5 Biggest Hiring Mistakes To Avoid When Scaling Your Small Business

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Real talk - how confident are you when you outsource or hire someone to help your business?

Let’s be honest. Every time you hire a professional to help, what you want most is the certainty that you will not only make your money back but also take your business to the next level.

But deep down, there’s always the fear of possibly throwing your hard-earned money down the drain and not making your investment back. And even after you’ve decided to hire a professional, you find yourself constantly wondering, “Can this person really help my business?”, “Is this really working?”

What can you do as a business owner to take control of your hiring and outsourcing process? You need to know these 5 major hiring mistakes and what you can do proactively to minimize the risk of hiring the wrong people and wasting your investment:

Mistake #1. Hire only based on experience

Compared to how many years of experience the candidates have, their personality fit, willingness to learn, and how fast they learn are more important and valuable. Otherwise, even if they have a ton of experience but not a great fit for your company and your team, it would be difficult for them to take in any feedback, learn new things at the job, and adapt to necessary changes that benefit the team and your business growth.

Mistake #2. Hire from top-down

Many people wish that they can hire a great manager at the top who will take all their worries and headaches away. So, they start hiring an integrator, director, or COO. But if you do not have team members who are running the day-to-day tasks effectively, it doesn’t matter how great the manager is or if he or she comes up with a great plan to organize and streamline your team. Because you don’t have effective team members to execute these changes and tasks.

Instead, hire from the bottom-up. Identify the key tasks and workflow you need to outsource first. And once they are familiar with you, your company, and their responsibilities, you can always promote an amazing team player to a leadership position later.

Mistake #3. No clear expectation

Most people outsource and hire what they need help on most in their business. Usually, this is an area they aren’t familiar with, and they hope that an expert will take away all their problems in that area. However, if you can’t quantify your goals and how you want to track the progress and results, it doesn’t matter how experienced or knowledgeable the hire is, it’s very unlikely that you will get the results you expect because you don’t know what you want to achieve, to begin with.

When you don’t know what it is you want, you can’t reach it. So, make sure you are clear on this person’s role, his or her daily, weekly, monthly responsibilities and goals, and what metrics should be tracked. This also makes the person’s job easier because, with goals and metrics, they will be able to better figure how to use their knowledge to achieve them for you. When you’re not specific, you may be wasting money.

Mistake #4. No clear process

If you don’t have a process documented and set in place for your new hire to follow and get started, you are at risk of having to go through iterations and time wasted to finally come up with a workflow together to move forward with.

To use the hours you’re paying the professional for more effectively, create a clear process for the person to start with. Then as the hire gets more comfortable and familiar with the process, give them the freedom and flexibility to help you improve your process with their knowledge and expertise. This gives them a sense of ownership while also helps you improve your process. It’s a win-win.

Mistake #5. No regular communication

Whether or not the person you hire is a full-time employee or contractor, he or she is part of your team. Make sure to set up recurring meetings to touch base, track progress, and give and receive feedback. Don’t forget to also set time aside to celebrate your wins together and make each other feel appreciated!

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