Your employees are an asset to your company. Hence hiring the right people can make or break your business.
When you are starting out as a newbie entrepreneur, you may be able to play all the business roles—from marketing to accounting—by yourself. But, once your business starts growing, you will find yourself wishing for an extra hand to help you out. You may have no previous experience regarding hiring, so how do you make sure you hire top talent? Here are a few things to keep in mind when you decide to hire new people.
Know that hiring is expensive: Bringing a new person on board may seem like an easy task, but it is often followed by a lot of paperwork and legal obligations, not to mention the additional burden of paying an extra person. The hiring process also could also consume a considerable amount of your time, and we all know that time is money when it comes to a business.
Build a unified company culture: Don’t think that defining your company culture when you are a one-man army is unimportant. Know that it is never too early to define your company culture. Think about what you would want your company to grow into, the kind of values and behavior you want it to embody and propagate. For young graduates, especially for millennials, working for companies that share their values, where they can see themselves grow professionally and personally is more important than a fat pay cheque.
Define job roles and personality preferences: The realization that you need to hire additional help often comes when you hit your breaking point. It is important to identify the roles that need to be filled, the responsibilities that come with each role, and also the personality type of the person you can picture doing that job. This would help you tremendously in framing interview questions and deciding who to welcome into your company.
Talk less, listen and observe more: If you are having a one-on-one interview with a candidate, you may be tempted to talk about your company, its core values, and a little bit about how you reached where you are right now. However, it is more important to let the candidate do most of the talking so that you can sit back and analyze whether he/she would be the right fit or not.
Hire candidates for roles they are best for: Every person has their strengths and weaknesses. A single weakness should be no reason for you to strike somebody’s name off your candidate list. It doesn’t matter if the guy you are hiring to be your web developer is a little diffident as long as he does exemplary work.
Don’t give in to your instincts: Offering somebody a permanent job in your company based on your gut feeling is the worst mistake any new entrepreneur can make. It is an open secret that most candidates tend to exaggerate on their resumes. But there are also con artists who would go the extra mile and forge documents and certificates,not to forget mentally unstable individuals who may come off as the perfect fit but could pose a bigger threat to your company and other employees if hired.
Do a background check: How do you ensure you are not hiring an ex-convict, somebody out on parole, or maybe even an illegal substance abuser? You may think of these factors as being beyond your control but don’t leave them to chance. There are companies that will do employee background verification checks for you. You may have to chip in some extra money for this service but understand that your company’s reputation and employees’ safety is worth every bit of that money.
Know what is off-limits: While you have every right to demand transparency regarding a candidate’s professional life, some personal questions may be deemed offensive, sometimes even unlawful. It is safe to steer clear of sensitive topics such as race, sexual orientation and religious or political affiliations while interviewing a candidate.
Get to the paperwork immediately: Depending on your country’s labor and employment laws, you will have a mountain of paperwork such as tax forms and insurance forms to take care of in addition to setting up a payroll system to withhold tax even before your new team member clocks in his first hour. Don’t postpone these critical tasks even if they may seem laborious at that moment.
Hiring the first couple of employees is extremely crucial as they tend to set the tone for those who follow. Invest yourself in the process; it’s worth the extra effort in order to find, and hire those who can take your business to new heights.
