If you want to grow a business it must become scalable. That means you will need to hire a team of people that you can depend on so that you can concentrate on the important work of growing your sales, profit and cash balance.
But all business owners will tell you that hiring good employees is a hard and expensive process. Just about every business owner has had the disappointment and cost in time and money of making a bad hiring decision.
What most owners do is complain, “It’s impossible to find good employees!” My answer is always the same: “That’s funny—your competitors are hiring quality employees.” The difference is that they have developed a systematic, written hiring process that they always follow in order to avoid the following 10 common hiring mistakes:
- Hiring too quickly. I need help now! I don’t have time for a long process.
- Having low standards. This is usually a result of not knowing in advance what you need and settling for whoever walks in the door for an interview.
- Making a gut level decision. Business owners need to be able make dozens of quick decisions daily so they believe they can just wing it. But hiring the wrong employee is too costly to a small business. In fact, having “bad” employees is often a major cause of a business failure.
- Falling for an aced interview. Anyone can shine for an hour.
- Trusting the recommendations of others. They often mean well, but they really may not know if this person will be a good employee for you.
- Not doing your due diligence. Not testing them for basic skills. Failing to get background checks. At least half of all resumes include false information so don’t just take them at face value.
- Worrying about the wrong things. How they dress, their age, sex, race, tattoos, etc. Your main worry should be whether they are a great fit for what you need. Nothing else.
- Making emotional decisions. This is an area where you must be 100% rational.
- Deciding to save a little less rather than hiring the superstar. One person is obviously better than the other but wants a higher pay. Don’t forget that a superstar often out-produces three or four other employees combined. If you find a superstar just hire them!
- Not giving this area the importance that it deserves. Most entrepreneurs love selling and finding the next hot product to offer their customers, but they hate managing employees. This type of attitude almost always ends up hurting the business.
Like any good CPA, I need to add a disclaimer. Unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive tax info over the Internet, no matter how well-researched or written. And remember, I love my readers, but having me bookmarked on your computer doesn’t make you a client. Before relying on any information given on this site, contact a tax professional to discuss your particular situation.