Hiring Tips for Start-ups and Small Businesses

Hiring Tips for Start-ups and Small Businesses Hiring the right person can make a huge difference and determine the success or failure of a small company. It is therefore one of the most important decisions every entrepreneur will have to make at some point. Small businesses are often pressured for time when looking for a new employee, but rush is one of these factors you should avoid, if you want to secure a quality hire. Take a look at the guide on how to hire and recruit the right people for your small business. Define the position clearly: As a small business owner, you may not have a lot of experience in hunting down new employees. Therefore, the first and the most important step you should take is to carefully think through your job offer. The internet is overflowing with unclear and incomplete job adds. To make your offer stands out from the pack, ensure it doesnt contain any ambiguities and clearly specifies employee’s duties. However enthusiastic you may be about your company, try not to oversell â€"present the work environment truthfully and be realistic. Also, dont expect your prospective employee to do everything from sorting mail to designing your logo. Apart from that, you should let your website do some of the work for you. Make it clear and reliable. It should contain essential information about your professional ethics, products, and clients. Single out the values and principles your company stands by to make it easier for prospective employee to identify with your business. Learn from your competitors: Follow your competition on social media to be up-to-date with their recruiting methods. Take a look at how your professional rivals recruit new employees. Skim through their job offers and note down the skills and features they are looking for. Although you know who are you looking for, studying the actions of your competition may give you a general idea of what is missing from your job ad. Apart from that, try using Google Trends, which is a handy tool that will help you to compare the popularity of job offer titles and hiring-related phrases. Use it to the fullest to customize your offers so that they get more views and shares. The importance of pre-selection: Once your job offer is out there you may receive thousands of applications. Large businesses have HR departments to separate the wheat from the chaff and to pick only the best candidates, but you will have to do it with your limited resources. To make this process as smooth as possible, we recommend making a must-have list of features and skills any prospective employee needs to possess. It’s the perfect time to be brutal â€" if a resume doesn’t list all required qualities, the candidate probably won’t meet your expectations. Engage your staff to go through some of the applications together. Dare to be different: International corporations have their ways to attract employees, but that doesnt mean that your small business has no chances to compete with the industry giants. Being a small business owner, you may not have unlimited financial resources, but you can always find different ways to attract new talent to your company. The key is to be unique and build a complete employment strategy that will guarantee room to fulfil employee’s goals and ambitions. Additionally, offer some one-of-a-kind perks. You may allow your staff to devote several hours a week for an extra project of their choice, or simply work from home and have more flexible work schedule. Reach out: If you are looking for experts in a narrow field, you may want to consider recruitment agencies, despite the fact that the cost of such outsourcing is significant, as it constitutes from 10 to 20 percent of candidate’s annual salary. If you do decide to go for that option, make sure to select a trusted agency. But hiring a recruitment agency is not the only choice to find devoted employees. You can also hunt the talent on professional meetups, conferences, and trade shows. Recruitment is always a two-way street. The candidate needs to impress you, but in return, you need to attract your candidate to make him want to work with you. We believe that with help of our tips, you will make the right hiring decisions. Author: Monique Craig is an Australian blogger and marketing specialist who works for Oneflare, an online marketplace which connects customers with local service providers.

Why Working Remotely Doesnt Mean Your Home Has to Be Your Office

Why Working Remotely Doesn’t Mean Your Home Has to Be Your Office Studies are repeatedly showing that Millennials enjoy a work life balance and flexibility in their work environment. This may be part of why you’re working from home or it may be something else, but whatever the reasons, you probably enjoy your home working environment. However, no matter if you’re doing your job in a cubicle or from your home office, sometimes you just need a change of environment. Thankfully, there are lots of alternatives you can consider. Where to Work Remotely Once you have decided that working from your house or apartment isnt what you want to be doing on a daily basis, the next step is to consider new locations. If you work for a company or have a contract that can build in a budget for renting personal office space, the issue may be painlessly simple to resolve. If, however, youre self-employed, a freelancer, or work for an organization that cant allocate funds for additional workspace for you, you still have options to choose from. Here are three of our favorites. Coffee Shop â€" For many people, a coffee shop offers the three most important things needed to get a good days work: seating, Internet access, and coffee. If these are what you’re looking for, you’re set. But there are some other things you should consider before you make your local Starbucks your office for the day. Any coffee shop can get noisy, which can be distracting, and if you’re someone who gets enjoys people watching, this could hinder your productivity. Plus, if the coffee shop is crowded, you may run into the business not being happy with you taking up space while only making a few small purchases. If you’re just looking for an afternoon away from your home office, though, you may have found your answer paired with a cup of Joe. Shared Work Spaces â€" The shared workspace is a great choice for many people who want a professional working environment, yet either dont want or dont have the option to work in a regular office. Community workspaces, such as those offered by ImpactHub, offer fewer distractions than other public spaces. And even more beneficial, a shared workspace have more of the professional amenities you associate with offices, such as IT support, dedicated work areas, and the potential for inspirational, motivating interaction with like-minded people. Access to a shared workspace can cost as little as a few hundred dollars a month. That can be a small price to pay for the benefits of a professional environment and the ability to separate your home life from your professional life without needing to jostle against the morning rush at the coffee shop or the afternoon crush of students at the library. Library â€" Libraries are not just places to cram for finals; they make ideal remote workplaces because they offer space and silence. (And you can stay for hours without feeling guilted into buying multiple lattes like at a coffee shop!) Plus, most libraries have reliable Internet access and, if you need any research materials, they’re right there on the shelves. Make sure you consider your work hours and how they coincide with the library hours of operation. Mix up your remote work office setting and see what works best for you. A cup of coffee will buy you an afternoon at a coffee shop, and maybe youll love working there. Libraries are free, and maybe you can get your work done on their schedule. And just because youre not in your companys office doesnt mean you have to be out of an office altogether, so try out the collaborative environment of a shared workspace and see what you think. Why You Need to Leave Your Home Office on Occasion Sure, working from home is touted as one of the best ways to maintain a work-life balance, but having your home as your office can come with some hurdles. By finding an away from home remote work setting, you’ll have a better chance of avoiding these three pitfalls of working from home. Interruptions â€" If you have roommates or pets (or a boyfriend) always coming in to ask you questions or talk to you while youre trying to work, you won’t be able to focus on getting the job done. Getting out of the house to work will give you some time away without interruptions and then when you get home, you’re available for as many Netflix binge parties or games of fetch as they want. Distractions â€" That to-do list of yours, from laundry to paying the bills, or the hobbies youd rather be enjoying, like a good show or book, can pull you away from your computer or paperwork. None of these things are available at the local shared workspace, so you can focus on getting your work done and then playing afterward. Shutting Down â€" Shutting Down If your home is also your workplace, you can never truly be away from work, and you may never feel entirely relaxed there. The work-life balance is tricky under any circumstances, and thats all the more true when both take place under one roof. While there are many benefits to working from home, there are also reasons you may want a break from that environment. We’ve suggested three locations we think are great to get some work done â€" where else have you worked remotely that works for you?

Mastering the new entrepreneurship

Mastering the new entrepreneurship The barriers to entrepreneurship are crumbling, and every six months, technology makes starting a business easier and easier. As a result, entrepreneurship has become more appealing to a wider range of people. If you measure success in terms of personal growth and flexible work, their success rate is sky high. Heres a list of the old and new ways of thinking when it comes to starting your own business: Old:  Entrepreneurs are born with a specific set of character traits. New:  Entrepreneurship is learned. There is no single way to be an entrepreneur, according to research by  Saras Sarasvathyof the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. There are actually many different types of personalities that can succeed because there are so many different ways to structure a business. The key is to pick a business that plays to your personality traits. For example, someone who has lots of charisma and leadership skill, but little interest in day-to-day details, should probably run a larger company than someone whos capable of doing all the dirty work required for a one-man show. Old:  Raise money and spend a lot of it on advertising. New:  Raise no money  and spend no money on advertising. The viral efficiencies of  Web 2.0  make todays Internet very effective for spreading good ideas quickly. You can think of an idea and test it right away, and if you get traffic to your site the idea is good. If theres no traffic, thats not a sign to spend money on advertising, its a sign that you dont have a good idea. Reddit, for example, was started by two twenty-somethings who emailed their friends and invited them to use their new online tool. Their friends liked Reddit and passed the email on to their own email lists. No advertising budget whatsoever was required, and two years later Conde Nast acquired Reddit. Old:  Women will get power in corporate America and change it. New:  Women are getting what they want by leaving corporate America to  start their own businesses. While a steady stream of press releases touts the increasing flexibility of corporate jobs, it isnt happening in practice. But instead of pounding their fists against the doors of corporate human resources departments, women have put their energy toward growing their own businesses. More businesses are started today by women than by men, and most of the sole proprietorship businesses are run by women. This tells us that women have won the fight for flexible jobs by creating them for themselves. Old:  The self-employed are happy because theyre doing what they love. New:  The self-employed are happy because they have control over their work and they have a  flexible lifestyle. The idea that you need to do what you love is more of a platitude than solid career advice. Instead, the best advice might be to do what fits your life best, and create a life that you love. Rebecca Ryan, CEO of Next Generation Consulting, writes about how instead of living to work, people today are working to live. In this context, self-employment is a very effective way to create a life you want. Old:  Climb the corporate ladder, learn the ropes, then start a company. New:  Start a company to  get out of climbing the corporate ladder. Learning the ropes at a big company is sometimes slow going. You often only learn what your own department does, and if you have a really bad job, you only learn what your department does from the perspective of the copy machine. This is no way to learn about business. The fastest way to learn about business is to try it. And since theres very little cost to starting an Internet business, you can try one, fail, and start another, and another, as a way to teach yourself about business. Eventually something will stick, and even if it doesnt, youll probably get enough experience to skip the drudgery of the bottom rungs of the corporate ladder. Old:  Entrepreneurship is all or nothing. New:  You can test the waters by starting a company  while you have a corporate job. Setting up shop online is a matter of using your mouse and clicking on the kind of features you want in your store. And there are new ways to do business online that didnt exist even two years ago. For example, you can buy and sell web sites on 24-hour message boards, and you can set up an  arbitrage  business around buying and selling web traffic. Many new types of businesses are ideal for pairing with a career you already have.  Marci Alboher  wrote a handbook for starting this kind of life: One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success. Old:  Starting a business is risky. New:  Staying in corporate life is risky. Most businesses succeed, most jobs end. The statistics about most companies failing assume that most entrepreneurs want to run the next  Microsoft. In fact, most people dont. They just want a flexible, fun, rewarding job. In that respect, if a company provides fun, flexible work for even a short period of time, you can say its a success even if it fails soon after. Old:  Do a lot of planning and make sure its going to work before you start. New:  Forget the big plan just try it. If it doesnt work, just try again. This is not true for, say, starting a restaurant, but for a company with little cash outlay theres little risk to running without a set plan.

5 Ways to Keep Employees Motivated Under High Pressure

5 Ways to Keep Employees Motivated Under High Pressure My previous job was customer service for a huge electronics brand. Many days were ten hours of non-stop calls, some with furious customers who have been trying to resolve issues for weeks or even months, and they’ve just waited on hold for half an hour to talk to you. It was the kind of job that would give some people nightmares, and definitely not for the thin-skinned. Working in a sector like retail means specific periods, such as Christmas, bring unbelievable pressure and mountains of stress. I learned a lot during these times, including what works for employees who are bearing the brunt of it all. Read on for some inspiration. 1. Divide your workforce as little as possible If your company has some of your employees working in branches or ‘in the field’ while others are based at a head office, there’s already a good chance that at least one side will develop an ‘us vs. them’ way of thinking. It’s pretty hard to avoid altogether, and luckily most employees will understand the greater need for the business to act like one. Bigger problems arise when everyone is broken down to a multitude of different departments, and only certain people can carry out a part of a process chain. It frustrates workers, hinders their ability to find solutions and hamstrings processes that could be far simpler. 2. Reward ongoing effort, not just specific events Telling somebody they’ve done a great job should hopefully be a no-brainer to anyone in a management role, but it shouldn’t just be for hitting KPIs or handling a complaint well. In times when the pressure ramps up and time is of the essence, workers need to hear that their continued focus and dedication is noticed and appreciated. Positive feedback for ‘just doing their job’ will go a long way, particularly as it will likely be an unexpected highlight of their day. This can be as simple as a ‘thank you.’ 3. Listen to complaints, then ask for solutions When everyone in the building is up to their eyeballs in important tasks, complaints are the last thing anybody needs. Employees will understand that changes to procedure are unlikely to take place right when everybody is under pressure â€" but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for their input. If potential improvements can’t be made right away, promise to follow it up when the timing is right. Maybe even arrange a meeting to prove it. If workers see that you can remember what’s important to them despite busy periods, you’ll get the motivation back in spades. 4. Lead by example Show them that you can give what you’re asking for. Showering employees with motivational quotes and compliments through emails while you sit back and relax is not going to do anything, and you can guarantee that you’ll be picked up on it quickly. If your workers feel like all the pressure is on them while the management excuse themselves until the stress dies down, any respect for authority goes out the window. 5. Let them enjoy themselves All things in moderation, of course, but sharing a joke with colleagues should not be treated as work avoidance. Laughter has a wealth of health benefits and positively burns up stress. These moments for employees to breathe and relax their brain for a minute keep them happier, more focused, and ultimately more productive. Positive social interaction is important for human beings and makes a work environment a far easier place to flourish. There are lots of ways to motivate workers and take them out of the pressures of high-stress, and the approaches you can take will differ depending on the nature of the business and the work environment. Small incentives in the form of friendly competitions or just buying some sweet treats for the office can have a far greater impact than you would first think. Be creative and listen to what your employees value. If you can deliver on these needs, you’ll get much more motivation and loyalty from them. About the author: Ed Jones writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in sourcing candidates for  internships. To browse our  graduate jobs London listings, visit our website.

5 Things You Didnt Know About Working in Construction CareerMetis.com

5 Things You Didn't Know About Working in Construction â€" CareerMetis.com Source â€" Pexels.comConstruction is a great career, and one that will always need new workers. There are new homes, offices and public buildings being built around the UK every day, and thousands of construction workers working on these projects.If you are thinking of getting into the construction business, or you are interested in working in construction, here are a few things you may not have known. 1) Safety Comes FirstevalIn the construction business, workers need to remain safe at all times. They are dealing with heavy machinery, heavy objects, and they are on their feet all day, in all kinds of weather conditions. That’s why companies like engelbert strausshave designed waterproof work boots, as well as a whole host of other safety gear with construction workers in mind.evalTheir safety boots, as just one example, are essential for comfort and protection and come with anti-slip bottoms. Construction workers can keep themselves both protected and dry from as little as £10.99 !If you run a construction company, it’s wise to note that construction workers should always have their boots and other safety equipment supplied for them by their employers, but if you are self-employed you need to ensure you look after yourself; this starts with your feet.If you need some work boots for construction, either at work or even in your own home, take a look at this collection.In addition to the workwear, it’s also vital that a risk assessment is completed on the area in which you will be working and that all workers are fully trained on how to work with machinery, work at heights etc. An NVQ is the minimum qualification a worker should hold prior to working on-site.2) The Early Bird Gets the WormConstruction workers are awake long before most other tradesmen. However, while many construction workers get to work early, this also means they get home earlier than the rest of us. This is for many reasons, including avoiding traffic, especially if they are building in a large city.The less people around them on the roads and streets, the easier and safer it is to do their job. The average construction worker will get up at around 4:30am and get home for 2:30pm, as long as the weather conditions are good. When the weather is bad, their work can take a whole lot longer.3) Construction Workers Need to Be StrongThis one probably goes without saying, but as a construction worker, you will be lifting a lot of heavy items. Although strong does not need to be listed on your resume, you need to be ready for some heavy lifting. This means your health as a construction worker is seriously important and you need to understand the importance of correct manual handlingat work.evalOne of the biggest risks with this job is straining yourself, and although you could be fully protected in your outfit, if you are not lifting properly, you could end up out of work for a very long time. Training is again key here.4) Construction Doesn’t Have a Dress CodeThis is mos tly true, although you do have personal protective equipment you must wear, but other than this, you can dress as comfortably as you like. When working in construction, the older the clothes, the better. This means getting out of bed in the morning is a little easier, as you can throw on your comfortable jeans and t-shirt and head out for a day’s work.As you are working in all kinds of weather conditions and working around a lot of dust and dirt, whatever you wear will inevitably end up dirty. You may be given overalls to wear to protect your clothes to a certain extent, and hard hats, boots and other protective gearis a must when on site.eval5) Construction Doesn’t Just Mean Building HousesAlthough the first thing people think of when they think of builders is those that are constructing a new housing estate nearby, there are so many jobs in the construction sector. This article has mostly focused on those on the front lines, but there are hundreds of other jobs out there. In c onstruction you can be responsible for building many things, including boats and roads.evalOther construction jobs include window fitters, plumbers and architects. This means if you have a particular skill-set, such as design or engineering, you can still work in this industry.Construction is a well-paid career and one that is great for many. Although the starts may be early, if you can manage it, you will receive a good wage for what you do. You also get to drive past the new builds you have helped make a reality, and there aren’t many people who can say they have assisted in building a family’s new home!It may be hard work, but if you are protected with the right gear, and can deal with the rain the UK brings, construction work may be the career path for you.

Bad Bosses (And What You Can Learn From Them) - CareerAlley

Bad Bosses (And What You Can Learn From Them) - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Working for a bad boss can make every moment of your working life a living nightmare. Sound like a stretch? It really isnt. Your boss has a relentless impact on your ability to do your job. They have the ultimate say in the things you do, how you do them, and their own influence on the company. If they are infuriating, difficult to work with, or opaque, then it can mean you never really feel settled. Most of us have a story or two about a boss from hell that we have worked under. Some of you reading this might even be living the nightmare right now. Its a far-too-common situation, but theres no obvious remedy. You Can Rarely Fix A Bad Boss Thats the biggest problem with the situation. If you have a problem at work, what do you do about it? In the vast majority of cases, you would take it to your boss to ask for advice. But if your bossis the problem well, youve got virtually no recourse at all. According to psychologist Matias Brdsgaard Grynderup, one of the researchers behind the study, We may have a tendency to associate depression and stress with work pressure and workload; however, our study shows that the workload actually has no effect on workplace depression. forbes.com There is always the option of going over their head, but for office politics reasons, that can be incredibly difficult. In many company structures, your bosss boss will know your boss well. They might even be responsible for hiring them. That means if you go to the next in command, they might not be willing to listen to your issues. Getting involved can complicate work for them or worse still it can feel like youre making a direct criticism of them in terms of the person they have hired. So when there is no easy way of getting out of the situation, you have to learn to make the most of it. Its a sad reality that few of us are able to just up and leave a job purely because we find out boss difficult to live with, so you have two options: Be miserable every working hour of your working week. (And your working week is a lot of time, according to the Daily Mail). Try and make the most of it. As we can generally agree that option one isnt really an option at all, that leaves us with option two. What you can learn from a bad boss can ultimately help you. Obviously not in the sense of the things they teach you and the wisdom they impart; youd be unlikely to be thinking of them as a bad boss if that was happening. No, what you can learn is for your own benefit. Think about it: youre living a working life that you dont want to lead. As you begin to climb the career ladder yourself and progress into managerial and boss positions of your own, you have a direct experience to link to. Think of your bad boss as your own personal How Not To Be A Boss guide. Does A Boss Make Everyone A Monster? Photo by Fab Lentz on Unsplash When someone gets promoted to a position of power, they might struggle with it. They might worry that they are going to be too friendly or too strict, so they try and walk a middle line that they think is reasonable but in reality is actually anything but. Sometimes, someone you know a perfectly nice, reasonable person will be promoted and you will see their personality change. Does that happen to everyone?

How To Write Your Resume For a Job That Requires Basic English Skills

How To Write Your Resume For a Job That Requires Basic English SkillsIf you are searching for a job, you may want to consider the possibility of writing your own resume. There are many government jobs that are available in your area. In fact, there are many positions that require only a basic understanding of the English language.You may find it beneficial to go into these positions, because you will be able to write your resume from a knowledge base that is already available to you. This can really help you get a better job. If you're looking for information about the different government jobs that are available, you will find the following useful tips and ideas.The first place to look at is your local library. Many people have realized the benefits of doing this. The library has hundreds of books on various topics. It may not be too difficult to find one that will cover your position that you are interested in.After you have found one, you may find it helpful to go into the newspap er and read the various articles related to this field. If you don't want to take the time to do this, you may also visit the website of your local library and do a search for government job listings.This will give you an idea as to how much the field is in demand and you will need to be prepared for this. As well, you will probably have seen the ads in newspapers and online, which will help you with the jobs that are out there.There are several steps that you need to take when looking for your possible job. One of the first things you should do is research your area thoroughly. This will allow you to find out all of the information that you will need to prepare for your resume.You will need to understand allof the different government positions that are available. Once you have done this, you will be ready to begin to write your resume. You may want to work with a professional resume writer in order to assist you with this.If you are looking for information about government jobs, y ou will want to continue your research. The more you know about the available positions, the better chance you will have to get a good position.