Does Your Staff Make Your Business Look Good?
July 28, 2010
By Kristy-Lee Johnston, Footprint Recruitment
Many of us have found ourselves in situations where we have had staff in our teams who, despite how much we like them as people, probably don’t make our business look good. You know who they are; they are the ones that you wouldn’t take to a Trade Show to promote the business, and in fact, you probably would rather they didn’t tell the world that they were associated with the company.
Why? Well, probably at the heart of it they don’t reflect the true brand and essence of your business. If they are still in your business, it’s probably because you have resigned yourself to the fact that they may not be in a customer facing role, and given that they process data all day, maybe it doesn’t really matter.
But does it?
Yes! And here’s why:
Every day your employees come into contact with people, and inevitably, their job, workplace and career come up in many conversations.
At a BBQ with friends on the weekend they might be asked about their job; when meeting with their mortgage broker they could be asked about their career path; and refereeing their kids soccer match they might be asked about the products they sell.
Now, think about the answers these staff may give. Perhaps they will seem uninterested, unknowledgeable and even worse, negative.
If they do not have a positive attitude towards work and are not engaged towards achieving organisational goals, they will be negative in response to these questions prompting a negative business image.
In effect (in perhaps a passive way), these staff are ruining your business brand and ultimately your reputation. We all know in customer service terms that we tell people a bad experience much more willingly than a good one, so why would this scenario be any different? You never know; it could be your biggest potential customer they are talking to.
So what should you do? When you hire staff, ask yourself these questions:
1. Does this person make our business look good?
2. Would I be ‘proud’ to introduce them to anyone as part of our team?
3. Do they represent our core brand and message?
If you can confidently say yes to all of these questions and they have met all of your other hiring criteria, you are most likely on the right track to hiring people who are good for your business and reflect positively on your organisation.
MORE GREAT POSTS BY KRISTY-LEE JOHNSTON:
- Pay Peanuts – Get Monkeys?
- Past Behaviour Predicts Future Behaviour – The Importance of Reference Checking
- A Failed Recruit – What Does It Cost Your Business?
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Kristy-Lee Johnston - Footprint Recruitment
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| Phone: | 02 4367 5500 |
| Email: | kristy@footprintrecruitment.com.au |
| Website: | www.footprintrecruitment.com.au |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/footprintcc |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/footprintrecruitment |
| LinkedIn: | au.linkedin.com/in/kristyleejohnston |
| Member Profile: | See Kristy’s Member Profile |
Get Positive: 5 Ways to Spring Clean Your Thinking
July 26, 2010
By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit
It’s a new financial year. The first buds of spring are with us, so I’m ready to wake from winter’s coma and leap into the warm, new season. And what better way to start than to re-evaluate my thinking, to sweep away the cobwebs of old habits and embrace a more positive outlook.
Not that I want to see the world through unrealistic rose-coloured glasses, it’s just that I know positive people are healthier, more confident, live longer and get more done.
So here’s my five-step plan to boost the ole’ attitude….
"I Want Love" by Pakorn Rattanasuteeranon
Say “No” to Bad News
I feel duped. Somewhere along the line, someone decided knowing about all the crime, death and disaster in the world makes us “well-informed”. Well, I’ve got news for you — the media feeds us gruesome stories because they sell. That’s right, news is a business. Gore is strangely tantalising, and the more we tune in, the more money the media can charge advertisers. So tune out; say “no” to bad news and fill your mind with uplifting stuff instead.
Get It In Perspective
It’s easy to dwell on worries and mistakes, so much so that we blow them out of proportion. Get things in perspective by asking yourself a series of questions:
- Will it matter next week?
- Will it matter next year?
- Will it matter in 20 years?
- Will it matter at the end of my life?
Your answers will help you see the problem as it really is and deal with it effectively.
Superwoman is a Fictional Character
She’s has 2.1 children, yet, looks hot in a bikini. Her career has shattered the glass ceiling, and the house is spotless. She can wear white (even when the kids are teething) and she’s eating spaghetti.
Meet superwoman. Don’t you want to be like her? Don’t you secretly hate her?
Thank goodness she only exists in comics strips, movies and advertisements. That’s right, she’s a fictional character!
So stop putting pressure on yourself, and tell that critical inner voice to shut-up. Remember that you have value … simply because you exist. And nothing you can do or say can change the truth that you are special.
Yes, people are imperfect and make mistakes. But it’s through these things that we grow and experience fully what it means to be human.
Perk Yourself Up
Is life getting you down? Here are a few practical ideas to cheer you up:
- Write a list of everything you love, from the way the dog waggles its tail when you walk through the door to how beach sands feels under your feet.
- Hang out with positive people — it’s contagious.
- Question your thinking. What are the alternatives to the way you’re seeing or responding to an issue?
- Smile at or compliment people as much as possible today. The joy of giving will surprise you.
- Talk to a counsellor if past experiences are troubling you. Sometimes, the act of telling your life story out loud is enough for healing.
Down is Not a Dirty Word
Finally, it’s okay to feel down sometimes. As King Solomon said (and The Byrds paraphrased), “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”. The fact is that you simply would not be a flesh-and-blood person if you didn’t experience the full gamut of human emotions.
The point is not what you feel, but how you deal with it. Remember that you have a choice. If the so-called “negative” emotions are lingering far too long, develop a plan, talk to someone you trust or see a doctor.
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY NERIDA GILL
- Feed Your Business: 4 Delicious Lessons from Tuscan Food
- Work Smarter, Not Harder: How to Achieve Balance
- 4 Tips for Better Email
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Nerida Gill - Admin BanditNerida Gill is the creator of Admin Bandit, a web-based accounting package designed specifically to make keeping the books easy for volunteer treasurers in community groups. After winning numerous business awards, Admin Bandit is in a growth phase after recently attracting external investment.
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Paid Parental Leave – Article: Maybe Baby: Juggling Home, Work and Family Life.
July 23, 2010
By Amy Lyden
Having had my first child at nearly 40, after a rather full business life, I agree with Maureen Frank’s position in this article Maybe Baby: Juggling Home, Work and Family Life.
I have found that it’s important to plan, especially around income and child care issues. And, there are things you just can’t and won’t know until your baby is born.
I sold my business when my son was 8 months old. After working hard for many years, I thought I would perhaps be a full-time mum, at least for awhile.
I realised after a year or so that I missed working, and that I get a lot of satisfaction from it. I am a better mother when I am fulfilled in that way. But everyone is different. And it is hard to have everything mapped out before you give birth. Things change. Everything changes really. So try to be open to these changes that you may not even know about now. And enjoy the ride.
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY AMY LYDEN
- Tony Abbott vs Craig Emerson – Live from COSBOA’s National Small Business Summit, 8 July
- Paid Parental Leave Scheme Gets the Go-Ahead
- The Beige Budget – The good and bad news from this week’s lacklustre Budget
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Amy Lyden - Advocacy Advisor – Australian Businesswomen’s NetworkAn entrepreneur and specialist in ecommerce and online strategy, Amy has had over 13 years of practical experience in these areas. Launching her first website in 1998 Amy was at the forefront of an online revolution without even realizing it. Within a year this site became and remains today a #1 ranking site and global community of pet lovers that attracts over 4 million visitors a year. This Australia-based business, Bow Wow Meow, now sells product online to over 100 countries worldwide. Amy sold this business in 2007 and turned her energy to the nonprofit sector. Amy is currently the CEO of Australian Scholarships Foundation, an organisation that facilitates scholarships for education and training for people who work in the nonprofit sector. Amy is the recipient of numerous business awards including the 2006 NSW Telstra Business Women’s Awards for Innovation, the 2002 National Telstra Business Award and the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World Grant. Amy is an Ambassador and former Chairperson for the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, an organisation that supports female entrepreneurs. Amy was also invited to serve on the Commonwealth Small Business Council, an initiative by the Federal minister for Small Business. Amy has been profiled in the following books: “Women’s Business, Women’s Wealth” by Amanda Ellis, “Female Entrepreneurs”, by Leiza Clark and “Secrets of Female Entrepreneurs Exposed!”, by Dale Beaumont. Amy is passionate about using technology to connect people globally for positive change.
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What Every Business Plan Should Have (But Most are Missing)
July 23, 2010
By Cat Matson, Alito
I am often asked why business owners have a business plan. Why spend time planning rather than ‘just getting on with the business?’ My answer is simple …
“So you know where you’re going, and you know how you’re going to get there.”
But I’m also a big one for creating a plan that works for you. The planning process I swear by may not suit your personality type or your business context. So rather than get ‘caught-up’ in the right ‘format’ of a business plan, today I want to outline the key elements of the business plan.
1. The Business Model – how do we actually make money?
Obvious? Maybe, but I so often see business owners struggling to make money, simply because they never clarified how they are going to make it. They focus on ‘doing their thing’, but forget that somewhere along the line they need to get paid.
The business model conversation is bigger than just ‘selling x-product or y-service’. The business model is how you reach your market, convince them you’re worth talking to and ultimately why they should buy your wares. It’s about exchange – what do you receive in exchange for what you give? This is also bigger than the ‘marketing function’ of the business, which is where most people put their focus. This business-model conversation is actually about brand, strategy & operations combined in a synergistic, leveraged flow. It is the exploring, designing & building the business model that helps you discover the viability of your business.
2. Realistic Action Plans – what are we going to do in the immediate future to get closer to our targets?
3. A context-check, or what I call ‘life-sandbox’, is extremely important for solo & micro business owners, but is often missed.
This life-sandbox is the reality of your life into which your business fits & exists. Most planning processes address the business in isolation to the owners’ lives, so we set lofty goals that are incongruent with our life-reality.
4. Finally, a visible, meaningful scoreboard.
It would be incredibly boring to watch a game of football if you didn’t know the score, yet business owners do this all the time. Many business owners only look to the financial scorecard. That’s not always enough. Your business plan needs to drive the scoreboard, which in turn drives performance.
In terms of format, I’ve been using different ‘one-page-plan’ formats for years and am a big advocate for keeping things simple. However, there are times when a more traditional format is valuable. It’s your call. Just make sure you have some kind of plan in place and that the essential ‘inclusions’ are covered. A business plan that doesn’t address the essentials is a waste of time.
MORE GREAT POSTS BY CAT MATSON
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Cat Matson - Alito
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| Phone: | 07 3289 7055 |
| Email: | cat@alito.com.au |
| Website: | www.alito.com.au |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/catmatson |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/AlitoFusion |
| LinkedIn: | www.linkedin.com/in/CatMatson |
| Blog: | www.alito.com.au/blog |
| Member Profile: | See Cat’s Member Profile |
Time Billing vs Value Billing
July 22, 2010
By Alycia Edgar, Coastal Accounting Services
As service professionals, most of us are tracking our time, whether that is for the purpose of charging clients per billable hour or measuring our time spent on projects for which a client is paying. How can we satisfy our need to track our time for “billable” purposes with the requirement to satisfy the needs of our clients?
The need to track our time so we are charging accordingly is an obvious one, but it can backfire in the eyes of our clients. Take accounting firms as a prime example. The majority of them track their time in 6 minute increments and bill clients accordingly (as most lawyers do), and this is where the problem can occur. Clients become reluctant to call their accountant or lawyer as they know that the “clock” starts as soon as they say hello. I’m not saying professionals shouldn’t charge for their time, they most definitely should (otherwise I wouldn’t be making a living at all). But when that charging impedes you from delivering your best service to your clients, surely something has to change.
From this dilemma, new models have developed where clients are given a yearly proposal fee that is paid monthly, a little like a retainer type agreement, which clearly sets out the scope of tasks that are to be included within that fee and can include unlimited phone calls and emails. Unlimited, I can hear you all in shock now. How on earth would you handle that. Surely some will abuse that? Yes, the minority probably will, but the majority will probably not use it much at all. The perception that they can call or email you at anytime knowing that you will answer them and it’s within their existing fee is comforting to a client. They feel supported all the time just knowing they can do that. They are not likely to make their own “uninformed” decisions for fear of incurring more fees.
Rather than thinking about billing your time to clients, how about billing value?
Does this mean you stop tracking time? No, as you need to be able to measure the time you are spending against the budget (ie the proposal fee you set) to make sure that that figure was indeed on the mark. From this, you can determine what the true hourly rate for that client was at the end of each year. Then, adjust accordingly for next year’s proposal and/or improve your own systems and those of your clients to make sure the tasks are not taking as long.
Rather than thinking about billing your time to clients, how about billing value? The hard part lays in determining how that value is expressed in $ terms. Start at a base, tweak it and just give it a go. You’d be surprised the change that will occur in the relationship with your clients. Is this hard to introduce with existing pay by the hour clients? Yes, but you can choose a transition time and phase it in gradually. Whereas, all new clients now start with your business under the Value Billing system.
Do you have a Value Billing System? Would you implement one?
MORE GREAT POSTS BY ALYCIA EDGAR
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Alycia Edgar - Coastal Accounting Services
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| Phone: | 0403 983 529 |
| Email: | alycia@coastalaccounting.com.au |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/alyciaedgar |
| Blog: | www.numbersarelife.com |
| Member Profile: | See Alycia’s Member Profile |
Keep the Passion And Stay Strong On Price: Reflections from NSBS 2010
July 21, 2010
By Anne Sorensen, Marketing Is Us
Small business owners tend to be passionate. With our businesses forming such a significant part of our lives, it wasn’t surprising that passion was a recurring theme at July’s National Small Business Summit held in Brisbane.
Opened by the passionate Minister of Small Business, The Hon Dr. Craig Emerson, MP, the Summit was a jammed packed day and evening of learning, inspiration and networking.
In addition to the pollies (the Hon Leader of the Opposition presented an energetic address which aimed to be ‘non political, non partisan!’), the morning commenced with a conversation with Australia’s top public servants about the regulations that affect small business. Included on the panel was ASIC Chairman, Tony D’Aloisio and the Australian Tax Commissioner, Michael D’Ascenzo. This was the second time I’d heard Michael speak, and he continues to strike me as a very marketing oriented Commissioner with his focus upon putting the “taxpayers and the community at the heart of the ATO’s thinking. “
Ben White, Director of Optus Strategy and Corporate Development, highlighted the real value of the national broadband network. However, for me the morning’s highlight was the Kochie’s Business Builders’ (KBB) Panel Session ‘Red Hot Sales, Marketing and Social Media Strategies‘. Passion abounded.
Some of the great insights from the panelists included those from Dell’s US social media executive, Richard Binhammer, who said, “Share the passion for your business and connect. The reddest, hottest thing about social media is that in fact it allows you to connect more strongly, in a real way.”
Richard encouraged businesses to share the good news stories.
Telstra Business Award winning entrepreneur Valerie Khoo, founder of the Sydney Writers’ Centre, is passionate about leveraging technology to build business. She urged businesses to collect contact information via their websites, then communicate with customers in the way promised. Valerie also encouraged businesses to consider social media (particularly blogs and Facebook) to engage with customers. She advised businesses to not be deterred by the time required for this medium. “You’re in total control of how much time you spend,” Valerie lectured.
The afternoon featured some streamed workshops.
In the ‘Small is Beautiful‘ session, Robert Gerrish, founder of Flying Solo – Australia’s micro business community with more than 25,000 members, discussed the findings of ‘Understanding Micro Business’, a comprehensive survey of over 1,300 business owners and stated, “The more we work the happier we are.”
In the same session, small business consultant and KBB marketing guru, Linda Hailey reminded, “Passion is what makes you beautiful.”
The ‘Truly Tech Savvy’ was one of the most popular sessions, highlighting the increased consciousness amongst business owners of the opportunities created by technology.
The workshop ‘Cash is Still King’ explored cash flow management techniques small businesses can use to drive revenue and improve debtor management. Angela McDonald, Director of Optimum Recoveries, spoke about the value of obtaining credit checks for clients and your own business, whilst Chartered Accountant, Susan Milicevic of Aspire Consulting, emphasized the importance of having a cash flow plan.
The program’s other significant recurring theme was price.
Julia Bickerstaff, Owner of The Business Bakery and a KBB finance expert, urged businesses to price strongly and confidently. “You can’t win by being cheap,” she said. “Talk price early, and talk price often. Position away from price; be different, special, unique. Make yourself different.”
Linda Hailey agreed, “Think positive. Don’t chase the volume, chase the value. Don’t discount – value add.”
Michael Derin, Managing Director of Azure Group, summed up, “Small business is about the customer. Surround yourself with clients who appreciate and will pay you for what you do. Value yourself as a small business owner.”
According to Mike O’Hagen, Founder and Owner of Mini Movers – a company with more than 500 employees and $30 million annual turnover, the outlook for small business looks good. “In 30 years of business, there have never been so many opportunities,” commented Mike.
The Summit concluded with a dinner that featured several inspirational small business success stories. My favourites included Leanne Faulkner, Founder of Billie Goat Soap – a business that after only running five years has been named as Supplier of the Year to Myer. A beautifully produced and packaged product – you can feel the passion in its making.
Also inspiring was John Sharpe, Managing Director of Riverlife – an innovative company based in Brisbane, who was dedicated to providing “dynamic, fun and heart pumping adventure experiences” that embrace Brisbane’s culture and history.
Roseanne Anderson, Founder of success story Cyber Hair, reiterated the now familiar theme, “My business is my passion.”
We departed with new contacts, knowledge, inspiration and renewed passion (matched only perhaps by David Koch’s amazing energy still evident at 11pm after his 3 am start!).
Thanks COSBOA, PinStripe Media and all sponsors and supporters for a great event.
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Anne Sorensen - Marketing Is Us
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| Email: | anne@marketingisus.com.au |
| Website: | www.marketingisus.com.au |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/MarketingIsUsFans |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/marketingisus |
| Blog: | www.marketingisus.com.au/blog |
| LinkedIn: | www.linkedin.com/in/annesorensen |
| Member Profile: | See Anne’s Member Profile |
Core Nutrient for the Busy Woman
July 17, 2010
By Catherine Pritchard, Radiance Healthcare Centre
Every woman needs a little magnesium! This super mineral works in partnership with calcium and is often overlooked. Everyone worries about being calcium deficient, but magnesium is just as important. Magnesium is involved in 80% of reactions that make energy. No magnesium, no energy. Stress, alcohol, processed foods and modern life rapidly depletes your body of magnesium. Exercise and sweating also results in depleted magnesium levels. The ultimate expression of magnesium deficiency is muscle twitching, including those little eye ticks as well as muscle cramps (especially of the toes, calves and those screamers that can wake you up in the night). People who get migraines have been found to have low brain magnesium, so supplementation could be beneficial in these cases too.
Magnesium is found in lots of foods including dark green leafy vegetables, (the type that most don’t get enough of!), almonds and bananas. Our lifestyles can often require us to have more magnesium than we get through our diet. If you have tight muscles, get cramps, are stressed or have poor energy, then magnesium supplementation could make a difference to you. Magnesium doesn’t occur by itself. It occurs bound to another molecule that affects the absorption of magnesium in your body. One of the best types of magnesium to go for is magnesium diglycinate in the range of 300-600mg of elemental magnesium.
Next time you are feeling a little low in energy, don’t reach for the coffee, reach for a hit of magnesium and feel the difference!
MORE GREAT POSTS FROM CATHERINE PRITCHARD:
- Counting sheep is over rated!
- Protect you (and your staff) this winter
- Boost your brain power and revitalise your memory
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Catherine Pritchard - Radiance Healthcare CentreCatherine is a scientific naturopath who is experienced in working with business women to increase their energy, motivation and productivity. Her innovative programs are based on the latest research and incorporate simple dietary changes so that you can get the most out of each and every day. Prior to commencing her career as a naturopath almost 10 years ago, Catherine was an industrial chemist in an oil refinery. Her scientific background caused her to seek out the latest technology to assess your health, energy and vitality. In conjunction with a thorough assessment, these state of the art tests allow her to personally prescribe you the most suitable nutrients that will make the greatest impact on your health and wellbeing.
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Recruitment for Small Business Growth
July 15, 2010
By Caroline McAuliffe, ExeConnect
A growing company needs more expertise than even the most skilled founder can provide. Most entrepreneurs start to grow their business with people they already know, so while there may be a shared history and a deep trust, there is often a critical skill set missing on the team. This skills gap should be filled with the longer term strategy in mind.
Who to Hire?
It might be an operations role; it might be someone who is 20 years further into the sector and has connections and experience you can draw from; it might be someone like a CFO, or IT Director whose technical expertise will add value; it might be a really great admin person who relieves you of all the day to day work and frees you up to work on the business, rather than in the business. It all depends on the company’s current leadership mix, history, strategy and place in the market.
A CFO may be required if your company is growing at a rapid rate requiring outside financing or careful cash management, when your company requires a formal audit or when you are contemplating a complex financial transaction (ex: acquisition, merger, or public offering of stock). So how do you go about finding a seasoned CFO? Many companies work at first with a part-time financial executive, an interim manager, whom they later recruit to join the management team on a permanent basis.
Traditional HR can often be outsourced. Many smaller companies manage their HR by employing a good interim HR Manager or part-time consultant to assist with initial set up and understanding of legislation, process and procedures. Recruitment can also be outsourced again to a good consultant or by hiring in a part-time recruiter who knows your longer term business strategy and company culture. Hiring a seasoned HR Director on an interim basis for a defined period of time will ensure you implement best practice policy and procedures whilst keeping your costs down.
What is the biggest challenge that young companies will face in 2010?
Some young companies may be facing issues with their lenders or investors, and they may be having a hard time making promises around company stability. If you’re trying to hire experienced, strong candidates, you have to be able to show that your company is stable, has growth opportunities and has the resources required for the candidate to be successful. But honesty is still the best policy. It is best to avoid sugar-coating challenges (if someone feels they have been misled down the track this will only result in bad feeling all around).
If you’re hiring less experienced staff, it’s more critical than ever that you hire for flexibility and their ability to think on their feet. Within a smaller business environment, these skills and attitudes are essential as the days of organisational charts with clearly defined job descriptions and career paths are out dated. They have been replaced with a flat structure that has people prepared to carry out diverse, flexible roles. They are under-pinned by a culture that embraces autonomy, flexibility, a clearly defined purpose, vision, and a set of organisational values that everyone is guided by and allows for good management decision making by everyone.
What’s the biggest opportunity?
Of course, companies have an opportunity to pick up talented people who have been made redundant in the last year or two. More importantly, they have a great opportunity to realign their company culture.
Retain Your Loyal People
If you’re trying to retain staff, the future value proposition needs to be clear, honest and, if not exciting, certainly brighter than it may have been painted in 2009. Current staff need to hear some sincere gratitude for the sacrifices, hard work and flexibility they have already shown and, most likely, will have to continue to show in 2010.
According to a recent report in Forbes, a daily thank you proves a powerful employee motivator.
Verbal praise from a manager can be as effective as a cash award in motivating employees, yet, a survey shows 75% to 80% of workers say they get little recognition from bosses. Restaurant chain Hard Rock Cafe reports worker turnover was reduced 3% when managers gave verbal recognition to workers for a minute a day.
What’s the most important step a small, fast-growing company can take to build its leadership pipeline?
Recruiting top managers is not always easy. Persuading talented leaders to join a start-up is not as hard as it once was, but it still involves having a good eye for talent and the ability to sell an idea and its potential upside to a savvy operator who might well have other options.
Moreover, making the wrong hire at the highest levels of an organization can have serious consequences. The severance costs of terminating a top manager can be high; they can be higher still when you factor in any turnover in a key department that precedes or accompanies the departure of a bad hire.
For all of these difficulties, however, entrepreneurs who have built strong management teams enjoy obvious rewards. They can rely on the skills of others to compensate for their weaknesses. They can focus on strategic issues while confidently delegating day-to-day tasks, such as managing people. And they can use their management team to secure outside funding and establish creditability with potential customers.
MORE GREAT POSTS BY CAROLINE MCCAULIFFE:
- Greening Your Workplace and Skills
- Retaining Your Best People in Challenging Times
- Finding Time for Professional Development and Learning
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Caroline McAuliffe - ExeConnect and Virtual Angels
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| Phone: | 0415 623 122 |
| Email: | caroline@execonnect.com.au |
| caroline@virtualangels.com.au | |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/ExeConnectAu |
| Blog: | virtualangelsau.blogspot.com www.execonnect.com.au/blog |
| LinkedIn: | au.linkedin.com/in/carolinemcauliffe |
| Member Profile: | See Caroline’s Member Profile |
It Is What They Know, Not Who They Know
July 14, 2010
By Kristy-Lee Johnston, Footprint Recruitment
It is well established that recruiting staff takes time. To combat this, many employers believe that the best way to save time when recruiting candidates is to do so via word of mouth – hiring someone’s sister, cousin, friend or ex-colleague.
Whilst word of mouth referrals can be a great way to find the perfect person, it is often a shortcut which leads to a placement that suits neither the candidate nor the company in the long run and ends up costing you more in training time, loss in productivity and a reduction in team morale.
When hiring staff, the most important factors to consider are the skills required for the role and the overall fit of the candidate into the team. Whilst sometimes a word of mouth candidate may meet all of this, often they are employed as a quick fix but are not an ideal long term solution.
Let’s look at the most important aspects you need to consider when hiring a new employee:
1. Does this person possess all of the qualifications, certificates and licenses needed to do the job?
2. Does this person have the relevant and on the job skills and experience to do the role?
3. Will the person fit in with your existing team?
4. Do they suit your company culture?
5. Are they motivated, for the right reasons, towards taking on this role and committing to it long term?
6. Do they have appropriate work ethic, loyalty, honesty and integrity to do the role and work in the company?
If the candidate you are considering through word of mouth meets all of this without hesitation, then great! They probably are the right person for the role. But there is little, if any, way to determine this without having considered the market – are there better candidates for this role, and your organisation, out there in the marketplace?
There is another thing you need to consider when hiring through word of mouth – the dynamics of the team. What happens if the person who referred you this candidate has a falling out with this person one weekend? Whilst the argument may not be relevant to work, it will undoubtedly affect both of them at work. When they bring this tension into the workplace, it not only affects them individually, but also the entire team around them.
So in the end, through no fault of your own or the company, you can end up with disharmony which impacts everyone in the team, no doubt decreasing productivity and negatively impacting company performance. Probably just one more issue you would rather not be dealing with when you could be spending time working on improving your business!
Hiring candidates who know everything you need them to, rather than everyone in your team, will undoubtedly yield better results for your business.
MORE GREAT POSTS BY KRISTY-LEE JOHNSTON:
- Pay Peanuts – Get Monkeys?
- Past Behaviour Predicts Future Behaviour – The Importance of Reference Checking
- A Failed Recruit – What Does It Cost Your Business?
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Kristy-Lee Johnston - Footprint Recruitment
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| Phone: | 02 4367 5500 |
| Email: | kristy@footprintrecruitment.com.au |
| Website: | www.footprintrecruitment.com.au |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/footprintcc |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/footprintrecruitment |
| LinkedIn: | au.linkedin.com/in/kristyleejohnston |
| Member Profile: | See Kristy’s Member Profile |
Six Characteristics of Success-oriented Small Business Owners
July 14, 2010
By Susan McGrath
Are you highly motivated, caring and curious? If so, you are part of a special breed of success-oriented small business owners, according to Mark D Wolf, director of the New York based Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute.
And if you effectively balance your personal and business goals, take advantage of others’ expertise and continually seek to learn the best practices exhibited by peer companies, you are even more likely to achieve business success.
The Guardian Institute surveyed owners of over 1,100 small business owners in its recent study “The Guardian Life Index.” It identified six dimensions of owners who projected revenue increases and business expansion, even as the recession peaked in the US.
According to the study, success-oriented small business owners are:
- Collaborative – they are able to build strong personal relationships, delegate effectively and are committed to creating opportunities for others.
- Self-fulfilled – they place a high value on the personal fulfillment and gratification that they gain from their business.
- Future-focused – they plan for both the short and long-term future and are focused on cash flow.
- Curious – they are open to learning how others run their business and actively seek best practice insights regarding management, business innovation, prospecting and employee attraction, motivation and retention.
- Tech-savvy – technology is a key point of leverage for success-oriented small business owners. They intensively value their company’s website and are significantly more likely to rely on technology for business effectiveness and efficiency.
- Action oriented – success-oriented small business owners are more proactive in taking initiative to build their business. They are more committed than others to taking their business to the next level, differentiating themselves from their competitors and having an exit strategy. They also see adversity as a means to help them move forward.
According to Patricia Green, PhD, the special academic advisor to the Guardian Institute, successful SME owners are lifelong learners, and the most valuable point of the six dimensions is that they can all be learned.
More information about the characteristics of successful small business owners is available from the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute.
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Susan Wareham McGrath - McGrath Career Management
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