Five Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make In Hiring Employees Article

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Five Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make in Hiring Employees

The key to a successful business is employing the right people for the right position. However, the hiring process is often deceiving, leaving you with results that are costly and timely. Find out these five common mistakes small business s owners make...

Author: Sue Miley

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As a small business owner we start out wearing many hats. We are usually responsible for many functions in the business that we may or may not have experience in. Usually business coaches and well intended friends will tell us to hire people in the areas that we do not have personal expertise. Even if we can afford to do this in the beginning, what do we do if “hiring” is one of the areas that we lack expertise? “How can I hire a great person to do my hiring if I do not know how to recruit and hire?”

Although avoiding these hiring mistakes may not transform you into a master recruiter it may help you avoid some initial pain and get you started on the right track. Here are the five (5) most common mistakes small business’ owners make in hiring employees:

1. Waiting until they desperately need the employee.
Honestly, this mistake is probably the most common and the most damaging of all hiring mistakes. When we have a hole and we are panicked that the work will not get done we end up hiring what is traditionally known as “the warm body”. We think either “This isn’t rocket science. Anyone can learn it.” or “this will help us get by until I can find the right person”. Wrong! It never works that way. If the person is not qualified or does not fit with your culture, it is usually apparent immediately. Now, you are still not getting the work done AND you are dealing with the new “problem employ”. Now you have to add the anxiety of firing someone that you shouldn’t have hired to begin with and filling the hole that you so desperately needed to begin with. Things are now worse.

The antidote to this situation is threefold:

a. Look ahead and plan for your staffing needs in advance of needing the positions. i.e. in 6 months sales should reach $XX, how many warehouse people will I need to fulfill orders.

b. Consistently evaluate your employees in order to determine how well they are meeting the needs of their position and how well the company is meeting their needs. Yes, you need to be able to assess whether your employee is happy in their job or not. You could end up with a surprise hole. Staying close to the pulse of your employs will provide you warning signs.

c. Always be on the lookout for good employees. Recruiting is an everyday activity. You may not have a need for a person or a position at the current time; however, if you're always looking for good people, then when the need arises, you will have a better idea of where to find them.

2. Hiring someone that we ourselves would not want to spend eight hours a day working with.
This mistake has a bigger impact on small businesses than a larger organization. This is logical because there are fewer employees within a smaller organization. If you only work with a few people it is important that they have the temperament that works well in a team and that they match the culture of the organization. If you hire someone for the accounting office that drives you crazy in the short interview, expect the same thing to happen with your current employees. Don't do this to them!

As unpleasant as this mistake can be for everyone involved at least this mistake is easy to prevent.

During the interview process ask yourself if you would be productive working side by side with this person all day long. If the answer requires a lot of explanation or considerations, go with “No”. It is hard enough to build a team, but I have learned over time you cannot MAKE your employees like one another. And trust me you do not want to deal with the complaints of your employees or the loss of production of a department because of personality conflicts.

3. Not checking references.
This hardly ever occurs in larger organizations, however, because of mistake #1 or just not taking the reference process seriously, many small business owners skip this step. Once they have a problem then they begin to investigate. Lo and behold, it turns out that Suzie was chronically late to her last 3 jobs. Additionally, even though people know that the information on their resume or application can be verified, they still misrepresent the facts. If they will lie on their resume, then you do not want to find out what other bad habits they may have.

In order to effectively check references you need to have them fill out an actual employment application. They sell a standard format at Office Depot in packs. When the employee signs the application they are agreeing that you have the right to contact their prior employers. A resume only allows for you to check the references the candidate provides.

4. Hiring friends or family.
I realize that some businesses are family businesses and more than one family member is involved in the business. These can be challenging, however, hopefully all family members or friends are going into the business with their eyes wide open. The situation I am talking about is when we have an open position that we desperately need to fill and we ask a friend to do it temporarily or hire a family member to fill in. Again we think that the job is relatively simple, my niece could do it easily and be able to earn some extra money in the meantime. Somehow our buddy Joe or our Aunt Sally always think that you won’t mind if they call in sick today or if they go to cousin Nancy’s talent show instead of work. “This isn’t like a real job. I am just helping Joe out. He won’t mind.” Or it turns out Bob has a bad back and he can’t really lift the boxes onto the truck. Would it be okay if he just did the paperwork?

You may be saying to yourself these Bozos were not specific enough when they hired the person. You will be different and fully explain the expectations and the agreement. Somehow when the one thing you don’t cover comes up or your sister-in-law doesn’t remember the details exactly how you do, you have a mess on your hands. Seriously, the problems that can occur outweigh the benefits you may think you have by hiring someone you can “trust” or who loves you and has your “best interest” at heart. I hate this mistake….but I have seen it over and over and over.

5. Not recognizing red flags in their resume or work history.
This is difficult if you have not hired very many people. This is one that takes experience to excel; however, here are a few common red flags:

a. Significant job hopping – never stayed at one job more than a year or two.
b. Gaps in the dates of employment – indicating significant times of unemployment.
c. No progression of responsibility – depending on the job, it is important that a candidate has been able to increase their level of responsibility over time.
d. No indication of how well they did their job – look for statistics, added responsibility, achievement of goals, etc.

Some of this information can be explained in an interview and the candidate may have acceptable explanations, however, it is important to recognize red flags in order to narrow your list of candidates and to ensure that you inquire about the issue if you do decide to interview them anyway.

These are just five (5) of the most common hiring mistakes I see regularly when coaching small business owners. If this is an area that you have had past difficulty, try some of these suggestion, or call and let CrossRoads Professional Coaching help you to become an expert in staffing and recruiting for your business.

About Author

Sue J. Miley is a Life Coach and a Licensed Professional Counselor with twenty years of experience with starting businesses and divisions with an entrepreneurial approach. . If you enjoyed this article and are interested in more articles by this author and other free resources please visit our website www.crossroadcoach.com.

Counseling & Coaching Available: Call Sue J. Miley @ 225-252-2202.

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Five Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make in Hiring Employees