Blair Stover

Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Posts Tagged hiring

3 Types of People You Should Hire

Jan 15

Posted by Blair Stover in Business | No Comments

There are certain mindsets found in people that every company should consider hiring. These are the types of people who have proven to successfully and consistently introduce new products and services. Furthermore, these are the sort of employees who tend to work well in teams and support co-workers. Additionally, creativity and industry changing ideas tend to be launched by this kind of employee.

Firstly, look for a challenging coach who can be a mentor. Hold out for the employee who will challenge co-workers when their best foot is not forward. Yet, also look for someone who will be willing to assist in the improvement. Your company needs that person who will see the potential in other workers when they feel they are out of ideas and get employees to believe in themselves. Having such a person on your team will encourage others to take the chances they may not have. This is a person who sees opportunity in failure and keeps the train moving.

Nextly, you will want to hold out for the entrepreneur. This type of person enjoys resolving tough challenges. This is where the best creations are born. Where some may perceive tribulations, the entrepreneur views opportunity. A person in this mindset feels power over the outcome of their choices. They feel in control of their destiny.

Finally, you will want to search for your opposite. Create a balance for your company. If your company is full of creativity, you will not fall short in the creative department, but you may be lacking in the ‘get-it-done’ type of employee. Without a balance, things may not get done. Find the employee who will keep you in balance.

Keep the diversity in your company. Hold out for the inspiring and the best so that your company can reach its potential.

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How to Interview Long Distance Job Candidates

Jul 22

Posted by Blair Stover in Business | No Comments

Interviewing job candidates, in general, can be difficult. As Monster.com states in their own article on interviewing candidates, there are several points you want to gauge for in a potential new employee, including self-awareness, and desire for the position. Doing this in any format other than a personal interview has challenges. Long distance interviewing is not new, but has in fact been around as long as there have been telephones. Video interviewing is rather new, and actually not very common even given the universal usage of computers. In any case, telephone and video interviewing techniques require a different skill set on the part of the employer. There are three main things to keep in mind when conducting such an interview.

One, do your homework. Just because this encounter is not in person does not release you from your obligation to prepare carefully. Have your questions ready for the interviewee, and if at all possible do a rehearsal with someone before actually “meeting” the candidate on the telephone or onscreen. Question and answer repartee is different when you are not in the same room with the other person. For one thing, you might not be able to notice facial expressions or pick up those low-frequency voice tones, which carry important meaning. Work on the timing of your questions, making sure to allow the candidate to answer fully before moving to the next item.

Two, be familiar with any technical hardware that you will be using, such as video phones, chat software, or voice relay systems. These might be bundled with your computer’s software, but if you have never used them, then you should definitely spend time getting to know your way around the technical side of things.

Finally, remember that you are conducting a job interview, even though you might be sitting in your den or near the pool. Try to keep it formal, to some extent at least. This will convey a sense of professionalism which will emanate from your voice and attitude. When interviewees do not have your physical gestures to rely on, they often look to other cues, like tone of voice or word choice.

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Social Media Recruiting Tools for Small Businesses

Jun 16

Posted by Blair Stover in Business | No Comments

If you’re an entrepreneur or a recruiter for a large company, it is not always easy to find the most talented, qualified applicants for the job you’re looking to fill. Now with social media being so prevalent, a hiring manager can leverage social media as a way to recruit potential employees.

Between Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, there are close to 550 million users and many of those users are looking for work. As a business owner looking to hire new talent, these numbers offer a large talent pool from which to choose, but with that many individuals on these social networking sites, it can be overwhelming to know how to narrow the prospects. We offer you these tips:

LinkedIn should be your first stop for professional talent as this is a networking site that boasts a more professional atmosphere and is also where job seekers – and those looking to fill positions – typically congregate. Keep in mind that LinkedIn also represents close to 200 industries and 200 countries, making the talent pool even larger. As a LinkedIn user you can “advertise” for talent or you can look through your contacts and the connections of others to find likely candidates.

While Facebook remains the largest social networking site, boasting 400 million users, this is a site that connects individuals in a more social way as opposed to the professional contact building done on LinkedIn. That is not to say you can’t find a full talent pool on Facebook, but you might have to search a bit more and depending on the privacy settings individuals are employing, good potential candidates might not get found.

Twitter can be used to connect a business owner with a potential audience of job candidates as well. You can certainly post on Twitter that you are looking to fill a position. Highlight the position within your tweet with a hash tag, for example, #hiring a #graphic designer as a way to get found.

In all of these examples you can post free “ads” in which you seek potential candidates or you can upgrade the accounts to purchase paid advertisements or ads on your personal page. Posting status updates on your company’s personal pages is a way to let potential candidates know you are hiring. Chances are, your company is likely being followed by “someone who knows someone” and thus the connection begin. Many hiring managers are having great luck in finding potential candidates and filling positions through the use of social networking — all of which are low to no cost ways to fill company vacancies — and that is great for the bottom line.

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