Small Business Owner Advice For Hiring Employees That Last

Hiring employees is a welcomed relief for a weakening staff or a stressful undertaking full of risk and expense. Choosing the right person without spending too much valuable time in the screening process is a balancing act of chance and skill for many business owners.

Making the wrong choice can mean wasted time and money training and paying an individual that ends up quitting or doesn’t make it through their probationary period.

Consider the following five issues when selecting a new member to your team.

Always Trust An Initial Gut Feeling

You’re the boss and no one knows your business or your existing team as well as you do. Someone who doesn’t mesh with his or her co-workers can throw off the balance and flow and result in more than one employee leaving, an interruption in service, or decrease in production.

We’re often encouraged to give people a chance, to reserve judgment and avoid negativity. That is true in interpersonal relationships, but this is your business and you have to make judgment calls about the people you present to the public as your agents.

Hopefully in this economy, you have a stack of applications. Go through them initially, scanning quickly. Any details that give you a bad feeling, set that candidate to the side. Now really examine those that remain.

Always Consider Value Versus Cost

What does that mean? Let’s say you have a perfect candidate, but their salary is a bit out of your budget. You have five more satisfactory candidates that will take what you’re offering. Choosing the more expensive employee might actually save you money in the long run.

Will they require less training? Will they work harder and inspire the rest of the team to do the same? Might you end up giving them a raise sooner than the other candidates, which makes the money a moot issue? Most importantly, this person is a good fit. Unless you are as sure about the others, letting the one go is an expensive roll of the dice.

Think about the pride and determination it takes to blindly insist on what you are worth and stick to it. That person will use that same character to represent your product/service and fight for your company.

Be Honest With Any Serious Candidates

Alleviate the stress of taking on a new employee by being brutally honest in their interview. Explain how important their paid time is, about being on task and being motivated to fill empty time.

This accomplishes two things. First, you will feel better about establishing expectations and getting on the same page. Secondly, if anything you describe or just your serious demeanor is intimidating, a lesser applicant will do you both a favor and decline the position.

Let them know what a worst-case-scenario day would be like. You’re not trying to scare them, but you do want to know that they won’t scare easily.

Be Honest With Yourself

So often when we have a lot of reservations about something, our subconscious is sending a clear warning. Are you hesitant about a new hire because you really can’t afford it? Are there other ways you could reorganize your current staff or the business itself that would decrease costs or increase profits without a new employee?

Perhaps your anxiety is truly about the hiring process itself. Consider using a staffing agency. They exist solely to hire individuals and find the perfect fit for your needs. You are still the boss, but the time-consuming tasks of human resources are off of your plate.

Dan Levenson

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