Moe Tamani's Internet Marketing and SEO Blog, Articles and Search Engine Optimization Tips » hiring

7 Steps to a Great Hire for Small Businesses

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:26:36 +0000

7 Steps to a Great Hire for Small Businesses

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

If you’re a small business owner, then you know the importance of hiring great employees with the least amount of expense. Not only do you want to hire qualified employees who will work for a wage that you can afford, but you don’t want to break the bank in the process of recruiting. Here are 7 steps to hiring the right person for the job.

1. Clear Job Description. The first thing you need to do is to create a clear and concise job description with as much detail as necessary. This is only way to make your expectations clear and to measure an employee’s job performance. Don’t do anything else until you have a job description in hand.

2. Clear Qualifications. Be as detailed as you need to be in order to be clear about the qualifications that you require. This is the place to go into detail about the work environment, as well as the skills required to do the job well. This puts everyone on the same page as far as expectations.

3. Transparency. If you hide information from potential employees, it’s only going to result in heartache. Be clear about everything you expect and put it down on paper. Inform everyone, current employees as well as those in your candidate pool, about how the process is going. You’ll build the trust with current employees and future employees, resulting in higher loyalty and job satisfaction.

4. Look Internally. Now that you’re clear about your expectations, the next step is to begin recruiting. The logical place to begin is with current employees. If you’re not in the position to hire current employees for an open position, go to them for hiring suggestions. What kind of team member are they looking for? What’s missing within the structure that will help them do their jobs better? Do they know people who can get the job done?

5. Ask Questions. Once you have possible candidates, vet them within your existing community of employees. The information you glean in this step is invaluable and can help you avoid awkward situations.

6. Put One Person in Charge. Appoint one person within your company to be the contact person with potential candidates. This streamlines the process, helps avoid communication issues, and protects a candidate’s confidentiality. This person should manage all interactions between potential candidates and your company.

7. Expand your search. If you’ve heeded the above steps and still haven’t found the perfect candidate, then it’s time to expand your search. One option is to take out an ad. If you choose to do this, be prepared to be bombarded with emails, phone calls, and resumes from an overwhelming amount of unqualified people. If you still want to go this route, just make sure you don’t print the name of your company. Competitors don’t need to know what you’re up to.

Another option is to utilize the services of a recruiter. Recruiters can bring amazing candidates to you, candidates that they’ve already screened, thereby saving on the amount of time you waste talking to halfway-interested, unqualified people. But the truth is that it’s hard to find a top-notch recruiter. There are too many opportunities for conflicts of interest and shirking of standards and loyalty.

If you choose to use a recruiter, find out how big their pool of candidates is. They’re not allowed to recruit from companies with whom they already have a relationship, so you run the risk of using a recruiter with a small candidate pool. Get testimonials, at least five, from satisfied customers. Never pay a recruiter’s expenses unless you’re recruiting for a top-level executive position. Finally, put down deadlines and timelines in writing and be clear about what penalties they will incur if they miss those deadlines.

In all you do, remember that, as a small business owner, you should always try to get the most for the least.

Hire Your Friends: 6 Reasons to Give it a Shot

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:58:11 +0000

Hire Your Friends: 6 Reasons to Give it a Shot

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

So you’re starting your own business. You’re looking for space to rent for your office, and might need some clerical assistance at some point. So why not find a friend with whom to share office space and hire your sister for your part-time work? Sound too close for comfort? Here are 6 reasons to consider hiring friends and family to work for you.

1. They’re Trustworthy. When you hire friends and/or family, you can rest assured that they’re doing what you’ve asked them to do. They value the relationship too much to let you down, so they’re going to give the job everything they’ve got. Compare that to the trustworthiness of an employee you’ve only just met. You’ll rest easier when you know who you’ve got working for you. Don’t abuse the relationship, however. Treat them with the same professionalism and respect you would treat any other employee, and don’t take advantage of them.

2. They Care About Whether or Not You Succeed. Your friends and family want to see you succeed, so they’re going to do whatever they can to make that happen, even if it includes working extra hours and going above and beyond.

3. There are No Surprises. You know your friends and family well enough to anticipate what you might expect from a working relationship. When you hire someone you don’t know, you may be surprised later on by their work habits, annoying personality traits, or inappropriate behavior. Not so with friends and family. You can use what you’ve gleaned from your relationship to extrapolate what kind of employees they might be. You can make an educated decision before hiring about whether or not you could have a successful working relationship with a friend or family member.

4. They’ll Be Truthful. You’ve probably worked with people who will tell the boss exactly what he wants to hear to avoid making waves or calling attention to themselves. Friends and family, on the other hand, will tell you what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear.

5. You Know Their Motives. If you’ve been through the process of hiring someone before, you know that there are plenty of people out there who apply for a job simply to have a job. When you hire friends and family, you know whether they want to work for you simply for a paycheck or because they’re truly invested in what you’re doing. If they aren’t genuinely interested in what you’re doing and in being part of growing your business, don’t hire them!

6. They’re Loyal. If you hire a friend or family member because she’s truly interested in your company, because she cares about whether or not you succeed, and because she’s someone you can trust, then you can rest assured that she will also be loyal to you and your business. She’ll focus her time and energy on making your business successful, and she won’t bail out as soon as a better offer comes along.

Let it also be said that if you choose to hire friends and family, you need to be very clear about your boundaries. If you consistently ask them to give and do more and more simply because you know that they will do almost anything to help you succeed, then you’re taking advantage of their loyalty to you. And if you ever feel like the business relationship that you’ve forged with a friend or family member is putting a strain on your personal relationship, open the lines of communication to talk about what’s going on. The last thing you want to do is to ruin a personal relationship because of a business relationship. But if the chemistry is right and you trust your instincts, hiring a friend or family member may be the smartest business move you ever make!