Putting someone in charge of your business can be a daunting task, but if you’re the owner of a small business and you cannot be there during every open hour, you’ll need to hire someone! Here is a breakdown of what to look for and how to hire a great manager, no matter what level you’re looking for.
Hourly management is most common in retail locations, and a good manager will have experience in a similar organization. 55% of hourly employees are found through referral networks of current employees and managers.
Your best bet may be to look internally and promote from within. This not only encourages employees to work and perform at their peak at all times, but it lets you put someone other workers know and generally trust in that position. Since hourly managers interact with employees more regularly then a salaried manager would, hiring from within builds on existing relationships.
Middle managers are responsible for not only hiring hourly/entry level managers, but also for providing consistency and accountability to upper-level managers. Hiring middle managers can be more difficult because you need candidates that can come into the job and be able to adapt to get along with both. First, make sure the profile for the job is accurate. Come up with a list of 4-5 things that you believe will make this manager successful within your organization. Think of someone who has performed well in the position as an example, to help you pinpoint these characteristics.
In the interview, instead of using generic interviewing techniques, ask specific behavioral questions. Take a look at their past successes and failures to understand where their strengths and opportunities lie. Companies who use assessments to test their candidates will yield better results in measuring specific characteristics. Look for general competencies, resourcefulness, interpersonal skills, and strong problem-solving abilities.
Hiring for a high-level position can be one of the most important decisions you will ever face. Making a mistake when hiring for one of these positions can cost you more than money—it can have a detrimental effect on your company as a whole, making or breaking it.
First, take your time when hiring for these positions, because it is extremely important to find the right fit. Use a temporary solution if you need to, but plan to spend a few months or even six to find the right person.
Start by networking, using your connections. While many companies rely on executive recruiters to fill these vacancies, this route can cost $50,000 or more, and sometimes the results aren’t what you imagined they would be. Since you know best what characteristics and qualifications that this candidate should possess, you are also probably the best person to begin the search.
Networking is free, and the candidate may turn out to be right under your nose. If this approach doesn’t work, you may then want to hire some outside help, but in my experience you already know who you want, so you just have to do a little bit of leg work to find the person.
But once you’ve narrowed down the candidate pool, don’t stretch out the interview process. The best candidates will be the quickest to find another job opportunity. If you want to hire the best (I mean…who doesn’t?!) then, once you’ve identified your candidates, schedule your interviews as soon as possible and finish the process as quickly as possible. This way you’ll be able to compare candidates better because their answers will still be fresh in your mind.
Lastly, for a big decision like this, you need to get your colleagues involved. Create an executive search committee, gather input from those in your organization whose opinion you value the most, and delegate some of the legwork.
Whether you’re hiring for an hourly management position, a middle management position, of a C-level manager, you’ll need to make sure that the person you hire is a good fit for your organization. Keep these tips in mind during your next search for a new manager, and you won’t be disappointed with the results you find.
When it comes to performance reviews, even the most experienced managers can use some tips. Our ten best practices define the job description and career path for each member of your staff. Then, your review process becomes a part of your management strategy of holding each staff member accountable while motivating them to achieve more.
View Now
4 Comments
It’s always tricky finding a really good fit for these management positions. Somebody who was doing great for another company, might find difficulties handling your company, just because the company environment is different. But if that is the case, a true professional can adapt and take all the required steps in order to overcome this difficulty. It can be a major setback to hire somebody and only after discover it’s not the person you were expecting, so try to do your best to follow your recruitment policies to the letter, and perform checks after checks to see if you really want a certain somebody. And yes, it is time consuming and can stretch you resources for the time you spend looking, but it’s worth it.
I find that promoting people from within is always a better choice than looking for and hiring somebody from the outside. Not only that they provide the incentive for employees to work harder to get a shot at the top position with better pay and benefits, but also you don’t need training sessions, or providing them with an accommodating period, as they know you company, the projects and the entire process of getting the work done.
No matter how hard we tried promoting somebody from our current staff to top management, and I mean senior level or c-level managers, it didn’t work as expected. Don’t really know why, but we had to resort to outside sources to get somebody that actually managed to get some hard results. At one time we even hired a headhunter to find us a good fit for our Head of Accounting position. It was a good idea with middle management though. That worked just fine.
The problem with the upper management might be because we are a young company, and our people are not that experienced.
There is no room for mistake when you hire for top management positions. Middle management it’s easier, because it something bad happens, there is always somebody from the top who is ready to jump in and fix the problem. But who will come to the rescue if the people on the top mess up? Nobody!
So don’t spare any expenses if you want to take the best recruiting option. Don’t settle for anything less, as satisfactory is not a good enough rating for the people in charge.