Hiring Tips for Small Business Owners

One of the biggest challenges small business owners face is recruiting, hiring and keeping amazing team members.  To make the leap from being a self-employed solopreneur to growing and scaling a business, involves hiring people.  Over my past 20 years in small business, I have hired a lot of people.  In the early days there were many things I should have and could have done better.  I made some massive mistakes and from those mistakes learned a lot of lessons. 

This week’s blog is to share some quick lessons I learned about recruiting and building a winning team.

Enjoy!

  • Always be searching for new team members, even when you don’t need them. You never know when your company may have the need for a new team member. Maybe you experience a fast uptick in revenue and need more team members to service it. Maybe a team member leaves your company unexpectedly. Having a steady pipeline of people that are interested in working for your company is key. Always be recruiting.
  • There is a difference between hiring and recruiting. I would recommend recruiting. Recruiting is the active seeking out of a potentially amazing team member vs hiring is just trying to put a but in a seat. Many times, you may run into somebody who is not necessarily looking for a future with you and your company. Always being on the lookout for people that catch your attention with their amazing attitude, service, and focus on you and your needs, can end up in a conversation about future employment together. Think of a sports team, they don’t just take any old person that walks in the door and wants to play for the team. They go out, recruit and hunt them down.
  • There is a difference between employees and team members. I hate the word employee. This means I am the employer, I am the boss, you work for me, you are a cog in my wheel. Sit down, shut up, do your job, and I pay you. If you stop doing that, I fire you. Employees are looking for a boss that will hire them, tell them what to do, and pay them. Nothing more, nothing less. For me, just the language of employer and employee creates a divide, a negative energy, and a lack of initiative to work together as a team. I constantly run into people who hate their “boss” and “employer”. However, I also run into people that love the team, leader and family they work with. When I focused on building a team of amazing team members that were all working towards a common vision and purpose, this is when things changed for me. When I focused on leading my team members towards being the best version of themselves, this is when things changed for me.
  • I am not big on resumes. Nobody is going to send you a bad resume. Dig past somebodies resume, get to know them. Ask them what their dreams, visions, goals and aspirations are for themselves, their future and their family.
  • You have a great responsibility as the leader and owner of your company to provide for the team member you hire. Take this responsibility seriously. Not only do you have the responsibility to put food on their table, you also have the responsibility to grow them, lead them, develop them and help them become the best versions of themselves possible.
  • Don’t be concerned with teaching a team member too much with fear they will leave your company and possibly become your competitor. This is fear and scarcity-based thinking. The reality is that this will happen, and I have had it happen. If and when it does, your company will survive. It makes zero sense to hold back team members or keep them from reaching their full potential while they are with you based on this fear.
  • Get to know your team members outside of the business environment. Get to know their families, their hobbies, important dates and events in their life. Be more than their “boss”, be their leader, be their mentor and care for them.
  • Hire slow, fire fast. Many times, we as business leaders do the opposite. Take time to being a new team member on the team. Don’t hire them after one interview. Being proactive with your recruiting process and keeping your pipe filled will allow you to make slower decisions. Meet with your candidate in different situations and scenarios. One on one, group, have them meet others within your team. Take them to a meal and see how they behave and treat the wait staff. This will tell you a lot.
  • Before you hire a new team member, consider giving them a working trial. It’s one thing for somebody to tell you how things will go when they work for you. It’s another to actually see how they go. I think it is more than fair you to give a potential team member the time and space to make sure they are a good fit. It is also reciprocally important that they have the opportunity to see if you and your company are a good fit.
  • Before hiring a new team member, meet their spouse. Ask their spouse if they have questions or concerns. Your new team member may be super excited about their position with you, but their spouse will not. We started implementing this into our recruiting process years ago, and it has been very successful and has been very appreciated by the people we hire and their spouse.
  • Trust your gut. Things may seem great on paper with a potential hire, but your gut may be telling you otherwise. Trust this. Anytime I have gone against my gut, it has always comeback to get me.
  • You will attract the caliber of team members you and your leadership deserve. In my early days of business, I was still new to the leadership thing. I ran my business with many flaws and had a lot to learn, specifically about how to treat people. I was always wondering why I could never attract an A player. It was because I was not yet an A player. Focus on your own growth, leadership and positive advancement, and you will attract others that appreciate it and desire to work with you.
  • Hire for attitude, train for skill set. I remember hiring a team member who was very skilled at the job role he was to be performing. However, he had a bad attitude, mistreated our customers, lied about it and he was ultimately fired. To be honest, he was so good at his duties, it made the fact he was a jerk a little easier to ignore, until things blow up. Somebody with an amazing attitude that fits your culture and your team dynamic will be easier to train for the skill set needed. This will take time, but will ultimately be better for you and your company.
  • When you hire a team member, give them all you got. Invest in them greatly, care for them deeply, and lead them with excellence.

I hope this blog gave you some good insight into some of the lessons I have learned over the years.

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