The question of when the right time is to start hiring is the toughest decision to make for a small business. Yet, the question needs to be answered in order to make sure that you are not rushing into making a decision and having to start all over again.
There are a few things you can do to set the stage for a successful hiring
1. Plan ahead
Always be on the lookout for good candidates. Even though your needs are not immediate, you need to constantly speak with, introduce your business to and ask about future career goals of those individuals you think can be successful in your business.
2. Know if your business can afford it
Did you ever find yourself dealing with daily administrative tasks instead of growing your business?
As a business owner, when you spend too much time on admin (or any other distraction to your real focus), you will end up working extreme amounts of hours to catch up on other aspects of the business. That’s when you know that you need staff to help your business thrive. Failing to recognize the unproductive hours you’ve been putting on your business will result in chasing your own tail, which of course will translate into failing to grow your business.
Once you determine your need, make sure your business can support a new hire’s wages! Failure to do this may result in terminating a star and could harm your reputation. People will be reluctant to work for you again.
A twelve-month, or even longer projection, will demonstrate the growth levels for your business. Your main focus should be whether or not you alone can come up with the potential incremental business and when you’ll need the extra hands.
3. Keep a balanced act between hiring too fast and dragging your heels
Once you’ve done step 1 and 2, you should be ready to proceed with your hire. Don’t wait too long because if you do, you will be scrambling to find the right candidate. Those you thought would be a good fit for your business may have already jumped on to other opportunities.
If it takes you too long to decide on the candidate and you fail to keep the momentum going, you will lose the candidate’s interest.
4. Hire a hiring consultant
Someone whose job it is to objectively assess both the job and the candidate will advise you on what it takes to attract qualified candidates. As a specialist in recruitment and selection for small business, I usually give my clients tips on the best recruitment strategies as well as how to make wise hiring decisions. For example, when I helped my client Steve to hire for his printing shop, he had already fired 3 people in as many months for the same position. What I did to help him was to define his culture, outline his needs and target his audience. In short, I helped Steve create a productive workforce that ultimately saved his business thousands by minimizing his cost-per-hire.
So if you’re a small business that’s in growth mode, use the above tips and please don’t hire so fast that you get a ticket!
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