A question you may be stuck asking yourself is when is the right time to hire staff? How do I find the right people to introduce to my business? Now, first of all, I think that it’s definitely an individual decision as the business owner about whether or not you want to grow and scale your business beyond yourself. If you do not want to become the manager of a team of people, then it’s completely fine, and you can have business success without involving anyone else, or maybe only involving an admin person, or a VA (Virtual Assistant).

If you are on the journey where you feel like you want to grow, then it’s time for you to decide what role you’re going to hire for, and then think about how you will find the right person or people to introduce into your business. When you’re a small business, it’s important to find people who are the right fit for the right roles. Yes, qualifications and experience are things that need to be considered when hiring but it’s not the only thing to be looking at.

One thing that’s not really talked about very much, especially in the small business world, is values. For me, I decided that Balance Tax Accountants needed a junior tax accountant. In the job ad for my industry, I knew that I had to make sure that my ad spoke to and reached the right people so that they would hear it, want to apply for it, and be a part of my team.

In the job ad for the junior tax accountant, I didn’t even mention qualifications and experience in more than one or two sentences. The job ad mainly talked about our values. What we do, why we do what we do, who we try to reach, and what makes us different. So our values are teamwork. I needed someone who loves to talk to and help other people. I needed someone who didn’t mind listening to other people’s issues and answering their questions. I needed someone who is flexible. Flexible to get the job done, but then also know that we have balance and that we are going to be rewarded for the hard work.

When you’re just starting out as a small business, you really need people who are flexible, and who are on board with the vision behind your business and what it is that you’re trying to do. You need employees who want to go on the journey with you and support you.

I’d be mindful of introducing other small business owners into your business as an employee. I think that contractors are definitely valuable, and have their time and place in business, but when it comes to employees, there’s a different mindset that contractors have versus employees. You want to hire people who are going to stick with you long-term and be invested in your business more than just a pay check. Therefore, you want to find employees who have similar values.

Now, when hiring employees, what do you look for? Obviously, skills, experience, and qualifications are definitely important when hiring for a new position but also are values. So, when hiring, you first need to identify your business values and those that you would want of your new employee.

Get creative and I’ll talk to you later!

– Diana Todd