Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops

Time to Hire?

By

Help wanted

Photo (CC) by Innovative Impact Media, on Flickr

Help? I am swamped.

So get an ad in the paper and get some employees, right?

Sorry, this isn’t the time. When you are overwhelmed is not the time you want to hire someone for several reasons.

First and foremost, you will rush the process. Steps will be skipped such as reference checking.

Second, you will speed up the process and maybe not get your advertisement into all of the right places or allow the position to remain open long enough to let candidates discover the opening, check out the possibility and get their paperwork in.

Also, you won’t have time to get your network in action to find and encouragement applicants.

Fourth, you are more likely to take someone who “sort of” meets the job duties instead of finding the best person for the job.

Finally, you probably won’t know exactly what you want the new person to do. And when you do have the person on board, you won’t have time to adequately train and mentor him or her.

So when is the right time to hire and how should an owner go about the process?

Determining the right time is tricky. The scenario outlined above certainly indicates reasons why you should not wait too long.

But as cash flow problems is one of the most common issues for small businesses, hiring someone too early will just increase the likelihood of it happening. You want to hire someone when that person will make money for the business. This can occur through increased production or sales most likely.

Also, as you consider hiring, you want to have all of the tasks the new person will perform part of the same skill set. Hiring a person to do what are really parts of two separate positions requiring two separate sets of skills doesn’t work. First, you have the problem of finding people with such unique backgrounds. Then there is the problem of getting the right balance in the work. The job mix in often controlled by what the person prefers to do versus what actually needs doing.

The need to hire can fill you with dread, higher costs, need for additional time spent managing, cash flow issues, hiring the wrong person, etc.

Don’t let the fears and unknowns stop you. It’s a great time. Your company is growing. Understand the issues, include it in your planning, and make it happen.

About Glenn Muske

Glenn Muske is an independent expert on rural small business, working as GM Consulting – Your partner in achieving small business success. He provides consulting, and writes articles for county extension agents and newspapers across North Dakota. Previously, he was the Rural and Agribusiness Enterprise Development Specialist at the North Dakota State University Extension Service – Center for Community Vitality.

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

More of the best of Small Biz Survival