5 signs you're ready to bring on a new hire
Sometimes it's not easy to know when to hire in your small business, and you might resist putting out a "help wanted" ad because of that uncertainty. You'll know that it's time to hire employees when you notice one or more of the following five signs.
1. There’s been an increase in workload
An increase in sales directly translates to more work for you, a partner, and anyone else that's been helping out. It's the best kind of problem to have for a small business. It's also a sign that you need to hire employees to get the work turned over and out the door.
This isn't the time to be asking yourself when to hire in your small business; rather, it's the time to write up a job description that relates to the position you need to fill and look for a suitable candidate.
2. You’ve been growing
All of your efforts to grow your business have paid off in the form of increased sales, but fulfillment is putting a strain on you and your current staff.
When you can confidently say that the growth is permanent, it's time to look into hiring new people to maintain a steady pace of order taking and delivery.
Expect to keep the new company hires for the long-term as you'll need seasoned staff to handle further growth and help train new employees as needed.
3. Your employees have been working overtime
Overtime helps your business keep up with an increase in business, but it's not good for the long term and your bottom line.
You're risking burnout of your workforce, and the extra cost of overtime eats into your profitability. When it looks like an upswing in sales is permanent, it's time to hire more people to handle the workload.
It's undeniable that adding another person to the payroll is an increased expense, but the tradeoff comes in the form of satisfied customers and a workforce that's productive and proactive.
It's true that new staff require training, something that can cause delays in productivity in the short term. In the long term, the new employee becomes one of the team and learns how to provide support to others while performing their duties.
4. You need someone with a unique skill set
One of the reasons why a business grows is because it's entering into producing a good or service that's related to its core operation.
You and your staff may not have enough in the way of skills to produce the new offering with any degree of regularity. That means you need someone with a unique skill set to get the work done right.
There's always the option to send a current employee to school and have them train in the skill set, but this involves time and expense you may not be able to spare.
It's more convenient and sensible to hire a new employee that's got education and experience in the area of need. If you're not sure of how to identify a candidate with the right skill set, consider working with recruiters to help you save time and effort on finding a qualified individual.
5. You’re launching new products or services
A new product or service launch can result in a surge of business and quickly overwhelm your employees' ability to keep pace.
The question here is do you hire temporary or permanent employees to compensate for the demand? Hiring temporary employees or outsourcing helps you scale up with increases and drops in demand.
Also, there's nothing that says you can't hire a temporary employee for a permanent position if the demand stays high and they've proven themselves as a good employee.