When and How to Hire as a Business Owner

As a business owner, you have to make some tough decisions. There’s not always a right or wrong decision, but there are decisions that could result in a better outcome than others. One of the most important decisions to make is in hiring. These points will set you up to make the best decisions for hiring.

When and How to Hire as a Business Owner

Mapping Company Growth

One of the first aspects of your business you should consider when deciding if it is time to hire, is company growth. Map out your growth targets for the next year, be realistic about it. Once you have your milestones mapped out, evaluate what tasks or resources you will need when you reach that milestone. Plan to hire the person needed to fill that role 8 months prior to when you reach it. It typically takes 6 to 12 months to get your new hire up to speed.

Valuing Your Time

As a business owner, your time is extremely valuable. You’re wearing many different hats. It’s easy to get caught up in day to day operations and forget about developing your business and increasing revenue. If you’re getting bogged down from this regularly then that’s a good sign that it’s time to hire someone. Another sign that it’s time to hire is if you and your current employees are too busy. If this is the case, you might be too busy to notice how busy your own employees are.

Listen to Your Clients

One last huge sign that it’s time to hire is if your clients are requesting services you currently don’t provide or are requesting orders that are too large for you to fulfill. While this is a great problem to have as a new or growing business, this is a signal to expand your business. When running a business, always ask your clients if you’re meeting all their needs.

Writing a Job Ad & Advertise It

If you write a poor job description, you’ll likely attract poor applicants. Vice versa, a good job description will attract applicants with the right skills and encourage them to buy into your business’s vision, mission, and culture. Prior to writing the job description, verify the experience skills needed for the job. Once you know the type of person you’d like to hire, be thorough with writing a clear description with all information they would need to know. The best ways to advertise your new job ad are through social media, paid online job boards, referrals, and recruiters.

Screening Your Applicants

Once you have your applications collected, reconsider your job description and sort them by those you definitely want to hire, those you might want to hire, and those you aren’t interested in. Some red flags to look for are improper or incorrect grammar, a non-professional e-mail, and sloppy or confusing formatting. Once you have the applicants selected to interview, begin your interview process until you’re narrowed down to your final applicant.

On-boarding Your New Employee & Fostering Positive Culture

Once you select your top applicant for the job, send an offer letter and prepare all legal assets. Companies that pay attention during the on-boarding process tend to have more productive employees sooner and these employees tend to stay at the company longer. On-boarding includes everything from preparing the proper paperwork, explaining training, to hosting a company lunch. To make this successful, plan their first day on the job far in advance. Once hired and on-boarded it’s important to continually do everything you can to support them. This is done by a transparent and positive company culture. This can include offering great benefits, conducting stay interviews, and offering training and professional development.