Expert says that most small business owners have bad hiring practices
No matter how capable a small business owner is, a successful operation can't be run by a single person. A company could have the most solid business plan and the best product, but without an able team, it won't make it off the ground. Hiring talented employees should be a skill that every small business owner should master first, but Kosgod School of Business professor Mark Clark says that most business owners don't like to spend the time required to hire a good employee. In a recent article for Inc.com, Clark gave some advice to small business owners on how to improve their hiring practices.
The first contact between a company and a potential employee is with the job listing. Clark recommends that a business owner think carefully about the future needs of a company, and write a job description from that. This allows an owner to be able to evaluate an employee's performance more clearly. A job listing should list professional requirements as well as behavioral characteristics.
The actual interview process is where most employers go wrong, says Clark. By the time most business owners go through all the applications, they are already sick of the process. Clark recommends seeing a candidate two to three times before hiring them, following up each time. Once hired, the employee should be given an extensive training period as well, so they aren't left behind.
These hiring tips should come in handy for a lot of Canadian small business owners in 2010 - according to a recent survey from American Express Canada, most small businesses are expecting to hire more employees in 2010.
