Co-authored: Anam Dweba and Erin Louw
Why is it so hard to find good people? Actually, it’s not.
When it comes to setting yourself up for success, it all boils down to execution. In order to scale while you are growing, you have to make sure that you manage your plate. As business owners, we often work in the business and not on the business. But, when is the right time to bring on additional employees? When do you start looking for help with the little and the big things?
But first, get an assistant.
As a manager, you need to get the admin out of the way. As a business owner, you have to get out of the admin. There are things that only you can do, but there are things that others can do and that is where you start. Bringing someone on board does not have to be a full-time investment. Starting out with a virtual assistant (VA) or personal assistant (PA) can make the world of difference. As SMEs, it would also help to investigate bringing in consultants for a shorter period.
A virtual assistant is someone who assists from a remote area with any task that you don’t have time to get around to. This could be data transfers or lead capturing to a CRM, sorting inboxes, cracking on with a website, or social media platforms. Different virtual assistants offer different services and you need to find one based on your business need.
Pro’s: they usually charge by the hour; they can also manage your other resources or consultants
Con’s: if they are not local, they are not always able to help with the heavy lifting.
Search for Xenian Nompumelelo Modisane via the community.
Hiring Smart? Second that!
The first permanent employee usually deals with customer service and support queries while the founder needs to engage with stakeholders and new clients. When hiring as a small business, you need to hire smart and do your background checks or references. This is important especially when you are still a small team. Use online tools and platforms to take the noise out of the recruitment process.
- Write your job specs with a mix of both online versions and align them to your business and culture in a creative way. Really write the spec in your own language. The spec is best written by the manager and the person who reports into the position. Both are able to clearly define the expectations and requirements of what the role requires on a daily basis – a mini-360.
- Do formal and informal reference checks as nowadays LinkedIn shows the people that the employee has worked with, and you can connect with them to do a deeper dive. This is mainly important because most people just add people that will give them positive feedback on their CV.
- The criminal check is also important. Not doing them often leads to horror stories (no pun intended).
Pro’s: platforms save a lot of time (and money) and finding the best paid platform can be a gamechanger
Con’s: it can be costly for a small business when doing full time placements.
Search for Xenian Sasha Knott via the community.
Platform: www.jobcrystal.co.za
Interview triad
Interviewing can be a tricky process and candidates should interview the business as well. Apart from embracing technology and platforms, there are also tricks to get important information about people. This can help better gauge whether they are suitable for the role and the business, without asking the ‘What is your strengths and weaknesses?’ question:
- Keep it casual and try to get to know them better. What are they like? Where are they from? What are their preferences? Do they have specific talents? Asking typical interview questions puts someone on guard and in interview mode and you don’t get the real version of them. Also, ask technical questions but keep the questions the same (5-10 control questions for benchmarking) and allow the conversation to take shape naturally.
- In a hybrid environment, online interviews can strip certain people from their ability to be ‘natural’. Rather have 1-3 shorter sprint interviews (30 minutes each over a two-week period) than long marathon interviews. This can also help you measure the consistency in the person. You can also do one-way interviews via media platforms where questions are uploaded and the candidate records videos of them answering these questions allowing you to review and screen at your convenience
- Let them deal with email correspondence over that period. You can screen using email questions and you can see their level of grammar and whether they are able to write formally and communicate professionally. You can teach people the skills, but you can’t change their attitude and if they are dealing with clients, it is important to measure their personality.
Pro’s: using tools and combination of virtual and physical meetings is the best way to get to know the person.
Con’s: platforms can make it hard for people relying on their 6th sense to gauge the candidate.
Search for Xenian Erin Louw via the community.
Platform: www.wamly.io
Forthwith the onboarding
The first two days of someone joining your business sets the tone for the rest of their tenure. Inductions are that grudge purchase than helps people to ‘find their way’ around your business and team. Give them all the documentation that they need and record your sessions.
Lastly, always remember to make enough time to invest and teach your team – you must teach them to better perform in your business.
What if I teach them and they leave? What if you don’t, and they stay?
