Hire Employees For Small Business: Running a small business is nothing short of raising a child. You don’t want to mess things up while getting things for your baby.
The same rule applies when hiring employees to run the business. After all, the employee you’re hiring, will be the reason for your fall or rise.
You’ve got no room for mistakes!
So, how do you hire the right person to do the job? What would be your approach to filtering the right prospect in the first place?
Well, we’ve been there ourselves. We worked our way in and learned to hire the right team members the hard way. Now we know how it should be done.
Let’s help you avoid mistakes while hiring your next employee.
How to Hire Employees for Small Business: The Right Way
Just as crucial as the right employee is, it’s important to know the hustles and bustles before stepping into hiring one.
Although sites like Bizop will help you do the job listing and taking queries, it’s you who has to do the screening and setting goals.
Here are the pre-steps and the actual steps of hiring an employee, especially as a small business owner:
Get Your Legals Done
Before hiring someone to work for you, you need to get your legal requirements done. The steps can differ greatly depending on which country or state you operate in. The most common legal requirements may include:
- An employer ID number (EIN)
- State revenue registration
- Registration under Labor Act
- Employee’s tax calculations
- Employee’s compensation insurance
- I-9 form for each employee (US only)
- Completing the W-4 form (Non-US)
Set Your Goals
Set your goals first. Know what you want from your employee. Only then you’ll know what talent to look for in the person you’re interviewing.
You can’t just expect an accountant to fix your IT issues or an IT expert to make your financial statement!
This can be confusing if you’re hiring for a multitasker, like a managerial position. Think long term and hire a master of one thing, not a jack of all trades.
Once you have the goals and legals right, it’s time to find the right employee for your small business. And here’s how you do it:
Ask Your Friends
The best sources where you can find your next performer employee is your network at business. Ask your friends in your business space if they can refer some people or resumes that you can rely on.
Most successful hires in businesses happen this way because it’s a reliable way to hire vetted professionals. If you want to ensure more trustworthy people joining your team, asking a friend works better than hiring from the open market.
Ask Your Existing Team
This is another great way to onboard great talents to your small business as employees. If you have employees in your business already, you can ask them to find talents like them from their circle.
Your employees are much likely to have connections similar to their profession. This way, you can hire employees faster with testimony from existing ones who know their connections from a personal level.
Hire A Customer
This might sound a bit odd, but can be an effective way to hire great employees, especially if you’re in B2B business. If you have a customer who has the skills to solve the problem you work around, ask them if they can work for you!
There’s nothing wrong with that! In fact, if they can’t or won’t do the job, they might recommend someone who would! You know, seeking help is a great thing, and it can lead to great opportunities.
Know The Salary Standards
As you’re hiring, the thing that you’ll be greatly confused about is the salary you need to pay. It goes way beyond the amount you pay because you have other expenses around, like the rent, bills, bonus, etc.
Search for the same position’s job description from 5-8 job postings. Then you can make an even number where you don’t over or under spend your money. You can hire someone who’s asking for the right wage for the job.
Be Where The Candidates Are
Your prospects are everywhere, from Facebook and Twitter to LinkedIn. Don’t forget to keep your eyes open and contact if the candidate is actively looking for jobs with your requirements fulfilled.
Apart from media like LinkedIn, you can also post the job on websites like Bizop, Indeed, or Craigslist for local recruitment. The point here is to be where prospects and talented people are roaming around.
Create A Compelling Job Description
Creating a compelling job description is your first step to attracting and hiring the right candidate. Don’t be too flashy with colors, be genuine and authentic with proper information in the description.
- Who’s wanted: The ideal candidate’s qualifications, expertise, and experience.
- Who are You: Including your mail address, location, and website
- What you Do: About the service/product you sell.
- What the person will do: The role’s primary and secondary tasks.
- The Perks and Benefits: Everything from snacks to yearly bonuses or increments.
- Salary range (if possible)
- How to apply: Best if you integrate tools like Calendly, Google Forms, etc.
Don’t hesitate if it takes 2-3 pages and be descriptive. Have a form to fill up necessary info and an option to upload a CV if you’re promoting the listing on your own website.
Group Interviews Work Great
Taking a group interview will be great if you’re dealing with multiple candidates for a single role. This will include calling them all in at the same time and doing a collective aptitude test before rinsing out the knock-offs.
Here’s an example: casually have a 5-minute brief about your company and yourself. Then ask the candidates to write answers to questions based on the brief. This is to ensure that they have the attention to detail necessary across positions.
Ask The Right Questions
Once you have the right prospects for a final interview, you have to utilize the time with proper questions to find the right candidate. Among all other technical questionnaires, you should ask the following questions, especially for managerial positions:
- What are your unique skills to set you apart and qualify you for the position?
- What is the one thing that you would like to change in the business?
- How would you grow the business from the current position?
Personality Over Skills
Skills and expertise are SUPER important, there’s no arguing with that. But the personality of your employee for the position is too important to put enough emphasis on. Know the employee’s values, dedication, and the doer’s mentality.
Long story short: You can train and fine tune their skills, but can’t grow a personality.
The Salary Talks
Talking about the salary is where many small business owners get confused in the interview session. And this is okay because you’ve not been long enough to hire dozens of employees before.
After knowing the industry standards for the role, ask for an expectation your candidate has. Also, don’t forget to talk about the perks and benefits you’ll be providing alongside the cash intensive.
This way, the prospect will take those into account and talk about the expectations. Once you have the expected amount on the table, you will validate that based on their:
- Experience
- Education
- Skill level
Education, expertise, and skill levels are very important, and they do influence the salary range. But the most influential aspect of higher or lower salaries is the experience they take on board.
Hire More Than Necessary
Even after screening the candidate, you may end up hiring a mule who’s not good at work or isn’t time sensitive. In that case, you can hire two people on the condition of working a few days before settling with one.
This is only if you have the budget to go test some things out to find the best match and to avoid a production shortage. That’s because eventually, you’ll have to let one go, and that, might have some cost behind it.
Handing over Employee Handbook
Once you’re done hiring one and ready to welcome your new employee, you have to let him/her ease into the process. Having an employee handbook has unparalleled benefits over anything else in terms of breaking the ice.
The handbook can be standard across departments and roles. It will only include all the necessary practices within the premises. With this, you can maintain and control the atmosphere and establish a culture of your liking.
Set Standard Operating Procedure
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is the best way to ensure maximum quality while not banging your head setting parameters. It’s where you describe the steps of a specific with instructions to get it done.
Being custom to specific departments, you can automate the process of getting things done under the roof using SOP. This way, you can eliminate miscommunication and ensure that the final output is meeting company regulations.
Final Advice
Hiring can be intimidating, and doing this correctly sets your course to become the next unicorn. Now that you know how to hire employees for small businesses, this should be a lot easier for you.
But the real magic lies in getting your hands dirty. You should get your job listing up and running today and start screening candidates.
When it’s time to interview, don’t hesitate to take your time to understand the employee’s personality. Having the right mindset is crucial; training can build masters later.
And you want to prioritize an experienced and skilled person over only an educated person, even if you have to pay higher.
