Jen SchillerHiring for your small business can be tricky. You want to make the best decisions to help your company grow, but may not have access to the vetting resources larger companies do. In order to help you make the best hire for your small business, we’re offering five hiring tips for growing your company thanks to some great advice from Forbes.
5. Don’t hide things. Be honest with a potential new employee about the state of affairs with your company. If you hide away details you think may scare off potential new hires, you won’t make progress in finding candidates for the future.
4. Make hiring a (semi) team game. Getting feedback from a number of different members of your hiring team can help ensure the candidate you choose is the right one. Be wary, however, of inviting too many people into the process. In the end, the decision will be up to the hiring manager and probably company president. Adding too many people to the mix may confuse candidates and employees.
3. Identify traits which work in your employees. Chances are fairly good that in your small business employees share a certain number of traits. Maybe it’s an outgoing personality, diligent work ethic, or some smaller quirk that makes your office hum so smoothly. Identify what that is and look for it in your candidate search, it may help make the transition to the office smoother.
2. Network whether you’re hiring or not. Job seekers are out there networking (we hope!) and so should you. Even if you don’t have an immediate opening, meeting potential candidates is never a bad thing. It shows candidates your company is eager to hire strong employees and that you genuinely care about whom you hire. Plus, it may help you in a pinch if someone decides to leave your small business in a hurry.
1. Take note of the details. Track when and how a candidate responds via email, sends thank yous, etc… Look at their attire in interviews, just observe the smaller things a candidate does which will make a huge difference in whether a candidate is a great, or good hire.
When making hiring decisions for your small business, looking long-term for candidates to help grow your business–not to just complete current tasks–is crucial for your continued success. The decisions you make for your small business now will guide the trajectory of your company going forward.
Do you have any hiring tips for a small business? Other ideas to help spur the growth of your company? We’d love to hear in the comments section below.
Guest Post
Great list! To add to #5 — hiding details to not scare candidates just means they’ll discover them later. Which could cause higher turnover!
It’s better to put it all on the table — the employee who is RIGHT for your company is the one that can see opportunity and solutions to the problems and challenges you show them.
Plus if you hide those problems up front, you just *hope* that they know how to deal with them later when they discover them. But if you make them aware of the problems, the one that knows they can overcome and solve those problems will be the one who *wants* the job. And the right person to do it!
Well said, Devan. Thanks for commenting!