I work with several startups or small businesses and hiring is a challenging issue for many of them.   The second time around entrepreneur knows that hiring the right talent for your new business is critical, as a hiring mistake is disruptive and costly.

You may feel the need to get someone on board quickly, though it’s important to first step back and review the essential skills and knowledge you are looking for in a potential candidate.  There are also other action steps you can take when hiring and managing your employees.

“Nip Problems In The Butt:  Small Business Staff Management” by Andrew Craveho on CBAC blog.

Had a few bad hires?    You think your new hire is perfect for the role and are ready to turn over lots of work to them.   You life will be easy now.    Then after a month, you noticed that they haven’t quite caught on, so you train a little more, hoping it will take care of the issue.    Then you realized that you hired the wrong person and now you have to question, what did I miss?

Are your employees leaving sooner than you anticipated?   All companies need to have an employee retention program in place to lessen the turnover.  Yet, turnover will happen, especially in customer service and sales.  These positions deal with customers all day and the impact on their morale can be challenging.  It all depends on how you manage your team.

Employee turnover impacts customer experience and I thought the following article provides 3 clear points to guide you with your customer service team:   “Customer Experience is Key to Fixing Employee Turnover,” by Flavio Martins on Business2Community website.

Most companies still follow the traditional daily operations and are apprehensive in reviewing other options.    A flexible work schedule is slowing being integrated into the workforce.   If done right, this could increase productivity and be a good business decision.    It’s important to at least review all the possibilities to see if you could provide this great benefit to your employees.

“Advantages and Disadvantages of Flexible Work Schedule.” by Susan M. Heathfield wrote on About.com a short list of advantages from the employee and employer perspective.

Finding the right employee to do the job is the challenge all managers face in business.   Strong talent is hard to find.   Part of your role in managing employees is finding the great talent.  If you manage to accomplish this, you are on your way to being a successful manager.

Talent comes in different forms and you need a hiring strategy in order to place the right person in the job.  Be specific around what skills, knowledge and characteristics are important for the role(s) so you can find the very best talent.  In order to find the right talent for your company, you need to create a strong hiring process.