THIS is How to Find Your Perfect Employee

Welcome to Ali and you'd the Business Success and lifestyle show. My name is Alison Maslin, my friends call me Ali. And you've come to the right place to get your business questions answered. We are in the middle of a three part series on how to scale your business, how to delegate, how to hire and to build the team. Today we are talking about how to hire those right people that are going to be there for you to move your vision forward. Well, I am really excited today to talk about how to hire. I mean, there really isn't a class that you necessarily take on that. And you know, it's a little bit different for each business. But there are some things about hiring that really run across most industries and most business models. And it took me a while to really figure this out. I'm in my 10th business now, so I think I've got it down. But it's, you know, hiring is about people and it's, you know, it's, everyone has different communication styles, people have a different way of operating and what their needs are and what their desires are and so forth. So hiring is, I'd say it's kind of an art. It's a bit of a science and it's also a bit, a bit of an art. Now last week I talked about delegating because that's the whole point is why you need a team is because you got into this business, now it's growing and you can't do everything. You may have a small team and you're outgrowing the small team and you need to add more people or you might be in a place where the people that you took on when you were starting out with your company, maybe they're not really the ones to help you grow the company. And there's some difficult decisions that we have to make oftentimes with the people that we work with. And that's not easy because you get close to those people and you really care about them. But when you grow your company, you have to be thinking about these things. Are the people that you have on your team right now, are they really the ones? Do they have what it takes to help you get to the next level? So either way, whether you're starting out and you're just building a team or you're reevaluating saying, do I have the right team? Can they help me? Are they the ones to help me take it to the next level? So these are very important questions to ask and ones that I talk to business owners all the time about these things now My father was an amazing businessman, and he had thousands of employees at one time. He had over 50 clothing stores. And I grew up in these stores and worked amongst all these people and many of the people that worked on his team that were with him for decades and decades, and it was really awesome to grow up around this. And he was also a great leader, and he was wonderful at inspiring people and motivating them. And I learned so much from him. And I remember asking my dad later in his life, and I would always try to pull business wisdom from him because he did it so naturally. It's not like he was really following any instruction book. And so I said, you know, Dad, a lot of times people have hard time finding those right key people. You know, what would you say to that? And he said, you know, there are great people out there. You just need to train them well and you need to have patience. And that's very simple advice, but I think it's really powerful. So first examine the people that you do have, and if you're questioning are they the right fit or not, and maybe you need to take the time and just train them a little bit more, or maybe you need to put them in another position within the company where they can really thrive, or it may just be that they're not a fit. And what I've realized, because I've had to let some people go over the years, it's my least favorite thing to do in the whole wide world. But what I learned was that if I was feeling that somebody wasn't a fit, then generally it's not a fit for them either. And oftentimes, even though, like, I dreaded that conversation, it ended up being a really nice conversation. And so that that person can now go find where they will thrive. It's kind of like hanging on to a emotional relationship with somebody too long when it's really time for both of you to let it, let them go now. So when you are filling that position or a new position, one of the first things that you need to do is figure out what is the role that you need to fill. And that may change over time, because when you're smaller, you know, one person could do the job of two or three people because it hasn't grown that much yet. But as you grow, those roles will redefine, especially in a small business. We have about 12 employees now with everybody. And so over time, those roles have changed as we've grown and we've added other divisions on within our company. So first you just got to really Think of what is the role you need to fill. So. So this is a really cool chart that I made. I call it the Success Team. And this is kind of like your dream board for your team. And I mean, you could just really create some squares and, you know, just put them on a yellow lined paper. But basically, this is you. Okay? And these are, you know, this could be a partner. This could be, as you grow, like a chairman of operations or something like that, or it could just be your assistant, you know, whatever. These are the people that are closest to you, working closely with you. And then these could be the different departments of your company. Now, you know, as you're growing in a small business, it's not like a corporation where you're like, oh, there's the marketing division and there's the accounting division. It's not like that. It's like everybody is kind of together. That's our corner over there. That's our marketing corner. But let's just say as you begin to build this team, you are going to have different divisions in your company. And even though you may not be a big company, you need to start looking at the areas of your business as sectors, as divisions. Okay? So every business has. You need admin help in some way, right? You need bookkeeper, you need an assistant. Marketing is another. Sales is another. Maybe, you know, whatever your product development. You know, for us, we. I have a business mastermind. We do private and mastermind coaching for business owners all over the country. And so I have an amazing team of coaches that work with me. So we have a whole coaching division. We have an event planning division. And that this doesn't have to be all these people necessarily in house under one roof. Some of them could be on a contractor, or it could be in house or virtual or whatever. But when you look at your business this way, kind of divide it up. It helps you to see, you know, as we grow, these are the people that I would like to put into place. Now, there's a couple ways as you're growing your business. One is you wait until you're like, you know, your bandwidth is like, oh, my gosh, you know, we're doing the job of three people. We need somebody else in here so that we can take this off of our plate. And another way to hire is to hire forward. Which is what I like to do is to say, you know what, this is an area of where I want a direction. I want to take the company, I want to bring in revenue to this point. So I'm going to Put somebody in this position that, to help build the company that way. So most companies do it the, you know, wait until you're all, you're stretched and you need to put that in there. It really depends what works best for you. Sometimes it's kind of a cash flow issue. And I'll talk about that in just a second. So think about who is that next person that you really want to hire? Generally you're going to start with when you're building a company, you're going to have your admin first so that it can take the basic things off of your plate. Okay. So that's customer care, emails, travel appointments, errands, you know, all kinds of just administrative things that they can handle, right. That you're probably spending maybe up late at night trying to get done. That could save you hours and hours of time so that now you can focus on getting out there, bringing in business, building relationships, working on those strategies and so forth. And so then the, the next level would be in, in the marketing realm generally if you're doing for instance, all of your social media, if you are, you know, handling all of the parts about getting your name out there, being seen and heard everywhere, you know, as you grow, you're going to need some help with that as well. Okay. And then you know, your customer care, you know, it kind of goes down the line with that. So how do you. So first you want to start figure out the role. Write down everything that this, this position entails. What is important for this person, the skills that they have to have. The type of personality. Like are you looking for someone that's a real go getter, that's an extrovert. You know, in sales you need someone that's out there, that is a real relationship person that's comfortable on the phone. That's going to be a very different personality. Then maybe that's not as important when you're talking about somebody that's doing your books. So once you get clear on the role, then you can write a job placement, right? You can do, you can create a job posting. Now the interesting thing is now I don't know about you, but I hire more for the person who they are as a person. Now the skills of course are important and if they have a history of doing the things that you need, that's great. But I would rather have somebody that has the enthusiasm, the passion, the motivation that's willing to get in there with all of us and be committed and work overtime, whatever it takes to get the job done. It's really about attitude. And also somebody that can be a quick learner, that's independent, that can take directions and run with it. They can kind of think through from A to B to C to D so that you don't have to micromanage and all that stuff. Right? So think about what is really important to you, and then you can put that into your job placement. So one of the ways obviously, is posting an ad, whether it's on Monster, on LinkedIn, on Indeed. Some people use ZipRecruiter. There are a lot of channels out there that you can post the ads. The other way to hire is to talk to people that know you and they understand who you are, what your needs are, what your company is about. Talk to friends. For instance, we just hired someone new on our team and I'm really excited about. And she had seen the ad on LinkedIn, but I actually knew her from the gym. So it's, you know, when you have that history, it's, you know, it helps to kind of see how somebody is in their everyday life, especially if they come from a referral and somebody that knows you. Another great way is to talk to your employees that you have, the team that you have, even some of your clients. It's some of the best way to, to find people working for you. In fact, several people that are on my team now came from other people on our team that knew them, they knew they would be a right fit and so forth. So the next piece to this. So you place your ad, you're talking to several people. Sometimes you can get inundated from resumes and you're like, oh, my gosh, I don't even want to do this because it's going to take so much time to hire. Right? And so then you just continue to do all the work and you don't delegate because you think that's going to take so much time. But that's kind of silly because you're just prolonging the inevitable that you're going to crash and burn. So anyway, one thing that I do is instead of, you know, calling a bunch of people in for an interview, either myself or someone from my team, we tend to just call people up. Like, we narrow it down to about five people, and then we just call them up on the phone. And I like to just sort of surprise people because you can tell a lot by how someone answers the phone or, you know, when they're not super prepared, because that's how they're going to be, right in your workspace is they're just going to be themselves. So I can usually tell on the phone within a couple of minutes if it's somebody that I want to bring in for an interview. And so you can narrow it down to, let's say, three people. You should always interview at least three people for a position. One mistake that people do is they interview one person and they're so desperate to get somebody hired and they're like, okay, you're hired and that's it. And they didn't really talk to anybody else. And you know, remember who you're hiring, you're going to be with for a long time, hopefully, and it's the right person. I'd rather see you take your time and up front so that you don't have hassle later. Okay? It's called hire slowly, fire fast. And so take your time so that you have the people with you that are going to really help you grow your business over the long term and hire people that you enjoy being with and you know, that really get you and so forth. That's not something that you can just do on a dime. So bring them in. And I recommend three times interviewing somebody. And I also recommend that you have other people interview the person. And if you don't have any employees, get your spouse, get a friend. Because you, you're so idealistic. Like, you want this person, you want it to work out just like a relationship, you know, in the beginning when stuff comes up and you're like, well, you know, it's really okay that they smoke or I know that they don't like commitment, but I'll change them, right? We've all been there, so we know that story. So you really need somebody else that doesn't. That's looking at this through a clear lens so they can, you can make a good decision. So three interviews, and I often like to interview people in different places. Sometimes people show up differently in different places and do they show up on time? And you know, all of those things that you need to factor in that are really important. How do they dress? How is their appearance? And all of those things because remember, whoever you have in your company, they're representing your company and your brand. So all of those things are important. So then the other piece is that as you're interviewing them and you want to ask them, you want to understand how do they operate under stress? Because we all do great when things are going really smoothly. But you and I both know that that's not really reality in business. There's ups and downs. Things break down, deadlines aren't met, something goes haywire, right? And so you need people that can roll with that and let it roll off their back and can think, think clearly and prioritize and get in there and make it happen instead of freaking out and, you know, getting paralyzed. I had an assistant one time that used to get so stressed out that she used to stress me out. Like, she was, like, nervous all of the time. And I finally had to pull her in my office. And I said, you're supposed to help me feel calmer. And I'm like, you're stressing me out, so that's not going to work. So ask questions like. Like that, you know, give me an example. When you had something crazy happen and how did you handle it? And how do you know how to prioritize? Give me the steps that you follow. Another really good question is how. What are some things that you really still need to work on? Maybe it's not your best area. You'd like to learn more. I mean, oftentimes you can. You know, people will really tell you, you know, well, you know, I'm not really organized or, you know, I don't handle stress well. Things like that, that you're like, okay, that's not going to work. So try to get under. Need to get some of those things instead of just some of the basic surface questions. Then you also need to sell them on your company. You also need to let them know how great your vision is, where you want to take the company. Do you know what employees really want? They want to know that they can grow. That's what they want. And oftentimes, even more than the revenue, they want to know they're going to grow as a. As a human being, as an individual. They're going to expand their mind. They're going to have all kinds of opportunities and things like that. So show them the possibilities of where your dream is. Because ultimately, what's going to grow your company is to have a team that can get behind your vision, that can get excited about it and fuel it forward. So, for instance, in our business, we help people make their dreams come true. We work with business owners just like you. And so, gosh, I love the fact that, I mean, my role is so rewarding because I get to see people like you actually change their lives and reach their dreams and make enough money to make a difference for their family and give back and all of those incredible things. I mean, so many stories all of the time. And. And so I want my team to be behind that, and they are they love being part of a team that is changing lives. So what is your vision and how can you find people that can help you take that vision to a whole other level? That's the goal. And we need to get a lot of these things off your plate, surround yourself with experts to help you grow your business and so that you can really focus on those important things to drive that vision forward. All right, so I hope this was helpful for you. And next week I'm going to talk about how to actually build the team. Once you have the team, how do you get them on board with the vision? How do you get them excited about it? How do you keep them motivated and how do you keep them on task? How do you have them work united as a team? Alright, so remember, get out there, elevate yourself, and until next time, I will see you soon. Hi, it's Alyson Maslin and if you are at the stage of your business where you're at the high six figures or into the seven figures, you're really scaling, this is time for you to have a higher level conversation, higher level training. Well, I am so excited to announce the CEO Success Network Retreat. Imagine being on the beach this summer in beautiful San Diego, surrounded by the most dynamic business owners and getting the new strategy, the new direction that you need, the new game plan to take your business where you are right now to a whole new level. I am so excited to support you in this new level of your business. Apply today and we'll see you this summer in San Diego.