Is your online business getting too busy for you to manage on your own? Has the time come for you to be thinking about hiring some help? This is great news if you are doing so well that you now need to expand, but you need to make sure that you find the right people.
Start With Remote Jobs
Start by looking at any jobs that can be done remotely. This could delay you having to think about renting premises to accommodate any staff. You could also use freelancers for these types of jobs, as then you only pay for whatever work they do and have none of the legal duties that are attached to being an employer.
Most things that do not have a physical component can be handled remotely. Tasks such as marketing, social media management, tracking new orders, bookkeeping or even chatting with customers can all be done from a remote location.
There are several online resources for finding remote workers for all types of professions, including website design, graphic design, content writers and many more. My personal favourite is Fiverr.
Onsite Jobs
If you are making the products you sell, or need help with shipping or tracking stock, you will need workers onsite. In fact, any physical job will need employees who are working with you. Because your business is online does not mean that you do not have premises of some sort as well. It could be an office, a warehouse, a high street store or a combination of all three.
In this situation, you will need to look for employees that have the skills the tasks in hand need, and you should look very carefully at the best way new employees could help before you decide on what these skills need to be.
When you are interviewing prospective new staff, you need to feel that they will fit in well with your existing team, as you do not want anyone that is going to be a problem and slow production down. There are lots of job sites online where you can advertise these positions, and sites where people looking for work advertise their skills.
Executive Positions
Executive positions are a whole different ball game when it comes to finding the right candidate. Unless you are experienced yourself in the job they need to do, how can you be certain they would be competent? A finance manager, for example, would need accountancy skills, and you are a business owner, not a qualified accountant. An HR manager would need to know all the ins and outs of employment laws, and a health and safety person would have to be up to date with all the latest rules and regulations.
The easy way around this is to use executive headhunters who are able to whittle prospective candidates down to ones that are fully qualified to do the job your business needs.
Turning A Small Business Into A Larger One
Your workforce can be your biggest asset and if you have employed the right people, they will help you turn your small business into a larger one. It is worth making the effort to find the employees that suit your business, and each other the best as then they will work as a team. Research has shown that teamwork is the biggest factor if you want maximum production levels and business success.
Take your time and make sure your interviewing process is robust. Just one interview will not really cut it as you can end up hiring an incompetent and therefore will lose time and money. Many people are good at interviews but not the job… no matter what their CV says! It might also be useful to include psychometric testing especially if you are hiring people into an existing team.
Hire the right staff and everything else will fall into place with your growing online business.
I hope this post has been useful and given you some food for thought, if your online business now needs to expand and grow. If so please give it a share on your favourite social media platform.
As ever if you have any questions or want to share your thoughts, please leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
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