Taking the leap in hiring new staff for a small business indeed a milestone that needs to be well thought-out as it expresses a need for growth and development. This is an important part of expanding and developing the business plan; it is also heavily dependent on the type of business you run and your market share. Many solo business owners find themselves inundated with tasks that could easily be delegated to someone else and focus on making more revenue for the business.
There are many candidates looking for jobs; and it’s all about finding the right mix of employees to drive the success of the company. Because this will significantly increase the overhead of the business, it is important to ensure an immediate financial return and ensure that the choice to hire staff is cost effective and drives financial success. Making the wrong choices in hiring often results in retrenchments and downsizing. Labour laws are becoming stricter with time, and employers need to adhere to labour laws in hiring, promoting, dismissing and retaining employees to avoid legal action.
The first thing to do is to do an evaluation of your HR needs by taking a close look at your work processes. If you feel that certain processes do not require fulltime staff, you can outsource freelancers or initiate skills specific project and hiring temp staff on short contracts. For each role, you need to determine what is required of the role by drafting a concise job description, expectations for the role and the resources needed to complete the job.
The recruitment environment is highly competitive and highly qualified candidates are in high demand; depending on the challenges faced by companies – it is important to look at innovative and creative staffing ways. If your business has the budget, you can consider using the services of recruitment agencies, head hunters and agents to source and recommend candidates. If you do not have the budget, you can use online job portals to find candidates, advertise positions and organise interviews. Additional sources for job advertising include newspapers, job fairs, recruitment open houses, unsolicited resumes and job hotlines.