Has your small business grown to the point of bursting? Inevitably, leaders in small companies come to the point when they are ready to grow and hire their first new employees. Hiring decisions for an emerging company are critical and need to be strategic. Here are some guidelines for staffing for the entrepreneur.
Think It Through
Many times I’ve heard, “I need another me; I wish I could clone myself.” when I ask what kind of additional staff is needed. Ask yourself, what duties are you ready to hand over? What duties or what portion of the duties would best be collaborated on? What duties should you continue doing?
Here’s a way to think about this. Create a table and list ALL the tasks that are essential to your business down the left column. Along the top columns, note which of those tasks you are willing to delegate, and which are essential for you to keep. For example, if “Maintain weekly social media entries” is on the list, that might be something that you can delegate, while, “Meet with investors” is best kept in your column of responsibility. Color code the duties that you are ready to delegate, keep, and collaborate on. Include tasks that are getting done as well as those that need to be done in the near future. Assign them appropriately.
Write a Clear Job Description
Using your table, you can see which tasks will comprise a job description. It will give clarity to the new position and often will help you find the job title. I recently spoke with an entrepreneur who said he wanted to hire an Administrative Assistant. But when we went through this exercise, it was clear that the tasks were not typical of an Administrative role; his business would be better served by a Project Coordinator. He needed a different set of competencies and tasks than what he had assumed.
When you write that job description, include the tasks or duties to be performed as well as the essential qualities that spell success in that position. A business coach can help with this and offer insight and objectivity to this process of determining qualities, competencies, skills and required knowledge.
Your new job description will help you target, interview, and hire the right person in your candidate search. The odds of finding someone who brings the right experience, qualities, and competencies and thus make a better hiring decision will increase greatly with this clarity. None of us can afford to make haphazard hiring decisions; it is costly of valuable time, capital and company reputation.
A.B.R.
Always Be Recruiting. Be on the watch for people who have the right qualities and aptitude for success in your company. Be prepared to attract and recruit new staff wherever you are. Who better to passionately evangelize about joining your company than you? Don’t wait until the need is desperate to fill a position; you and all stakeholders in your company should always be recruiting.
Flexible Workforce
Small companies need people who are flexible, versatile and multi-skilled. Hire for aptitude and attitude; you can teach specific company software, skills or procedures to talented new comers. Small workforces need to be nimble and versatile. Someone who is developing their skills but eager to learn may fit in with your culture. Small companies typically have fewer procedures, processes and formal rules; hire people comfortable with ambiguity. Developing talent may take more investment at first; but it shapes the skills you will need to develop your business.
Hire for the Future
When you make those core critical hires it is wise to consider not only the immediate needs of the company but future needs. What qualities, knowledge, competencies and skills will your company need in 3, 5, 10 years? Now is the time to start succession planning, not when the need is immediate and you have no one developed. Your critical hiring decisions today can prepare for success in 10 -20 years.
Take time now to plan for the future with your critical staffing decisions. Your business coach or a talented recruiter can help you identify the critical skills your small business needs and the steps to attract talent.
Marsha Warner, SPHR, owns Career Factors; and is a Portland-based career coach and full-cycle recruiter. She specializes in working with small companies without a dedicated onsite recruiter where she can add value through comprehensive talent acquisition knowledge and over 20 years of human resources experience. She is allied with several boutique recruiting firms, which provides a broad and deep bench of qualified candidates and clients. She aligns the culture and competencies of her clients and her candidates to insure a placement that serves both. She can be contacted at: 503-697-1505
Other guest posts by Marsha: Three Post-Recession Beliefs Employers Need to Change
5 Strategic Staffing Techniques For Startups and Small Companies
