Getting a Handle on Recruitment of Future Superstars
Hiring and firing employees, recruitment... Sooner or later, most small business owners have to tackle these often unpleasant and always challenging tasks.
Working for yourself means juggling all the balls: Marketing, Operations, Finance – and PEOPLE, your major resource.
I used to have this strange idea that being self-employed meant doing it alone. I was on a mission...
How much work could I cram into a 24-hour day without killing myself? How much on-the-job learning was I prepared to add into my otherwise hectic day in order to learn the things I knew nothing about? How long could I keep on keeping on without parting with my hard-earned dollars to outsource and hire?
The answer?
Not very long.
Building a Business vs. Holding a Job
What is the difference between building a business and creating a job? My personal distinction is that if your business can continue without you, if revenues are generated even when you're not there, it’s a business.
If you’re pushing all the buttons, it's a job. A huge, never-ending job. And you're doing it all, including running errands, stuffing envelopes, emptying the garbage, negotiating high finance and hiring and firing.
The things we do well usually come easily. It's those other things... bookkeeping and finance if you're on the creative side, developing marketing materials and building relationships if you're more into technology... you get the drift...
So why beat a dead horse? If it doesn't come naturally to you, GIVE IT AWAY. I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to have my bookkeeper handle that part of my work. It's a joy to pay her at the end of a day. Really.
Business Growth Means Hiring & Firing Employees... Sooner or Later
Your business vision is one of growth and expansion. That takes people. Should you hire or subcontract? Who? How many? When? What if you don't have the right people at the right time?
As Michael Gerber says in his breakthrough book, The E Myth, if you think you can grow by going it alone, you're mistaken. There are only so many hours in the day, and you can only juggle so many balls at one time. Not having the right resources in the wings can cripple your business just as it's about to "take off".
Managing your people, outsourcing specific tasks such as hiring and firing and recruitment, joint venturing or co-branding, or franchising are options you will have to consider as your business — and your workload — grows.
Signs You Need Help
Are you putting in more hours and getting less
accomplished?
Doing repetitive tasks that could be handled by a clerk?
Doing frustrating work that drains your energy?
Need expertise you don’t currently have for specific work?
Pressured by a growing backlog of things to do?
Unaware of what day it is? (TGIF no longer has meaning when you work for yourself.)
Wearing the same clothes 3 days in a row?
There are things we take for granted when we have a JOB. I met a banker who resigned because she wanted to be an independent small business consultant. Her biggest surprise?
She had to order her own business cards! (... and had to go to the post office on her own, buy her own supplies, purchase a fax machine, service her computer… PLUS do the marketing to get the clients she was then going to service, deliver the service and invoice…then collect. I’m exhausted just writing about it!)
Sound familiar? (If it doesn’t, you probably have not yet started your own business!)
Is this trip really necessary?
Yes.
When you were an employee, your main focus was your own career path. It was usually clear and predictable as long as you functioned within your job description.
As you switch to employer, you're going to be making different financial choices. You'll probably have to dip into your personal savings to pay bills from time to time.
The money you pay an employee is money you are not paying yourself! And what will it cost you if you don't change how you're doing it now? (in money, in time, in relationships and in health!)
So can you afford to hire? In addition to salary, budget for insurances, taxes, benefits, even vacations. What about new equipment? furniture? supplies?
How much more business will you have to bring in to cover these additional expenses? And how long will it take for this person to generate some positive ROI?
Then again, can you afford NOT to hire? How else can you grow? (By "hire," I mean "engage", collaborate with, do a joint venture with, partner with and all the other "withs").
Do you need a financial advisor? A freight forwarder? A marketing professional? A telemarketer? Can you do without them?
On the other hand, will you have the cash to cover the expenses? (One theory suggests that you need a reserve to cover one year of overhead and expenses before hiring... That's when family starts entering the picture. If they do, make sure they understand that it's temporary!)
Getting Started With Hiring and Firing Employees
Start by identifying the work that needs to be done, how much work there is, whether the backlog can be handled with one type of skill, even the kind of person you’d like to find. Using industry and association research online, you can probably quantify (monetize...) a dollar value for hiring out this work in various ways.
What if you cut corners on salary and benefits? Can you attract and retain the best-qualified employee if you resort to nickel-and-diming? Can you afford the expense and disruption of constant employee turnover? Check out salary-related web sites to help you establish a reasonably attractive package.
There's also the cost of finding the right person in the first place. Will you advertise? Use an agency? Network? Your circle of family, friends, colleagues can help spread the word. A note on hiring family and friends, or their family or their family's friends. Personally, I would rather not go that route. Depending on your finances and your needs, though, hiring friends may be the best and/or most economical way to go.
If you advertise in newspapers or online, you have to use enticing copy to sell the position. If you're a start-up, mention it to attract the type of person who is comfortable with a new business. (Selling a job is like selling a product. There are advertising agencies that specialize in this type of creative work. Search "recruitment advertising" for some suggestions.)
Now you have a pool of prospects. What now?
Lots of people look good on paper. You'll have to "read between the lines" in order to weed out the best ones. Once you've short-listed, you're ready to meet these people.
As you prepare for the interviews, keep in mind that employment law is specific about illegal and inappropriate questions – about race, sexual orientation, marital status, religion or child-rearing plans, for example. Ask questions that relate to the job only.
For additional information regarding questions that employment experts regard as "off-limits" for discussion in an interview, visit the Small Business Administration Web site.
How long will it take you to find out who's right for the job? And how much will it cost if you're wrong?
Your detailed business plan should identify how you will fulfill your people needs. Recruitment, managing employees, hiring and firing, keeping them motivated, providing training and benefits, managing the taxation side of the payroll, absenteeism, unions are among the many issues to consider when hiring and firing employees.
