires them to dig deep in their experience. If you require that they have specific experience, ask them to talk about that specific experience to determine if their knowledge and skills are as extensive as you need.
- Determine the growth potential of your interviewee – Are they interested and capable of growing within your business?
- Ask questions to learn how they have handled problems in the past. Look for their attitude and willingness to learn. You can’t completely judge someone’s attitude in the interview, but often when they tell you a story about how they typically handle situations, you can get insights into their general attitudes.
For the best hires:
A good candidate will be evaluating you and your business just as you are evaluating them. Be sure to give them a good and honest overview of the current business as well as the plan for your business growth. People like to feel their work is worthwhile, so help them to see the impact their contributions can have on the business.
Nurturing Your Staff
Even if you hire an expert as a contractor or employee you need to give them a lot of time in the beginning. They need to understand your work culture and how you do your business. Don’t just teach them how to do specific tasks, teach them how you think about the issues and challenges they will be facing. Once they learn how you think they will be able to make good decisions without you and eliminate the need for lots of questions. Consider if they will need outside training to help them be successful.
Don’t forget about you as a leader. Get some professional development for yourself so you know how to lead an organization, people, and manage everything. Be clear on what you want and impart your vision to employees. Knowing where you are headed in the short term and long term helps you and your employees make the best decisions in your business.
Getting the right people in the right positions in your business will take you to your goals faster. To learn more about effective and efficient strategies for running a small business, schedule a free strategy call with me today.