A recent PNC survey reports that 71% of small business owners are optimistic about the economy, but only 22% expect to hire. The biggest reason for this delay in hiring is because the small business owner believes more work can be done by fewer people. This can lead to the most valuable employees (A-players) leaving the company. It may even mean that no one is available to do the hiring when the time comes.
A prudent way for a company to grow is only to hire when the current staff is overworked – but this can make hiring a challenge. Most small businesses are not continuously hiring, so the hiring process doesn’t tend to be reliably repeatable. This can lead to hiring people that are a bad fit (Mis-fitÔ) for the company.
Some causes for the hiring of Mis-fits are:
- Lack of defined job profile
- Lack of hiring experience
- Rushed/poor process
- Poor vetting
- Not enough resources
- Hiring by gut feel
- Ignoring personal biases
In a word: Settling
Settling never helps a business long-term. I have yet to see a (non-venture backed) small business that does hiring well. That is why I developed the Perfect Hire Blueprint. But that was not enough –most companies will not follow the entire blueprint because of time constraints, or thinking all the steps aren’t necessary. They are. I couldn’t help my clients grow without good employees and leaders, so I found that a blueprint wasn’t enough – I had to help them hire or recruit and hire for them. So we started recruiting for our clients in a way that makes sense for them: on an hourly basis.
Fixed price recruiters (I call them headhunters) charge way too much – usually 20-30% of the hire’s first year’s salary and that is too much for most small businesses. We find that we can keep the cost around 5-10% by billing hourly. In addition, we make the process transparent and give the client all information on every candidate. We even guarantee results if we use the entire process; that is how confident we are with the Perfect Hire Blueprint.
This turns out to be very good for the client. They don’t try to recruit by using a poor hiring process, they can stay focused on growing their business, and they get A-players to join that fit their company culture.
Do you have hiring needs? Contact us today to get started with the Perfect Hire Blueprint, and find your company’s A-Players.