Hiring is undeniably a challenging and often overwhelming process for a small business to navigate. Even larger, more established companies can struggle with the complexities involved, considering the substantial amount of time, energy, and resources it demands from their teams.

However, when your business is only about a year old and operates with the tiniest budget imaginable, the prospect of hiring can quickly transform into an ordeal that you never truly recover from. The stakes feel even higher when every decision can significantly impact your fledgling enterprise's future.

That’s precisely why it is essential for you to explore your human resources very carefully and thoughtfully. Most small business owners often find themselves reaching out to a freelancer to stave off this pressing need for as long as possible. Indeed, if you can secure valuable help with your content writing or refine your marketing funnel on a short-term, budget-friendly contract, you’re inevitably going to boost your business in a more accessible and sustainable way.

Outsourcing as a whole is truly a great way to make effective use of a limited budget while still striving to achieve the results you’re after. However, while contracted help can prove to be a huge boon for flexibility and efficiency, there’s nothing quite like having your own dedicated employees who are fully invested in the success of your organization.

The perfect moment for you to hire an employee could be just around the corner, waiting to reveal itself at the most opportune time. Finding the best time to bring on a new employee is going to be a unique journey for everyone, as each situation carries its own set of circumstances. However, the more you actively keep an eye out for the signs indicating readiness, the faster and more effectively you’ll be able to find the ideal person you’re truly looking for to join your team.

In this article, we help you determine the right time to begin the hiring process for your business or organization. Understanding the ideal moment to expand your team can significantly impact your overall success and growth trajectory.

No. 1

Do You Always Feel in a Rush?

This is something many small business owners stress about. When you feel like you’re in a rush, you’re never going to be able to settle down and get things done in a meaningful and satisfying way. After all, all you can think about is the amount of tasks you still have to get through once you get this done - and to think you even need to fit a lunch hour in there somewhere!

So, do you always feel like you’re in a rush? Then it’s worth thinking about bringing an employee into the fold. If there’s someone else on the payroll who’s well qualified and you trust to get the job done, you can share the workload and make the working day go twice as fast. If you’re someone who’s never had a minute to themselves since the moment you established your business, this is going to be the winning reason for you.

Don’t let the need to rush and get things done hold you back for much longer. Even if your budget is small, now’s the time to bring someone else into the business to make the work higher quality and much more motivating. 

No. 2

What’s Your Budget Like?

Speaking of your budget, you’re also going to have to keep this in mind when it comes to considering hiring an employee. Your budget is probably going to be the deciding factor in whether or not you put a job advert out there, and the less room you have in it, the less likely you are to actually go through with this. 

But even with a small and/or limited budget, you can hire your first employee. Your budget doesn't need to be an intimidating thing that prevents you from expanding when you really need to - it’ll just limit who you can hire and how long they can work each day. 

Indeed, many small business owners only hire on a part-time basis to make sure their budget can actually stretch. Hiring for maybe two days out of the working five we usually face can ensure you don’t spend every penny you’ve got left in the pot on signing on an employee, and that could really open up your options. 

No. 3

How Many Clients are You Dealing with?

If you’ve got an influx of clients on the books, not only is this a very good sign for your business’ future success, but it also means you’re going to have an overflowing budget very soon. That’s something to celebrate! 

However, if more and more customers are coming your way, and you’re steadily growing the number of people you serve every day, you don’t want to get to a point where you have to start turning people away. And while you can make a chatbot and give people as much help as possible when they’re on your website, nothing replaces a human on the other end who speaks on your level. 

So, if you’re in the middle of a client boost right now, this would be a great time to hire someone to help out. Your employee can be the stopgap between your clients and you, providing customer service without anyone slipping through the cracks. Don’t underestimate how important a second set of hands and skills can be - if you want to keep on growing and maintain this kind of customer momentum, investing in your customer service is key! 

No. 4

Are You Struggling with Skilled Tasks?

How many skills would you say you have? Probably more than you’re willing to admit, seeing as we all like to be a bit modest. Both soft and hard skills matter in the working world, and if you’re accomplished on both sides of the equation, you should be proud of it. 

However, even when you’re a jack of all trades and are comfortable managing most things yourself, there’s going to come a time when you don’t have the skill required and you’re going to struggle to get something done. Accounting, for example, or adjusting the code on your website. 

When this becomes a problem within your business workday, it’s time to hire someone who can do the job for you. If you don’t have the skill, and you’re going to need it on a permanent basis, bring it in on that permanent basis by hiring someone else who has it. It’s not a waste of money when you’re filling a gap that’s long been crying out for some skilled labor.

No. 5

Are You Actually Running Out of Time?

We have discussed a point above about feeling rushed. When you feel rushed, you feel like you’re running out of time on a regular basis - but is that actually true? Are you actually running out of time in the working day to get things done? Then it’s definitely time to hire an employee, and it may even be past time to do so. 

On average, people work around 34.4 hours per week, which often means people are working anywhere between six and eight hours a day, five days a week. However, if you’re the boss and set your own schedule, you can work above and below this threshold. 

And even if you set your own working schedule to make up 40+ hours, and you’re still running out of time to get things done, it’s clear you cannot be a one-person operation for much longer. You’re going to burn out and become exhausted in trying to make your company a success, and that won’t result in a worthy return on investment for your business or your creative energy. 

No. 6

Do You Want to Expand Soon?

Expansion and growth go hand in hand. If you’re struggling to keep up with orders, it may be that you need a bigger warehouse to keep your stock in. If you’re struggling to keep the website up because of all the traffic, you may need to pay for more server storage and online bandwidth. And if you’re running out of time and you’re not sure you can keep this up for much longer, you may need to hire an employee to work alongside you. 

This is something to seriously consider. If you want to grow your business and make it bigger and better, and you’ve got the custom behind you to do so, you’re not going to be able to do it alone. You need someone skilled on your side to get some of the work done for you, even if it’s just the annoying tasks you don’t like to do yourself. Bring someone in to help out, give them a salary and a position, and you’ll soon get a handle on the reins again. 

No. 7

Do You Have the Time to Hire?

Hiring takes some time. For most companies, this is around six months, with some managing to do so in a couple of weeks, and some needing to keep their advert up for at least a year. If it feels like you don’t have this time right now, don’t let this put you off. You need an employee, and you need them ASAP. 

Even if you don’t have the time to go through the motions of putting a job advert out, a recruitment company can do it for you. Think about contracting one to get the hard work done for you and you could end up with a brilliant new employee by the end of the month. 

Takeaways

So, is now a good time for you to hire an employee? It could be! But you’re the only one who can decide for your business. If you’re super busy, if you’ve got a comfortable budget, and you’re sure you need someone else around to handle the things you can’t, don’t ignore the signs for much longer!

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