May 2007 Virtual Staffing Newsletter – Issue # 11

Multiply Your Effectiveness: Finding Your Next, or First Employee!

Jim Collins, author of the book Good to Great, challenges CEOs to imagine being a bus driver. Visualize your bus as your company and pretend for a moment that the bus is either at a standstill or slowly chugging along in the right hand lane. Your job, as the owner of your SMB (small or medium sized business), is to get your bus moving!

Average companies jump start their bus by mapping out a new route without giving thought to the individual in the driver’s seat or the passengers on board, but great companies prepare for success not by first planning out a path, but by ensuring the right people are on the bus. As a SMB owner, it is your responsibility to get the right people on your bus, the wrong people off and the right people in the right seats.

Look NOW for Your Next Employee! SMBs must grow to survive. Regardless of your own unique talents and skills, if your SMB is going to reach its full potential, you must have the right people on board. If your SMB is one of the 50% of businesses that hasn’t failed in the first year, or one of the 5% that has made it to five years, you know something about planning out the path your SMB will navigate.

If you are to stay on the cutting edge of your field, you need to be one step ahead of your competition, meaning you need to visualize future obstacles and plan now for how your business will overcome those obstacles. If you are working solo right now and intend to grow, it is vital that you have your next employee BEFORE you need him/her.

Planning ahead will enable you to work with your new employee, preparing him/her for his/her responsibilities so that when the day arrives and you can no longer work alone, you have the staff to ensure that your SMB continues to run smoothly.

Network Now! According to a national survey conducted by The National Association of Colleges and Employers, employers expect to hire 17.4 percent more new college graduates in 2006-07 than they hired in 2005-06. Employers cite growth of their organizations, current employees nearing retirement age, high attrition rates, and business needs requiring increased hiring as the primary reasons for the increase in employment opportunities.

As an SMB owner experiencing, or expecting, issues mentioned in the survey, it is crucial that you look now for your next employee. An SMB interested in keeping their budget low, at the possible cost of sacrificing experience for wages, should focus on recent college graduates. Schools across the nation host Networking and Career Fair events offering prime opportunities for recruiters and SMB owners to meet upcoming graduates. If you’re interested in hiring someone with more experience than the average new college graduate, find events and/or seminars relating to your field, join your local Rotary Club (also a great way to reach prospective clients), Lions Club, or work through your local Chamber of Commerce.

Write a Job Description! When looking for your next, or first, employee consider what that person’s responsibilities will be. Construct a job description for the opening within you SMB. Doing so will allow you to keep in mind what you are looking for throughout the resume review and interview process. A detailed job description will also make your life easier by providing job applicants with a clear picture of the position, equaling more qualified applicants. Once you have created a job description detailing expectations for the position, consider posting it on internet job search engines such as Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com, and Craigslist.org.

Job Specific Skills can be Taught, Personality and Work Ethic Cannot! Dr. Keiser, owner of Heartland Veterinary Hospitals Inc., and Jim Collins stress that while job descriptions are very important, do not overlook a potential ‘winner’ based on a lack of experience. Job specific skills can be taught once an employee is hired, but a winning personality, excellent communications skills and a drive to succeed are much harder to instill. As you fill the seats on your bus, look for individuals with traits that will make them a catch in this fast-changing world. Technology and business tactics will change and if your employee base is built solely upon individuals competent in the tasks required today, but lacking in less tangible skills such as morality, work ethic, and creativity, your SMB will hit a roadblock when you realize the tasks you built your work force on have changed. In the words of Jim Collins

… if people board the bus principally because of all the other great people on the bus, you’ll be much faster and smarter in responding to changing conditions. Second, if you have the right people on your bus, you don’t need to worry about motivating them. The right people are self-motivated: Nothing beats being part of a team that is expected to produce great results. And third, if you have the wrong people on the bus, nothing else matters. You may be headed in the right direction, but you still won’t achieve greatness. Great vision with mediocre people still produces mediocre results.

VSI is Proud to Announce the Newest Driver on our Bus! Lee Whitcraft, well versed in the field of SMBs, joined the VSI team early this spring as the Business Development Manager for Colorado. Lee joins VSI following his eight year stint as founder and owner of a custom electronic integration business. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Lee held, for seven years, the title of National Sales Manager for Dart International developing his knowledge of retail management, sales, and customer service. Lee’s addition and expertise will continue to diversify the ways VSI can serve YOU!

Referrals - Thank you for letting us serve your business. Our success has been based on your satisfaction with our company and your willingness to continue to provide referrals. For this reason we ask, "How likely are you to refer our company to a friend or colleague?" If you don't feel you could recommend us, please let us know how we could better meet your needs. We greatly appreciate you and are hopeful that you will continue to refer new business to us!

Small Business Tip of the Month- When recruiting new employees, set high expectations. Don't rely on the “trickle” effect of easing them in slowly. Make sure they hit the ground running and get involved in projects right away. If employees aren't actively working on important issues within a few weeks, they fall into a routine of doing the minimum and you'll never get them motivated to grow you SMB.