Perhaps you’ve been thinking about adding a new team member. Maybe your first?
If you want to grow your company or buy a bit of time off, bringing on a team member can be a great move. Here are a few tips for hiring an employee and for creating a winning experience for both of you.
• Start pricing now for a future hire. Update your budget, and add the employee’s salary. Add other related costs, such as uniforms and insurance or maybe a truck. Some employees are revenue generating, like a service technician or a salesperson. That can be a good approach to your first hire, so that you can recoup their costs with additional sales. Or you might fill an administrative role to free you up for more sales as they handle office duties.
• Put your organizational chart together. Your name will still be in most of the positions. However, one or two or more boxes could be delegated. Nice!
• Create a first-draft position description for each job you would like the new person to assume. The position description is a list of responsibilities. “Here’s what you are to do!” The manuals for each position are how to do each responsibility. The new hire can help you write the manual for their position.
• Part-time works fine! No need to commit to a full-time employee right away. Expand their time as they successfully accomplish your first assignments and responsibilities.
• Recruit nice people. Ask people you know to spread the word that you are looking. Ask at church or at kid functions, where you see friends and other business-owner parents. Check out online recruiting services, such as Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com. If your position is flexible, consider college kids or parents who want to spend time at home and work around school time. Look for willing and basically capable people – and hire someone whom you can train. Don’t look for Superman or Superwoman.
• Do a gut check. As you interview to hire, ask yourself, “Is this someone I could pass in the office or speak to on the phone and not want to avoid?” Don’t hire anyone who just doesn’t feel right. That said, leave your prejudices at the door. You may or may not know right off the bat if someone will work out.
• Hire for a test drive period. Sixty days is plenty. Spend time together. Review your business plan, including the org chart and position descriptions. Start writing procedures together. Let them figure out a problem or two.
• Be upfront that you will make sure you are a good fit for each other during these first 60 days of employment. If it doesn’t work out, you will both be fine. After 60 days, you should know. Spend enough time together so that you do. Don’t abandon them on day one.
• Don’t hesitate to love. Whether or not you decide to work together, there is always room for more love in this world. You can be friends. You can be the boss. You don’t have to turn into Dagwood Bumstead’s boss, Julius Dithers. You can be kind and figure out the responsibilities, the org chart and the business together.
There’s more to the recruiting, hiring and training processes. These tips can get you started. Let me know how you are doing expanding your team.
Ellen Rohr is an author and business consultant offering profit-building tips, trending business blogs and online workshops at EllenRohr.com. Her books include “Where Did the Money Go?” and “The Bare Bones Weekend Biz Plan.” She can be reached at ellen@ellenrohr.com.
