Although unemployment is still high and small business owners are reluctant to undo some of the painful staffing cuts they\u2019ve had to make, some owners are creeping back into the job market to fill some needed vacancies.\u00a0 So it seems an appropriate time to talk about a hiring \u201cprocess.\u201d\u00a0 While there\u2019s no hiring process that can guarantee a successful hire (one where the employee thrives in the company\u2019s culture and meets or exceeds the company\u2019s performance expectations), there are things you can do to greatly increase the odds in your favor.\u00a0 For more on this, please read below.<\/p>\n
A bad hire, particularly for a key position, can be very, very costly.\u00a0 Obviously, there are \u201chard\u201d dollars at stake . . . payroll and benefits for sure, maybe recruiting fees, and maybe training costs.\u00a0 In fact, executive recruiter Russ Riendeau says he has seen the \u201chard\u201d costs of a bad hire go as high as $55,000 in a 6-month period.\u00a0 But there are soft costs as well, not the least of which is \u201clost opportunity.\u201d\u00a0 Let\u2019s say we have a narrow window of opportunity to open a new sales territory.\u00a0 We hire a salesperson, but after six months of poor performance, we have to terminate him.\u00a0 So whatever we paid him during that time is down the drain, but worse, our window of opportunity is now closed.\u00a0 Whatever we paid him could be a drop in the bucket compared to the unrealized revenue we had hoped to get from the new sales territory.<\/p>\n
So you would think when a small business owner is poised to hire someone, s\/he would do everything possible to make it a successful hire.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, unlike public corporations that have HR departments to oversee an effective hiring process, small businesses generally don\u2019t bring on new people very often, so they never develop the skills they need to make smart hiring choices.\u00a0 Or, impatient with a step-by-step, methodical hiring process, an owner may think, \u201cI\u2019ll just trust my gut instinct\u201d . . . always a bad idea and certain to result in a bad hire.<\/p>\n
The good news is, there are things a small company can do to improve its odds of hiring well.\u00a0 They take time and they take work, but if they result in an effective hiring process (one that increases your odds of hiring well), the effort will easily pay for itself.\u00a0 So this kicks off a series on \u201cbest practices\u201d for a sound hiring process.\u00a0 Over the next several postings, we\u2019ll be talking about some of those things that will improve your hiring track record.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, if you feel your hiring track record has been so abysmally poor that you need some more intense help, call me.\u00a0 We should talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although unemployment is still high and small business owners are reluctant to undo some of the painful staffing cuts they\u2019ve had to make, some owners are creeping back into the job market to fill some needed vacancies.\u00a0 So it seems an appropriate time to talk about a hiring \u201cprocess.\u201d\u00a0 While there\u2019s no hiring process that<\/p>\n