Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

One of my design clients is a business columnist and author. He has written extensively on the hiring (and de-hiring) of employees.

We just put a video about the employment process on his website. It may be helpful to those reading this discussion.

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Design & Consulting | | Water Harvesting

An excellent resource. Thanks for sharing. I read Dale Dauten`s column all
the time.

Before the days of "desktop publishing," I owned a typesetting company with
an office and 13 employees, but the graphic design field is almost entirely a
cottage industry now. Every designer I know is grinding themselves into the
ground working 7 days a week. It`s not that we can`t think of anything better
to do with our time. It`s because bringing an employee into your home IS
risky. I`ve considered renting an office, but that adds costs which may be
difficult to recoup when competing with other home-based designers. It`s a
dilemma.

I noticed that you said you were on a mac. I`ve been thinking of one day hiring  help and connecting via iChat.
This Spring they are coming out with a thing called a shared desktop. (part of iChat) Instead of just looking at each other ... you can work with the same files  and watch what the employee is trying to show you as they speak.  You need a connection that has a high upload speed. Most people have a fast download connection. That`s the main cost involved.

Oooh! I had no idea. Thank you! That would go a long way toward solving
the dilemma.

Do a Google search for "virtual meeting" or "online meeting," and there are a number of companies offering shared whiteboards, collaboration software, and other tools to share visual ideas over the Web. Then there`s Skype and other ways to have meetings with voice. Cisco offers a simple way to have a meeting where attendees can come through phone or use QuickTime and a computer microphone.

There are lots of ways to reduce the risk of bringing someone into your home. Over the past six years, I`ve put out four editions of a commercial book, and frankly, I have no idea who I`ve worked with. Every aspect of the entire thing was done via email, attachments, and phone calls. Now I`m working freelance and don`t ever expect, really, to meet my "employers." Yes, I could also say "client," since I`m a writer for hire, they`re paying for services, but they`re also an  online employer so to speak.

Finding employees or contractors is one thing. Proving out reliability is another. But the online process at leasts limits the risk when it`s broken down to smallest components. If the person doesn`t or can`t do that one small thing, they won`t work out. You can do incremental "hiring," just by increasing the work load, deadline constraints, and level of responsibility per job/task.

I, like Lynn have also hired many employees and I agree totally about checking references. This is a must! 

Another thing you can do is to have a list of questions prepared for your position.  Ask behavioral questions such as "What would you do in this situation?" and describe a typical situation on the job.  Choose situations that would gauge how reliable they might be.  

Also you can ask questions about attendance in prior jobs.  They might think it`s acceptable to call in sick 3 times a month, but you don`t.  A question I`ve used before is that you have an assignment due and you don`t think you`re going to get it done, and you can`t reach your boss.  What do you do?  This shows how quick they can think and how resourceful they might be. 

You should also look very closely at their job history for "job hopping" and gaps in employment.  These can be very enlightening.  Hope these are helpful.

Speaking to the list of questions, what about the principles of NLP? This involves the idea that we have less conscious control over our words than we might think. As such, although certain questions may appear to be simple, or off the cuff, they speak volumes about a person`s character.

For example, "When you`re in a bank and there`s a line of people behind you, do you feel pressured when it`s your turn to use the teller window?"

That sort of question can be put casually, on a person-to-person basis. It isn`t about the job, or the interview, it`s just a question. It could just as easily be about the checkout line at a supermarket. But the response provides signficant information.

If the person doesn`t care, or if they`re pressured, their response is associated with how they handle themselves at the center of attention. It speaks to how they handle pressure, how much initiative and personal confidence they have, and what they think about "the public." That in turn speaks to how they`ll handle customer service.

If their reaction is passive, they`ll likely be pushed around by irritable customers. If their response is to not care, they`ll also not much care about other customer anxieties. If they`re cognizant that others are waiting, but they try to conduct their business efficiently, they`re empathetic to other people`s time. And so on and so forth.

Michele,

It sounds that a perfect solution for you would be to “partner” with another entrepreneur rather than “hire” an employee.

We’re out there and we are called Virtual Assistants.

I won’t write a book here, although I could. I’m very passionate about what I do and LOVE to talk about it!

Rather, I’m suggesting you check out the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce.

VACOC

There is a VA directory and much more information about the VA industry and how we work. The standards to be listed in this directory are quite high, not anyone can get listed. We strive for quality not quantity. You can even submit an RFP (Request for Partnering) to the forum.

HTH!





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Joy Slaughter - A Capital Solution - giving you the time to do what truly brings you joy Providing remote administrative support to the holistic/healing arts community

Thanks, Joy, I`ll check it out.

I actually did speak with a prospective VA this past week, but when I described what I do, we couldn`t figure out how sher services migh offload some hours for me. Seek and ye shall find is true...I`ll keep looking.

Michele,

We (VAs) all have our strengths and the type of client we serve best. I`m sure if you keep searching, the "right" answer for you will come up.

If you`d like to contact me off forum and tell me what exactly you are looking for, I may have a few people to put you in contact with.




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Joy Slaughter - A Capital Solution - giving you the time to do what truly brings you joy Providing remote administrative support to the holistic/healing arts community