We’re currently a one-man shop, not by choice, but because we hired an employee to fit a specific position that needed to be filled and due to a number of factors it turned out to be a horrible experience. As a result we’re now like turtles too scared to go through the process again we’d just prefer to stay in our protective shells. In reading Vlad’s recent post, http://www.vladville.com/2008/04/poor-corporate-hiring-strategies-in-smb.html, I felt like he was talking to me, probably because Vlad knows enough of us that he’s heard the same sob story over and over.
We know we can’t remain a one-man shop, so we’re waiting for the right person…yes waiting. Every day I meet new people through friends, family, casual encounters and I’m always evaluating how this person carry themselves, are they technical, can they carry a conversation about politics, sports, technology etc. I also try to assess how my clients, both the owner and the end-users, would react if this person became their go to person instead of me.
So why this way? Well in five years we’ve slowly built up good clientele and never once did any of my existing clientele ask for my technical credentials. Clients like my ability to sit down with them and talk in clear terms about their pain points, their needs and then in just as clear of terms my ability to present a solution. Once the solution is in place is where my technical capabilities shine, specifically my ability to keep them running with minimal downtime.
So back to, what’s the right person? In the SMB space the right person is a technically savvy person that can relate to business owners so that they can be empathetic to costs, productivity, value and ensure that we’re not just pushing technology but a solution to improve their way of doing things, one who can talk in layman terms to the end-user, one who can evaluate what’s going on around them i.e. products, the industry, trends, etc. and come up with new ideas or a new way of doing things that will make the company better, one who understands that if there’s a client down and it’s 5 a.m. and there’s something we can do about it to just take care of it. Try putting all that in a Craigslist ad or on Monster, yeah that won’t go so well.
So what should the hiring process be? When we find that person our formal interview process would be a little lengthy, but I’d present a technical item I’d like presented then ask them to create a brief five minute presentation along with a handout. I’d be able to evaluate oral and written skills. I would also have them perform a technical resolution via the phone without the use of remote tools, just walking the user through various screens, this is to test patience and ability to explain what they’re visualizing. Last item, would have them walk me through Small Business Server and the areas that they’d access and the tools that they’d utilize on a routine basis.
For the background check, I’d leave that to our outsourced HR advisor, but I would encourage the HR advisor to take advantage of a criminal background check, a credit check (yes how a person handles their credit say a lot about a person) and a driving record check. I would also encourage a drug testing policy, even for a two-man shop.
Filed under: Business Focus
