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4 tips to hire key employees in a small business

Written by: Gourab Nanda

Article Overview: Are you looking for talented, trustworthy people who can actually drive the growth of your organization? You have the vision; you also know precisely how to realize that vision; but do you have the right team with you to help you achieve your business goals? Read on to get some hiring tips that will help you build a strong team that is self-motivated and loves to work and grow with your company.

4 tips to hire key employees in a small business

You have the vision; you also know precisely how to realize that vision; but do you have the right team with you to help you achieve your business goals? Are you looking for talented, trustworthy people who can actually drive the growth of your organization? Read on to get some hiring tips that will help you build a strong team that is self-motivated and loves to work and grow with your company.

1. Pitch preparation: build a strong hiring pitch for your company

Usually small businesses don’t have much to offer in terms of fancy infrastructure and perks, but these are not the only factors that motivate talented people. You must sell your company’s positive points, in the same way you sell to your customers. If you feel that a person has the capability to work for your company, then try your best to share your vision and growth plans. The candidate should get excited about the new learning opportunities, leadership role, and freedom to work independently in your firm. There is no dearth of offers for a good candidate, so his or her decision would rely on your confidence and convincing powers.

2. Networking: leverage your existing network and build it continuously

Networking is critical for sustained business growth. It’s all about building win-win relationships and making strong connections. Identify people in your current network and see if there are any who meet your requirements, and if possible try to convince by getting them as excited about your business plan as you are. If you do not have a wide network then start building one with the help of online business networking sites, trade shows, and industry events. Growing your network will help you in making lasting business partnerships, increasing your company’s brand awareness among the right people, getting more clients and referrals, and most importantly, hiring better employees.

Some good small business networking sites are www.ryze.com, www.LinkedIn.com (Recommended) , www.konnects.com, and www.gobignetwork.com. You may also visit: www.BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com to get some tips on how to grow your business network.

3. Candidate evaluation: look for flexible candidates who can lead

In a start-up, you would require candidates who are willing to take-up multiple tasks or manage different roles with minimum assistance. People who have good research skills and can learn quickly are best-fit. Select people who like to work independently without much handholding. The person should enjoy working in a small but growing set-up.

Analyze your best people to understand what are the traits that they have, and while interviewing see if the new person has those too. If the team gets along well, the productivity would be much higher. For executives, it is very important that they have similar vision as that of the founder. Candidates with really good strengths for the job but a different vision will soon fall-out.

Do not hire your own clones. Understand the areas where you or your other team members lack and find a candidate with skills that complement those areas. The new person coming in should have something of value to offer to your team too – be it work-related or otherwise.

4. Offer and contract: signing a long-term agreement

Remember that A-class founders only recruit A-class executives. If the candidate doesn’t fit the bill – DO NOT HIRE. In a start-up when you have only a handful of employees, you need to pick the initial team carefully; any fault can have a direct impact on growth. Make sure that you sign a long term contract with key people, especially if you run an Intellectual Property based business. The compensation should be competitive to keep the person in, and you can make it clear that there would be a lot of opportunities as the company grows.

If you build a team that is powerful and self-sustaining you can slowly give-up control over various activities and let your people handle tasks independently, while you can focus on expanding your business.

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Article Tags: brand awareness, business goals, business growth, business networking sites, business partnerships, business plan, capability, confidence, current network, dearth, existing network, infrastructure, leadership role, leverage, pitch preparation, referrals, small business, small businesses, trade shows, trustworthy people



Related Forum Posts
Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - As a small business owner, should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals? My friend's father is a relatively successful entrepreneur and it's his belief that you should primarily hire employees with no ambition because you can get away with paying them less and they're less likely to leave (thus saving you money from a high turnover rate). "Grunts" are the way to go, even though ambitious workers are typically smarter. What do you think?
Re: Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - Hiring employees in a small business is more a matter of personal fit than an absolute standard. If the business owner is a hands-on, controlling character, hiring people who follow orders precisely may be the way to go, but if the owner is a freely delegating, open to new ideas kind of person, ambitious employees will suit better. Personally, I've always hired the latter. In any situation, I wanted to be able to grow my employees and the entire system, so that I can grow myself. Having employees who require continual supervision means my capacity to manage them will be maxed out at some stage and development will stop. I guess someone who sees himself as a business owner may hire people who can carry out a specific function and no more, while an entrepreneur will hire people who can "grab the ball and run with it", so that he can move on to the next initiative, while the current business ambitiously runs itself. What a great discussion!
Re: Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":2ijq3b5e]As a small business owner, should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals? My friend's father is a relatively successful entrepreneur and it's his belief that you should primarily hire employees with no ambition because you can get away with paying them less and they're less likely to leave (thus saving you money from a high turnover rate). "Grunts" are the way to go, even though ambitious workers are typically smarter. What do you think?[/quote:2ijq3b5e] I say YES to hirin employees with no Goals!!! they make great "front-line" employees as long as you have carefully documented your process for them to follow. They typically are open to perform routine administrative tasks and they work for a much lower wage. I know what I've said is pretty gloomy but it's reality from my experience. Occasionally one of the "employees with no goals" will stand up and say, "I love working here". You pluck these individuals and promote them to tasks which require more decisions.
A regular employee or a contracted employee? - Thank you Louis, Also in Japan, an employee is an employee. In my opinion, contracted employees don’t receive enough training. And they are often engaged in routine chores. Which factors should we choose about hiring regular or contracted employees? I choose contracted employees if I hire someone engaged in routine chores. On the other hand, I choose regular employees if I hire someone engaged in important duties. One of the most important factors especially for an entrepreneur is wages, too. What do you think?
What holds people back? - I'm reading an interesting book that focuses on helping already up and running business owners take their companies to the next level. One of the ideas behind the book is that the people you hire is who hold you back. You can only do so much yourself so you have to delegate. Most people are fine doing this - but they hire people at entry level positions. The challenge comes when those entry level employees can't help you grow to the next level - you need to hire people who are more senior and can take on full projects instead of simple tasks. It's something I have been thinking about for my business as well - how to delegate out entire projects instead of tasks. I would love to hear your thoughts / experiences on this!


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