Hiring and induction of employees for your small business: what is possible and what is not possible when attracting valuable specialists (part 1)

Remember those times when you were sure that you would never get enough profit to call your idea - your passion - a real business? And now it is today, and you are loaded with tasks, instructions and customer requests. You have to give up paying customers due to busy schedules, and you may even have begun to receive complaints.

You must have reached the point where you need someone to help you control all the little things. Or perhaps it’s time to come face to face with the fact that your ability to experiment with WordPress is not enough if you want to raise your business to a higher level.

Regardless of your situation, every entrepreneur hopes to get to the point in business when it comes time to ask yourself the question “Is it time to hire someone?”.
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At first, this is normal - constantly rejecting this idea, convincing ourselves that only we can do everything “right” in our business. Letting go means giving up control and taking a huge risk of entrusting part of your work to someone.

In simple words - it makes sense to hire consciously, as this is an important matter.

All these factors turned out to be fair when the guys from Fizzle ™ decided to hire someone who could lead a Member Success. Corbett, Chase and Barrett were a team of three people with a certain brand and company culture, and frankly, it worked.

Taking the fourth team member to me meant putting the dynamics at risk, but it also meant being able to transfer some tasks and free up time for more strategic projects. Among other things, it made it possible to find a new edge and raise the Fizzle to a new level.

Hiring a person should not be a matter of chance. Proper recruitment is bringing in the most valuable specialist and drawing up a well-organized recruitment plan with honest conversations throughout the journey.

Therefore, without further ado, we are telling you what can and can not be done when recruiting and hiring a valuable specialist from the point of view of a member who has just been appointed to the position, who has personally completed this process.

What can be done:

Decide what will remain in your responsibilities, and what should be discarded

Ask yourself what tasks and projects you should conduct yourself in any case, and delegate the rest. Then repeat this process at least once more to determine exactly what you can let go of.

Do you really need to respond to this email? Maybe someone else is better suited to messing with plugins and creating the site of your dreams? Remember that your main job in your business is to stand at the helm, which means that you need to allocate more time for strategic tasks of a higher level and for guiding the process (without sacrificing your psyche).

Turn everything you do into an iterative process and write it down

Once you have identified the tasks that you can let go, it's time to start organizing everything. Creating an understandable process reduces anxiety from letting it go, because your workflow turns out of "the things that I do, because I know how" into "step-by-step instructions that everyone can do."

In my first week at Fizzle, I received a library of educational videos that Barrett collected using Screenflow. After he decided what tasks he could pass on to me, he simply wrote down how he himself performs each stage in various projects. In particular, as a remote member of the team, for me it was very valuable, since I could study at my own pace, view and re-enter as many times as I need, while not wasting Barrett’s time.

Collect sources of your inspiration, and make a list of your ideas if you hire a person for a design job, such as design.

It is never too early to focus on how you envision the end product. In fact, the more accurately and earlier you describe your project, the better you will be able to transfer your requirements to your employees or contractors.

You can also create a “Bank of people” by keeping a list of possible candidates for future projects, so as not to start from scratch when you are ready to hire employees.

Treat your job offers as brand-name content that reflects your company spirit.

Imagine that you are opening a high-class restaurant on the most crowded street in the city. Do buyers in your city have a lot of options, so what will you do to somehow stand out? If you hang the banner “Feed here” - it will attract attention only to a very hungry passerby, but it is unlikely that the capricious gourmet would at least think about stopping and give you a chance.

If you want to attract the best people, you must show your best. Take time to create a job posting that makes an experienced candidate with high potential want to drop everything and go to your place of work. That's how I felt when I saw this ad from Fizzle, full of feelings and emotions.

Treat your job offer as branded content. It will help attract the right candidates.

Highlight the four required qualities that a candidate should possess.

Four may seem too naughty, but if there are fewer of them, you will not be able to judge fairly objectively; add one more, and you risk making concessions if the candidate meets most of the criteria.

At a time when I was a personnel manager, such qualities as vigor, enthusiasm, compliance with corporate culture and competence were selected. We worked out questions that allowed us to evaluate each candidate in each area. Only those candidates who received four “yes” passed on. No “maybe”, no exceptions.

If you focus on features that are not negotiable, it increases your chances of remaining objective. Interviewing candidates and introducing someone to your team is often a personal, if not even sentimental, process, so use this strategy to get rid of emotions.

Look for effective answers (and be adamant about it)

Sometimes the difference between the average candidate and the next superstar of your team is hidden in the nuances of answers to seemingly simple questions, such as “What achievement are you most proud of?”.

So listen carefully and you can understand the difference between those who simply list their responsibilities and those who link their victories with their results.

A candidate with a bias in the results will show an increased ability to see how his efforts influenced the process, and this will be the person you want to hire even when you have a lot to do inside your business.

Demonstrate leadership and share your values.

Talented players want to know what they will experience, listen, encourage and believe in them. Note that you are not an ideal organization, and that there is still a lot to be optimized in your business.

A valuable specialist will not want to climb a perfectly-tuned ship; in fact, the most ambitious workers in the world are more likely to feel inspired by the opportunity to steer.

This is one of the most vivid memories that I have left after the interview with the Fizzle team. Every contact with Corbett, Chase and Barrett was sincere. They were not shy about the growth and development opportunities of the company, and I felt that what they gave me to look behind the scenes was something of a confidence announcement that I would experience as a member of the team.

Show your culture and endorse the usual human qualities, instead of the mandatory rigidity that accompanies traditional corporate processes.

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