The scariest thing we have done so far in business had nothing to do with committing to our own office, saying “screw our old ways, let’s start from scratch.” It wasn’t even the first time we turned down a project. It was hiring our first employee and expanding our team. We are lucky enough to have three partners who really trust each other as the backbone of Find & Form, but the transition to hiring and managing a full time team in-house was a scary prospect. While we are definitely lucky to have three partners who trust each other as the backbone of Find & Form, we didn’t know what the transition would be like to hiring and managing a full time team in-house.
Within the first few months, Find & Form had committed to some fairly large projects and things were going well. We enjoyed our clients and being so close to the product we were creating, but we soon found a problem in having all three partners do all of the work. From design to development to project management, all of our time was immersed in the tasks at hand. We were leaving future growth opportunities on the table. After long talks over a glass of whiskey, we decided to look for a designer to join the team full-time. In the first step of restructuring our company, this person would help us move our business forward. Our goal was to get away from feeling like a group of freelancers, but working together as a living and breathing studio.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re hiring.
Future
What values should this new employee bring to the table?
Are they going to help out with internal or external processes?
How will each division of the company benefit from this hire?
How will this person affect profit margins, directly and indirectly?
These are some good questions to ask yourself before you even think about filling a specific role. There are plenty of ways a new hire can add value to your company without necessarily affecting profits. For example, if you are hiring a project manager you may want that person to assist with communication and organizational matters. For any position this hire should fill in a missing piece of the puzzle. This goes for hiring designers, developers, mascots, an office mixologist, or anyone you believe will help your business.
Every company is different. Your hiring needs must reflect what works best for your company.
Ready or not
Before making the decision to hire you must first make sure your company is ready for the commitment. You should always have the confidence that you are hiring for the long haul.
It may be busy now, but will it stay busy forever? If it doesn’t, will you be able to keep that employee busy and on payroll? I’ve personally had opportunities to work for companies I was very excited about only to find they might have hired me too soon in the growth process. It’s not fun and there are only so many times employees can “create their own work” while still being productive.
A useful planning tool in hiring is to plan out two to three months worth of work for any new position. This can mean both internal and external work to assure a steady flow of tasks. The trick is to find and outline tasks and projects that are both productive and valuable to the company, while still interesting for the employee.
Try it out first
I’m sure we were all guilty of this at some point: accepting a job offer and then receiving a better offer from a more desirable company. How can you pass it up? You can’t. There are huge benefit in being able to test the waters for both the employee and the employer, but this scenario causes issues for the employer. After time and resources have been spent on paperwork, arranging benefits, canceling other potential interviews, introducing the new employee to the team and projects — it’s a hard hit when they turn down an offer.
We’ve seen success in hiring a person on a contractual basis first. Whether it’s one month, one project, or even one week, it’ll allow the candidate and employer the chance to consider the culture, work ethic, the fit and expectations. Both parties can make the best decision from there.
Recruiters may be worth it
Recruiters can be a great way to find people willing to do temp-to-hire work. We worked with an agency for our first hire and it yielded a great fit that we hired soon after the introduction. This isn’t always the case and it did cost us a lot more to bring someone on, but you have to ask yourself how much a good employee is worth to your company?
We found a good “creative” recruiting agency who was able to introduce us to plenty of talented prospects. Keep in mind that for any hire, you can expect a 20-30% fee paid to the agency based on that employee’s salary.
Recruiters may be pricey, but they can teach you a lot about the hiring process.
Benefits
One of the most important things to keep in mind is what you’re going to offer a new employee along with the just the job itself. The initial numbers you were thinking can rapidly increase if you’re not careful. It was definitely an eye-opener for us after our first hire.
For example, let’s say you wanted to hire someone full time for $60,000. Below is an estimate of what you could really be paying annually:
Annual Salary: $60,000
Possible Bonus (performance based): $5,000
Health and Dental: $3,800
Required Benefits (social security, medicare, workers comp, etc.): $6,000
Misc. Benefits (computer, transportation, phone, etc.): $2,000
As you can see, that initial $60,000 annual salary turned into $76,800 in a matter of a few simple additions. Moving forward, we make sure to add at least $15,000-20,000 to the base salary we offer.
It gets easier
Just like anything else, the process gets easier over time. Our first hire was the most stressful because we had no idea what to expect. You’ll eventually have a better idea of what you’re looking for, what types of people you need, and where to look for them.
I hope these tips help new companies as they grow their teams.