Locating Qualified Employees

By: Michael | Published: November 18, 2010 | Filed under: Small Business Human Resources

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One of the biggest obstacles just about any small business faces is finding qualified employees to work for them. For a small business, you may only have one or two employees aside from yourself; therefore the employees you hire need to be quality ones. It can be difficult to know where to look for these qualified individuals to work for your company. Though it may be tempting to just hire friends and family, it is often better to look outside of your realm of personal contacts and take on employees professionally that you do not have any personal relationship with. This guide discusses ways a small business owner can find qualified employees without spending a lot of money in the process.Job PostingsThere are a lot of sites that allow business owners to post their job offers for free. These sites can include CraigsList.com, MSNCareers.com, or local newspaper agencies that have free websites. By utilizing a job board, employees come to you. They will submit their resumes, cover letters and expertise. You can weed out the ones that do not qualify and interview those that seem to.Another way to post your available employment positions are through local colleges, high schools, and specialized training schools. Most of these locations will have job boards where employers can post their available positions for free. There are even programs at most specialized training schools that offer employers to sign up and have personalized placement with their graduates. It can be a win-win situation for the employer and the graduating student. These placement programs can require the employer to pay the school a “finders fee” to use their service, while some schools do it free of charge.Government ProgramsAs a local small business, you can benefit from the use of government training programs as well. At these training programs, employers can post their available jobs for free and job counselors will help direct individuals to the right employer. If you are interested in finding local government training programs near your business, visit www.doleta.gov. There you can find a complete list of training programs and job boards that are open to local businesses.Utilize an Employment AgencyIn the event your company does not have the time or resources to hire, you can sign up with an employment agency instead. These companies will do the head hunting for you. That includes testing, interviews, reviewing references, etc. Then the individuals chosen by your agency will be sent to you for a final interview and approval. The only catch is that employment agencies are not free. Often they will take a finders fee for their service or charge companies an upfront service fee to hire on their behalf. Employment agencies will also take care of running credit checks and background checks prior to approving them into their service. This can be beneficial for the business owner that does not have the time or funds to do so themselves and especially for the small business who needs quality employees on limited funds.Hiring employees can be a daunting task, especially for a small business. Finding the most qualified and well-suited employees are a task for just about any size business. By utilizing the resources at hand, both free and paid services, you can find the right employees that will suit your business.

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Your Staff: Keeping them on Their Toes!

By: Michael | Published: November 2, 2010 | Filed under: Small Business Human Resources

As small business owners, we all have our own personality types and management styles but one thing tends to hold true at the end of the day with employees: they must get their work done. When work isn’t completed or even not completed on time it is sure to reflect poorly for your company. It’s not an easy thing to do to have to explain to clients that their tasks were not completed because a member of your team dropped the ball. Obviously, the goal is to avoid this situation at all costs. Let’s look at how to clearly define to your employees what is expected of them, how to keep communications open, how progress can be evaluated, and when to cut your losses in a situation.Just like laying any foundation, preventing employee conflict down the line starts with a good game plan. This is generally set in motion through a terms of employment document. The goal of this document is to clearly outline what the expectations will be for the job they will be completing. One of the most crucial aspects of this document that some small business owners leave out is a list of consequences for not completing a certain task, or complying with a certain policy. A great example is to address what the consequences are for receiving a customer complaint about the employee in question. Sample consequences include being put on probation after the first offense, and possible termination after the second. The beauty behind this clarity is that in the event you do need to dismiss an employee, you can clearly indicate the reason by justifying what they failed to comply with.One of the most obvious ways to prevent having to terminate an employee is to keep on track of their progress. If things aren’t being completed at expected, attempt to determine what might be causing that discrepancy. For example, the staff member in question may be confused about some of the instructions and may just need some clarification. Checking in often with them can prevent this simple situation to escalating to the point where the task in question is overdue. However, if enough clarification is being provided and the employee is still struggling to meet deadlines, it has to be questioned if they can actually perform the task. If the task is one that was outlined in their terms of employment, and they still fail to perform it to expectations, then the consequences that were outlined can begin to come into play.Another great way to keep things running smooth is to do routine evaluations. Sit with the staff member once every two weeks or so and discuss with them how they feel they’re doing in the company. Also, provide constructive feedback about how you feel they could perform better. The one other thing that can be discussed at this point is if they have any concerns. Hearing your employee’s concerns can really provide valuable, constructive feedback about your company, and management style. One thing that should always be made clear is that although you’re providing your staff member the ability to give you feedback, it’s entirely your call as the business owner if you want to implement it or not.

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