Whether or not you’re a people person, you’ll likely need to hire and manage. Having a plan for staffing is crucial for building a strong business.

Disclaimer: Pike13 provides this information with the understanding that it is not rendering legal services. This information is not a substitute for the advice of a competent legal professional. If you need legal advice, please consult with an attorney.

Yay, business is growing! Or are you thinking: uh oh, business is growing - who is going to help do all of the work?! Unless you’re going to do everything, you’re going to need to hire.

Staffing is one of the toughest, yet most important tasks for your business. Your staff interacts closely with your clients and has a dramatic impact on their success. Their actions and personalities shape the culture, brand, and the very health and success of your business. It begins with the initial hire but it definitely doesn’t end there. Each staffing component is important.

In the next couple of posts I’ll go over how to recruit, hire, train, incentivize, retain, and yes, even terminate employees.

Where it all starts: Recruiting the goods

Before you can even consider hiring someone, you need interested people to apply, i.e. you need to recruit. Never recruited talent before? These tips will help you fill your pipeline with qualified candidates.

1. Write a good job description

First things first when recruiting staff—make sure you have an accurate and clear job description that will attract good talent. Include all the necessary qualifications so people can weed themselves out before applying. Use phrases that will resonate with potential applicants like “self-directed”, “team-player” and “organized”. Have reasonable expectations–setting the bar too high or too low can affect the candidate pool.

2. Set an example

If you set a great example and are the best leader you can be, you’ll attract people with the traits you want. If you've built a solid business with attention to a positive environment, you'll have an easier time attracting talent.

Conduct regular check-ins with your current employees to receive and discuss employee feedback. Check-ins also provide opportunities for personalized feedback and mentoring.

In the same way that happy customers talk to their friends, so too do happy employees sing your praises. Strive to become a place where people want to work!

3. Look for talent within

Often times the best talent comes from somewhere within your own business. It may even be a client!

A client who is top of their class, stays late, and asks a lot of questions might be hungry for more. After conquering all the skills they can as a client, they might want to move to mastery by teaching. You, your staff and your clients already know them well and ramp-up can be a lot quicker. Be sure not to overlook these clients when hiring staff.

If you need a manager, sometimes the best candidates are your employees. You already know them and they know your business. This can also be a driver of staff retention–internal promotions provide a career path and incentives for employees to stay with you long-term. 

4. Use employee referrals

If already you have good employees, they could be your best referral resource. They likely know other good people. If you trust your employees, then trust that they will bring in people that will fit with your team and culture. Your employees advertise your business by working for you, thus shortening your hiring cycle.

5. Job boards

In a competitive job market, you’ll need to take a multi-pronged approach to hiring. There are many job listing websites available. Depending on your industry, you may even find sites targeted to your business. Good places to start are pages like LinkedIn, Indeed, your community’s Online Job Boards, and local college and university job boards.

6. Social media

It may seem an odd place to recruit for employees but you can do almost anything through social media now. You can share job postings or look into a potential candidate, as well as tactics recommended in Small Biz Tips for Social Media Recruiting. Many people have found their dream jobs through social media.

7. Hiring the dream team

So, congratulations, you’ve recruited a good pool of candidates! Now comes the hard part of reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, and making offers. Don’t rush it! It may feel like you need to hire someone immediately, but be cautious. You, and your bank account, may regret your haste. A bad hire will end up costing you valuable time and money in the long run.

8. Conduct a good interview

Interviews can be delicate conversations especially if candidates are nervous. You should be strategic about your interviews to tell if a candidate is a good fit. Take some time to think about and prepare for the interview. Do background research (i.e. review the resume), consider the structure of the interview, and think about the right questions to ask.

In The Utter Uselessness of Job Interviews, the author uses research data to show that interviews must be structured or they’re a waste of time. Give all the candidates the same questions to make the process reliable.

A best practice is to test job-related skills instead of asking personal questions. For example, present the candidate with a challenging scenario and ask how they would handle the situation. If they would be leading classes, ask how they would structure the curriculum and why. Read more tips on this topic in How to Conduct a Job Interview.

And don’t think that you should be the only one interviewing. The more people you can involve in the process the better. It will give you a more well-rounded view of your applicants.

9. Stick to your standards

Have strict hiring practices for your staff. Brian Wilson of CrossFit Potomac tells us “If you’re the owner, whatever you think the bar is for hiring, raise it!” Never think you’re being too strict. Hiring is so important—it makes or breaks your business. Keep in mind that if you lower your standards, a poor hire will be a huge drain on productivity, revenue, and morale.

10. Get what you want

You likely have a checklist of "must haves” for a new employee. Be sure the candidate isn’t only good on paper. If your potential hire doesn’t have good cultural fit or that “x-factor” that gets you excited to work with them, then don’t make the hire! The right person—the one who can do more than just check off all the boxes—will come along. See The Five Traits I Look For When Hiring for how to evaluate cultural fit.

11. Be aware of the cultural fit

Culture fit is as important as having the right skills for the job–especially for small businesses. Involve others in the interview process. The best hiring decisions are made as a team.

12. Remember that your staff is your client retention plan

Your employees are the faces of your business and have a direct impact on your client’s decision to stay or go. When hiring, make sure new members are capable of embodying your business - that they are personable, professional and polite. It makes all the difference to your clients. 

Next time, we'll dive into best practices for training and retaining your staff.  

One of the top reasons why business owners love Pike13 is that their staff loves it more. 

See Pike13 in action by requesting a free 20-minute demo. 

Feature Photo Credit: Laura Pasquini