5 Valuable Hiring Tips for New Employers

Following proven hiring tips to build a team of employees is key to achieving outsized success in business.

There is only so much that an entrepreneur can do to grow their business without receiving assistance from others. When done correctly, hiring could help make operations more efficient and therefore expedite growth.

Jeremy Sherk and Kevin Pasco, members of our Backroom mastermind, can both attest to the advantages of being an employer. Four years ago they founded a nutritional supplement business called Nested Naturals. Within just two years of launching, the brand was doing $3.6 million in annual revenues. Fast forward to today, Nested Naturals is realizing $5 million in sales. The entrepreneurs, who have their eyes set on building a $50 million organization, attribute a large portion of their rapid growth to their aggressive hiring strategy.

Below are five pieces of advice that Jeremy and Kevin have for entrepreneurs who are new to the recruiting process.

Avoid Letting Fear Get in Your Way

Some entrepreneurs delay bringing on employees because of fear. It can be scary to open your operations up to strangers, and even more terrifying to pay someone’s monthly wage. While this fear is understandable, it is certainly not rational nor excusable.

Hiring is part of the thrill of being an entrepreneur. Being in a position to take on full-time workers is a milestone in and of itself. Jeremy and Kevin believe that it is a new experience that shouldn’t be avoided but rather embraced.

Don’t Prematurely Recruit

With the prior tip in mind, there are definitely times when delayed hiring makes sense. Hiring is important for growth, but prematurely taking on workers can actually create setbacks for a business.

The decision to recruit a staff should not be taken lightly. It is a big responsibility that will not just affect your company, but also the lives of your employees and their families. Although they were hiring aggressively, Jeremy and Kevin never felt as though they were stretching themselves too thin. Before they began recruiting, they made sure that they were in a strong enough cash position to bring on employees. If revenues were to temporarily take a dive, they wanted to comfortably continue making payroll.

Hire Based on Passion

When Jeremy and Kevin look to fill a new position, they look for people who identify with their principles. They believe that there is no shortage of talented people. As a result, they weigh personality and character more than they do skills when considering to hire someone. For them, it does not make sense to employ a talented person who cannot assimilate well in their corporate environment.

This mindset keeps the Nested Naturals team comprised of like-minded individuals. Jeremy and Kevin believe that it is one of the reasons why they haven’t experienced any major hiring failures.

Look for Previous Corporate Experience

As mentioned earlier, Jeremy and Kevin want to build Nested Naturals into a $50 million business. To accomplish this, they are recruiting people who have worked for organizations of that size and larger. They are hoping that this strategy will allow them to glean new insights that they can use to grow the company.

Snapping up talent from large corporations is no easy task. This is especially true in Vancouver’s hot job market where Nested Naturals is headquartered. Jeremy and Kevin try to overcome this obstacle by offering competitive pay, generous perks and flexible work terms.

Reflect on Your Ideal Corporate Culture

Jeremy and Kevin believe that defining a clear corporate culture for your organization is very important.

Visioning the type of environment you’d like to create can guide your hiring decisions and how you treat your employees.

When deciding what you’d want your corporate culture to stand for, Jeremy and Kevin advise looking at successful companies and using their cultures as case studies. For instance, they admit to modeling their environment to Airbnb’s own.