When you first start out as a small business owner, you tend to take the bulk of any work onto your own shoulders. You come up with innovative product concepts alone, you lay the groundwork of sourcing manufacturers yourself, and you eventually create a product that is ready for the market and likely to achieve success. When you require a little help, you tend to outsource projects to freelancers as one-off jobs. You let a web designer create your webpage, you let a professional product photographer capture high-quality images of your stock, and you engage with a content creator to come up with captivating product descriptions. But eventually, you won’t be able to take on all of the work that comes your way alone, and you can’t always rely on freelancers to do the best job possible, or to be available as and when you need. It’s times like these that you are going to have to consider taking on part-time or full-time contracted employees. These individuals will work in-house and help to push your business forward! Now, if you’re going to be paying someone for work on a regular basis, you’re going to want to ensure that you take on the best individual for the job. Here are just a couple of steps that you can take to ensure that you only take on reliable employees!
Shutterstock Licensed Photo – By Antonio Guillem
Request Employee Referrals
If you are unsure where to start when it comes to taking on new staff, you might want to try out employee referrals. This is when you ask individuals who you have worked with in the past to recommend potential candidates for the position. If you have used a good product photographer and they’re not interested in working for you full-time, you can ask them for a referral. They are likely to know multiple other individuals working within their field and could make good suggestions.
Conduct an Interview
An applicant may sound perfect on paper, but it’s generally a good idea to meet them on a face to face basis. This will allow you to see what they are like in person, ensuring that they have a good attitude, professional demeanor, and that you will get on well in the workplace.
Request References
You should always request references from anyone applying for any position within your small business. This will allow you to get in touch with their previous or current employer and gain a little more insight into whether the candidate is a good employee or not. If their previous employer notes frequent problems such as absence, lateness, or confrontational behavior, you might want to reconsider taking the individual on.
These are just a few different ways to ensure that you only take on reliable employees. Incorporate the above steps into your recruitment process as soon as possible!
