Anyone looking to hire for the first time or maybe for the second or third (or…) and are just scared about getting it right, Havi has nailed it.

Great relationships even with employees, assistants, and others takes time. When you do get to hiring, be very specific about the task that you need done and the time frame you have in mind. Clear communication will help tenfold to build a new (and great) working relationship.

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Ugh … the horrors of hiring. *grimace*

I spent years in a job where turnover in my assistant position was pretty high. I was there 9 years and had 5 assistants. A big cause of the turnover was that the job was too much. Too many skills (bookkeeping, graphic design, writing, event planner) from too many diverse areas (advertising, production, admin support) to exist in one person (at least a person who was willing to work for the salary we were able to offer).

Things got so much better when …
a) we got clear about what the job actually was (not what we wished it could be!)
b) we got clear about how long training would take (About 6 mos, not 2 weeks)
c) I was given greater authority in choosing the final candidate.
d)I added much more weight to my answer to the question “How would it feel to sit in a meeting once a week with this person?”
e) I followed my friend R’s advice — Hire smart, capable, likeable people and teach them how to do what you want. (I guess it worked, he recommended me for the job I eventually took there!)

Thanks for sharing your “process” (*smile*).

singingly,
sg

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In fact, there’s often an inverse relationship between “talking” and “doing” — I’m a good example — because the very skills that make me able to charm you in an interview mean I’m not very good at stacking all your boxes in neat little rows, day after day. Day after mind-numbing, head-exploding, personality-draining — whoops!

I’ve found that if you want to judge “customer service” skills, just role-play a difficult customer on the phone. If you want to judge sales skills, get them to try to sell your desk stapler to you. If you want to judge organization skills, give them five minutes to outline a plan for a surprise birthday party on the whiteboard and talk you through it.

DOING trumps TALKING almost every time, unless you’re hiring them for talking.

(BTW, I’m available to give absolutely AMAZING interviews by appointment for a very reasonable price.)

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I can learn anything with the right training.

Okay, maybe not playing linebacker – I guess I have to consider physical limitations. But I’d get the theory just fine.

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@Deb – you’re right that it’s super complicated. It’s not a question I feel comfortable answering either.

And at the same time I’m pretty sure that people who are already terrified about how they’re going to pay for a $35/hour or even $60/hour VA are not even going to look into the option of hiring someone to help them choose.

Most of us hire help when we’re already way past the point when we should have considered it.

Ideally, we’d have people who have tiny businesses already testing out help before they needed it and “growing into it” a few hours a month. Practically, I don’t know if that’s going to happen either.

But I wish they would. You are absolutely right that it’s not something that we can necessarily learn to do (or even want to — I was wishing for a fairy godmother pretty much the whole time). :)

@Ankesh – that is very cool. I had no idea.

Coffee idea is a good one too except that I’ve never actually met any of the people who work for me. Will consider it if I decide to hire local!

@Barbara – wow. That just brought back the memory of a hundred miserable interviews. :)

@Hiro – excellent additions. Super helpful. *blows kiss*

If people are truly at the point where they’re ready to hire people, and are unsure how to do so, I’d recommend any number of HR and recruiter sites that offer information on just this type of thing.

It really is more complicated.
If it wasn’t, everyone would be ‘a natural’ at it.

I’d have just let it go, except for my attempt at a supportive earlier comment. And I just didn’t feel right leaving it at that.
Sorry.

All the best!
deb

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