I've worked alone for the past four years, running my own successful management agency, but now the time has come to hire an assistant. I have seen some candidates already but none of them seemed a good fit.
It's been so long since I did any hiring that I'm concerned
I might have lost track of the most important things to look for and how to communicate effectively with an employee. Any tips?
Hiring is the greatest trick of all. People tend to employ in their own likeness, but if there are only two of you, that's not a terribly good idea, because you'll both be sitting in a room agreeing with each other. So draw up a list of what you expect the candidate to do on a daily basis, write down the characteristics needed — not just within the job but within the organisation — then decide which of your characteristics fill in those gaps and draw up a list of the gaps that you've got. Basically it's like doing a jigsaw.
I've definitely made the mistake of hiring in my own image, in the past. I can be pretty gung ho at times and I've been frustrated by finance directors who are constantly holding me back, so I've hired a finance director who's going to go for it and then suddenly realised there are two of us doing it and nobody putting the brakes on!
Also, I don't think I'm taken in easily but I've definitely come
a cropper with interviewees who come over very well and know exactly what to say but when you get them in the job you think, that was just words.
How do you communicate effectively with an employee? That's really easy. Talk to them!
Deborah Meaden is author of Common Sense Rules (Random House, £7.99). Read more advice from Deborah Meaden.
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