In the early days of running a business, we do everything by ourselves – from creating graphics & writing copy to bookkeeping and social media scheduling
But once things are starting to pick up, it’s time to look for support. In most cases, online business owners start by outsourcing work to contractors and freelancers before hiring full-time employees.
The benefit: you can delegate tasks hourly or project based and you don’t have to deal with all the bureaucracy that comes with hiring a person full-time.
However, just because those team members are contractors does not mean that you should spend less time on the recruitment process.
Especially when you run a small business, you want to make sure that your hires are the “perfect match”.
An initial interview gives you a first impression, a gut feeling. A sample project will give you some clarity on the skill level or way of working. But will you know if the person is 100% the right fit? Will you know how someone performs in a high-pressure situation? Or how they work in a team? Probably not.
However, when you run a tight ship, you don’t have time to hire and fire. You need a badass team. Now.
A total game changer when it comes to hiring for an important decision in your team or assessing the strengths of your current team to see if they are the right fit for a specific role are personality tests.
Tests like 16personalities or the Kolbe Strengthsfinder help you to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your (potential) team members as well as the environment they perform best in.
For example, you want to hire a community manager? You are ideally looking for a more extroverted person. Your project manager is all about the “big picture”? Then his right hand should be someone detailed, who makes sure that the projects not only get planned but also implemented and executed.
Consider the specific roles you need to fill and determine the skills & traits that are needed to perform them.
Don’t get distracted by the skills and achievements listed on a cover letter, as they don’t necessarily tell you how someone does the work, if that person is passionate about the work they’re doing, or if they come with a highly proactive, get-it-done attitude that is needed when scaling a business with a small team.
NEED HELP IN FINDING THE RIGHT MATCH?
Tired of swiping left and right, looking for the perfect match?
As an Online Business Manager I help online business owners like you scale their business with the help of systems, technology and a thriving team. Having worked with dozens of entrepreneurs and startup founders, I know how important every single member in a team is. I’ve created my very own system to recruit and onboard new team members to make sure they’re the right fit and have all the information to excel in their role.
Reach out to me here when you’re ready to get help in building a badass team.
