Today I would like to discuss how critical it is to get Small Business Recruitment right the first time. Many entrepreneurs start their businesses off with just themselves as the “employee”, and that’s perfectly fine until you begin seeing some aspects of the small business suffering, and you do not want it to get to this point where you need to put out fires. As cliché-ish as it sounds, prevention is still better than the cure.
I have worked with one too many business owners and have seen different types of situations to know when exactly a business is ready to hire their first set of employees.
Do not wait for these to happen to your business before deciding to take the leap at hiring.
Warning Signs
- You start turning away work or you are finding yourself extending deadlines to finish a project. That’s not good, and word will spread around that you cannot keep up with demand. Soon, customers will be looking elsewhere and the seemingly growing demand for your products or services will dwindle.
- Quality is suffering and you are receiving complaints. You know that nowadays, it is so easy for customers to just go online and rant about your product, service or company. They have the power of Google reviews in their hands and the only way you can avoid its wrath is to do a great job, and you can’t do it alone when you’re business is in growth mode.
When the above items start showing up, that is when you know you need to start to work on your small business recruitment efforts.
Start with these
- Duplicate yourself. Ask yourself what tasks you can delegate and what skills are needed for those tasks. Hire someone who is better than you in performing those duties. You can bring in a recruiter or an HR consultant to help you figure out what kind of profile is best for that type of role.
- Web Developer (Consultant or Part-Time). To keep growing, you need to have a website. No business can survive without a website at this day and age when everyone checks online for anything and everything under the sun. A website also has to remain relevant and must offer fresh content all the time. For that, you will also need a Social Media Consultant or Content Writer to keep your website up to date.
- Sales, Marketing or Business Development (Full-Time). If you have been doing this yourself at the start of your business and you feel that you need to augment the efforts on this front in order to keep the funnel full, hire a sales guy. You need someone who will ensure that the sales are coming in so that you can keep doing what you’re doing.
Invest in Hiring
Do not be afraid to spend money on hiring. You will thank yourself in the long run. There are employment agencies and headhunters that specialize in small business recruitment. They can do all the dirty work of sifting through hundreds of resumes and only send you a shortlist of great candidates to choose from. Most employment agencies offer a guarantee which lessens the risk on your part. They provide a replacement in case the initial candidate does not work out.
iLink Global Recruiting Inc., is one of Surrey’s trusted employment agencies. They are experts in small business recruitment. They have worked with many of Surrey’s business owners that have successfully hired their first employees with their guidance.