Tag: hiring employees

5 Ways to Speed up Your Small Business Strategies

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Every business owner wants to make the most out of the hours in a day. At the moment, it seems as though you are being chased by the clock, so how do you speed up the way you work? Whether you’re trying to achieve a much sought after work life balance or streamline your strategies, you can find a more effective way of carrying out your work right now. Consider some of the following five ways to speed up your small business strategies and you will feel more productive in an instant.

  1. Investigate Speedy Software

Working with sub-par software can really hinder your business performance and leave you lagging behind your competitors. If you’re sick of watching emails hang about in your inbox because the files are too large, then why not find a new method? Jetdrop is possibly the fastest way to share files, with your clients so investigate how this might work for your company. Trying out new software can seem daunting, but you won’t know if it works until you try it out!

  1. Prioritize Your Task List

If you are constantly trying to tackle a whole host of things on your to do list, then you need to learn to prioritize more effectively. Figure out the most important elements on your list and make sure you see to them first and foremost. Many business owners struggle with prioritizing because they want to get everything done there and then. It’s okay to leave something to another day, as long as you have time to come back to it.

  1. Hire a Helping Hand

Partnering up with somebody might not be a bad idea if you’re feeling overwhelmed with work. You might have certain gaps in your knowledge that need filling, so why not team up with another professional? A business partnership isn’t for everyone, so make sure you research the pros and cons before diving in!

  1. Outsource if Necessary

If you aren’t quite ready to hire a partner it might be worth outsourcing some of your work. From finances to marketing, you might find it useful to lighten your load and leave the experts to deal with certain aspects of your business.

  1. Take Regular Breaks

You will never be able to work to your full capacity if you are over worked and exhausted. Learning to switch off is an important part of being an entrepreneur and it will help your productivity in the long run. Take a walk outside to get a coffee and learn to turn off your work phone in the evenings. Creating good habits now will benefit you in the long run and you will feel refreshed when you return to work the next day.

Try out some of the following ideas and you will be prepared to tackle anything that falls in front of you. Running a small business can be time consuming, stressful and overwhelming at times, but with the right strategies in place, you will be working speedily and swiftly on a daily basis.

What To Look For In Prospective Employees

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A business is only as good as the team running the show, and as the business owner you need to make sure that that team is the best you can put together. That means knowing what it is that you want in your employees and knowing where to find the right people. Both of those can be very difficult, and you will probably find that it is often a case of trying to ensure that you can work on them if you are keen to find the right people. But one thing you can at least do is try to work out what it is that you are looking for in your employees. If you know what qualities you are hoping your candidates will show, it will make the whole process of hiring people so much easier, so it is definitely worth your while. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the major things you should look for in your prospective employees.

Drive

The last thing you want is a group of people who don’t really care about what they’re doing, and come to work each day with no apparent vigor. What you need from your people is a sense of drive, the feeling that they really want to be there and that they are happy to give it their all and produce great work. The truth is that you can easily determine whether or not someone has drive early on in the recruitment process by the way that they act towards you and towards the whole process as they go along. If they are passionate and committed from the first, then you know that they are the kind of person who is likely to bring that same feeling to your business, and that could benefit your business greatly. Look for that drive whenever you are hiring people, as it is one of the most important things that you can possibly hope to have in your team.

Although there are many other qualities you might also want to look out for, this sense of determination and drive is something that is likely to persist, so it’s a good idea to make this one of the central bases of what you are looking for. If you do that, you are bound to fill your team with the right kind of people, and that will mean good things for your business generally. Drive is literally the driving force that your business needs, and the more people that have it, the better.

Education

There is a good reason that employers will generally want their employees to be well educated. For one thing, it shows that they have the tenacity to see something through to the end: if you know that they have studied for a full degree from the likes of Norwich University, you know that they have the ability and determination to follow a project through to its completion, and that is a very good ability to have in your own team. But being well educated also inspires confidence in their intelligence, a quality which is absolutely always going to be important, especially if the work is likely to be mentally taxing. Put simply, you are always going to want to put educated candidates at the top of your list, compared to those with no or little education.

This is not to say that you should not give those with no education a chance. The level to which a person is educated is often the result largely of where they happened to be born and what kind of upbringing they had, and a truly inclusive employer should make a point to seek candidates of all backgrounds. You might find that someone with no education turns out to be the perfect candidate, and you should certainly keep yourself open to that. But also remember that you should look out for a good education, and when you see it on someone’s CV, you know that it is a pretty good sign.

Interpersonal Skills

The person you hire to work in your team is going to be interacting with you and other people on a daily basis, and you need to be as certain as possible that everyone is going to get along. That does not mean that you should filter people out based on their personalities, but it does mean you should make a point of seeking those people who at least have some basic interpersonal skills which they can bring to the workplace. This is a simple case of ensuring that they are able to speak to people, that they know how to operate in the workplace in a way which benefits everyone, and that they are not overtly rude or aggressive and so on. You can generally determine all of this during the interview stage, and it’s really just a case of watching them closely and using your instincts and common sense to determine whether or not they have these skills. Someone with the proper social skills is likely to be better to work nearby, which is hugely important if you want your team to operate well.

Positive Attitude

Nobody wants there to be a hugely negative force in any team. You will generally want to fill your office with the kind of people who are going to bring a positivity to things, and so that too is something to look out for when you are interviewing candidates. If their presence generally makes you feel positive about your business, then that is a very good person to have around, and you will find that you probably want to hire them, providing that they also tick the other necessary boxes. Whereas, someone who makes you feel down won’t really be a good force to have around, and you are unlikely to want to hire them in the same way.

As long as you are aware of these things, you should know what kind of person you are looking to hire into your team.

3 Attractive Qualities That Will Bring The Best Employees

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Are you keen to make your business the best it can be? Well, then you need to make sure that you get the right team on staff. Build up your numbers with highly skilled workers who can take your company to the next level on the market. But how do you do this? How do you make sure that your business is seen as a worthy enterprise to the best workers who are going to be highly sought after? Well, there are a few ways to draw employees in.

Most business owners focus on pay levels as well as other similar incentives. But, you might be surprised to learn about some other company qualities that are sure to gain the interest of the best employees and candidates. Let’s look at some of these possibilities.

Tech Orientated

Yes, you may want to start to be thinking about the role that technology has to play in your company. Basically, you need to show employees that your business is prepared for the future and all the challenges that come with it. This means that you should be investing in the latest tech and software. There are a variety of reasons why you should do this. It improves productivity and ensures that your company remains efficient.

In the eyes of the employee, it also suggests that your business is future proof. No one wants to join a company that could fail within the next few years because then they’ll be right back to square one. As well as this if you have an IT support system in place, employees won’t have to worry about your tech failing, making their job more difficult. You can click here for more info about this issue and the solution you need to avoid it.

Incentives Other Than Pay

It’s important to note that there are other incentives to consider beyond the pay level you can offer employees. For instance, you might want to think about dangling the possibility of growing in their position. No employee wants to be stuck in a dead end job and if you set up the right structure this never has to be the case. Make sure you let them know that you will be investing in their future path and pushing to make sure they get the opportunities they need. This is going to lead to a higher level of job satisfaction and potentially help you avoid employee churn.

A Solid Future Plan

Finally, you need to make sure that you are showing employees that you have a solid plan for the future. Investors in your business want to know that you’re in it for the long haul. Well, employees want the same. They want to understand that you do have a five-year plan in place and strategies for growth on the market. If you show them this, they will be far more likely to sign on the dotted line. It’s important to be completely transparent with these plans and ensure that you are open to ideas and opinions of the people you hire.

Don’t Make Bad Hiring Decisions

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When it comes to hiring it doesn’t matter if you are recruiting for your large company or just because you are a freelancer need some help in the day to day running of things. Sometimes making the wrong hiring decision can have a massive impact on your business goals and progress.

Although you can ever be 100% sure about the person you have hired until they have been working with you for a while, there are a few tips that you can use to try and be pretty confident you got it right the first time.

Be Clear

Often there can be a miscommunication about what the role really involves. Leading people with about a 70% skills match applying for the position. Whose fault is this? Well, yours actually. When you are writing out the job description, you need to make sure that as well as making it appealing, you are actually writing down the skills in your ideal candidate. Be clear on the following:

  • Objectives
  • Responsibilities
  • Requirements
  • Pay
  • Hours
  • Location

If the role is fluid, then describe an average day in your company so they can get a better idea of what they are applying for. If you are hiring for a very skilled rolled you should think about how to automate employee recruitment for hard-to-find skills.

Spread The Word

Now there is so many websites that people look for work it is worth remembering that you should be aiming to have your listing on as many as possible. The talented person you are looking for might be a night owl living in Australia, or the might be an early bird in Mexico. The more bases you cover, the more likely you are to find the right person for the position.

Are just a few places that you can pin your recruitment notice.

The Extras Count

When it comes to personality, that is what you will be working alongside. The skill, of course, will matter, but if you can get along with someone who doesn’t have all of the skills but is almost there the chances are you will work better together in the long run.

When you are looking over the CVs be sure to read the cover letter to get an idea of who they are in their everyday life. Have they written the typical answer of ‘I like to spend time with friends and family’ for what they do outside of work, or have they written something more interesting?

References

There are rules now as to what a previous employer can and cannot say about an ex-employee, however, if there were any real issues they will be able to identify them and let you know. Make the time to email or call the people that are listed as references. Have a look at what their previous employers do as well, you can begin to build a great profile of this person.

Interviews

Aside from ensuring that they are who they say they are, you should also take this opportunity to talk to them on a level beyond just an employee/employer relationship. If you can have a conversation, and the chemistry is working out, then that is usually a good sign. You won’t gel with everyone, so even if they look great on paper, they might not be who you are looking for.

There is a lot to consider when you are hiring in a smaller company, the wrong person can really shake things up so remember to hire slow, fire fast. If they don’t fit in or the balance isn’t right to protect your current staff and business.

Business Inspiration Starts With Strong Foundations

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On this site, we talk a lot about the steps a business needs to take to start growing forward. But the most important thing is to build your company on strong foundations. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to be ambitious yet level-headed. Many business owners make the mistake of leaning towards one extreme or the other. Chasing innovative strategies without any sort of business acumen will bring your company to a grinding halt. However, running a company too safely will stop it from growing and competing with exciting brands in the industry. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to value flexibility and stability. Business inspiration starts with strong foundations. With that in mind, here are some ideas to help your business evolve with the goal of long-term success.

Create a strong financial plan.

When it comes to your business finances, you need to get into the pattern of regularly returning to the boardroom to assess your spending habits. The way in which your company uses its money has a huge impact on its growth. As discussed in the introduction, being level-headed is about avoiding extremes. Being too frugal stops businesses from growing, but wasting money can cause drastic problems for your business too. If you want to grow then you need to be brave enough to invest but do so in fiscally responsible ways. Make sure you assess your expenditures to ensure that you’re spending your money wisely. Cut back on non-essential costs. You could prioritize digital documentation over paper-based documentation to save money. You could also negotiate with suppliers to get cheaper deals.

You might even want to seek the help of a full-service CPA firm. You’d get professional help from accountants who could advise you on smart ways to use your business’ funds. The goal isn’t just to save money but spend it well. You might be pulling in respectable sales, but that doesn’t matter if you’re spending those profits on the wrong aspects of your business. To build stronger foundations for your company, think of the departments and operations that need funding. Think of the most cost-effective ways to achieve your goals. If you want to deliver a more extensive service then consider outsourcing instead of hiring new employees; it’s cheaper, but it achieves the same result at the same standard.

Create a strong team.

If you want to develop an inspired business then you need an inspired team. Obviously, you can come up with innovative ideas as the boss of your business, but you’ll be able to develop even fuller plans if you have a team helping you to come up with ideas. Two minds are better than one, and you probably have more than one other company. Work on creating a strong team. That’s how you’ll compete with the big names in your industry. Hiring the best employees is a good place to start, but you should be helping your team to grow. Professional workers can easily become unproductive if they’re not inspired by their work. If you treat them like cogs in the machine then your employees will become apathetic.

Find ways to make your members of staff feel valued. Praise them for working hard. Give them bonuses, free lunches, and other perks for putting in extra effort. That way, they won’t fall into the habit of doing the bare minimum amount of work required from them. Talking of habits, make sure their workload doesn’t become too repetitive. There’s nothing more depleting to a person’s morale than repetition. Surprise your team by giving them presentations to do and unexpected projects to complete. Switch up the workday to keep your team on their toes. That way, they won’t slack off. In other words, give your employees a challenge, but don’t work them excessively. Let them recover. Maybe you could put a ping-pong table in the break room so that they have a way to unwind.

Create a strong brand.

Behind every inspired business is an inspired brand. That’s what differentiates you from the competition. If you want the target market to choose your company over the company then your brand needs to make an impact. It isn’t enough to sell high-quality goods. Your rivals are doing the same. If you want to separate yourself from similar companies in the industry then you need to brand yourself in a unique way. For example, maybe you could sell the same products but a portion of your profits are donated to certain charities. That would encourage consumers to choose your brand because they’d know that some of their money would go towards a worthwhile cause.

Plus, people are more likely to choose companies that display a caring side. In the modern age, we all care more about businesses that are connected to the interests of the people. Disconnected corporations aren’t popular with the consumer market. You need a strong brand if you want to build strong foundations for your business. Think of ways to make your identity stand out. The previous point will help in this regard. If you have a passionate and caring team then they’ll deliver a passionate and caring level of customer service. That’ll improve your reputation in the marketplace and cast your brand in a good light.

Create a strong digital marketing strategy.

In today’s world of technology, a strong digital marketing strategy is essential to a strong business model. You need to take an inspired approach to advertising your brand on the internet. You might have a website and social media profiles, but so does every other business on the planet. What makes you different? You need to create content that really draws people in. Perhaps you could create a responsive layout on your site, for starters; if it looks good on all devices then you’ll impress search engine algorithms but also the real-life humans who end up on your homepage. First impressions count in the industry. Don’t create an amateurish online presence or customers might think that your business is amateurish. Create a professional website and post relevant things on social media (don’t go overboard with hashtags or trying to follow trends).

Create a strong relationship with customers.

A stable business needs to focus on its client relations. Strong foundations depend on strong relationships with customers. After all, your customers are the source of your revenue. But rather than seeing every buyer as a statistic, see them as people. As discussed in an earlier point about branding, a successful business needs to really connect with customers on a human level. You need to show that you care about your client base. Reward their loyalty. Offer freebies and discounts to long-term customers to encourage them to stick around. They’ll value your business if you value them. And that’s how you’ll build strong foundations for your business. Yes, you need to chase new leads, but you also need a steadily growing client base. Don’t dismiss your existing customers if you want to enjoy long-term success.

You should also do consumer research. The best way to create a strong relationship with customers is to give them what they want. Rather than taking a shot in the dark and hoping for the best, you have to get to know your client base and your target market at large. Run surveys and polls to get feedback from consumers. You could offer discounts and prizes as a way of incentivizing people to get involved with the research. The goal is to know your audience well. If you can deliver tailor-made services to existing and potential clients then you’ll win over the target market. You could even solve problems that your competitors have missed.

Create a strong range of products or services.

We’ve talked a lot about improving the branding and financing of your business, but the main thing that draws in new customers and retains existing ones is a strong range of products or services. If you want to build and maintain strong foundations for your business then make sure you always prioritize the quality of the goods you’re selling. That’s essential to maintaining a good reputation in your industry. You need to keep the products and services exciting so that you can compete with your rivals. You and your competitors might all sell similar products, but the tiniest improvement in quality can make a difference. Maybe you could simply strive to offer a more extensive range so that you stand out from the crowd. By adding some products to your range, you could expand into wider target markets.

For example, you could keep your generalized product range but start offering more specialized goods and services to appeal to niche corners of the market. Make sure you don’t spoil the quality of your existing services by stretching yourself too thinly, of course. Whenever you’re expanding your business, you have to make sure you do so in a way that doesn’t affect the standard of your existing service. Biting off more than you can chew is never a good idea. Remember, business inspiration starts with strong foundations. Chase your innovative ideas, but do so in a way that ensures you can maintain your existing business services at the same standard.

How To End A High Employee Turnover

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Are you constantly hiring new employees only for them to leave after a couple months? A high employee turnover can be very stressful to manage as an employee and it could be starting to damage your business in terms of reputation and productivity. Fortunately, there is a way to restore loyalty and get employees staying. Here are just a few ways to stop employees leaving.

Make your hiring process more thorough

You may find that you’re already dedicating huge amounts of time to recruitment, however it’s possibly that you may still not be doing a thorough enough job. Part of the reason that new employees keep leaving is simply because you’re hiring the wrong people. You could be rushing the process and hiring the first person that you think fits the bill. Instead, you should be trying to find as many good employee matches and then interviewing them all in order to narrow down your choice. You could also consider casting your net wider in order to get more applications – instead of just posting an advert on a job board, consider using social media and pinning up flyers and even hiring the help of a recruitment agency.

Get organized

Next, you need to confront the reason as to why employees are leaving. One big motive could be that employees find your company disorganized to work for. By bringing order to your business, you could give employees a greater sense of security. Start using software to help with building rotas and paying staff – this could help you avoid business errors that anger staff such as scheduling conflicts or accidentally underpaying staff (or worse still, forgetting to pay them). Try to give people clear roles and find an organized way of distributing tasks and overseeing them. You don’t need structure everything, but you should try to have some of the basics organized.

Offer more employee incentives

Employee incentives are things that motivate people to stay at your company. There are so many ways to add incentives. You could aim to improve people’s quality of life by giving them employee discounts to certain services, a generous wage, the ability to work from home or even a company car. Alternatively, you could add little luxuries within the workplace to make it a happier place such as paying for employees’ meals, investing in a good quality coffee machine, buying comfortable furniture or simply letting employees joke around and have fun. Make sure that employees also feel their work is rewarding – make your employees feel that their work is making a difference to people’s lives and don’t just focus on the financial gain.

Create harmony between old staff and new staff

It’s important that your older employees and newer employees have a mutual respect for one another. Make an effort of introducing new staff members to the team and dedicate some time to training them so that they feel welcome – even if they have experience in the role, they may be unfamiliar with the way in which your company runs things. When it comes to older staff, try not to burden them with training the newbie, especially if they’ve already got a lot of work on their plate. By doing this, you could make older employees resent the responsibility of newer employees. You can use your employees to help with some training, but don’t over-rely on them. You want harmony in the workplace – not everyone has to be best buddies, but there shouldn’t be camps. If your workforce is divided into small groups you may find that when one person goes from that group, others follow, because that person no longer has anyone that they feel they can associate with.

Reward your employees’ efforts

One of the most basic things you can do to prevent employees leaving is to make them feel as if their work is appreciated. These could be big rewards for meeting big goals such as a monetary bonus or a gift. Alternatively, you may be able to simply thank people and show your appreciation through words when it comes to the small things. On top of rewarding objectives that you set, try to reward intuition and creativity – if somebody thinks outside of the box and their inventiveness pays off, show them that you appreciate this.