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Hiring Tips for Founders and Entrepreneurs
Jeff Foxworthy, an American comedian, offers some light-hearted observations on what makes a Canadian a Canadian. Gems such as, “If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time” or “If you can drive 90kms/hr through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching” strike a chord and make us all nod our heads in agreement. After all, who doesn’t look great in shorts and a parka? In that same vein, we offer a few notes on how you might know you’re a founder of a company. We acknowledge, (with our tongues firmly in our cheeks), that as founders we wear more hats than Imelda Marcos has shoes.
Too Many Hats Symptom #1
Symptom: None of your office chairs or desks match. One of your team is sitting on a yoga ball at a milk crate with their laptop balanced on two boards.
Cause: Letting the little things slide (or the big things if you bring your clients to the office).
Too Many Hats Symptom #2
Symptom: Somehow, someway, one of your team has a contract that includes 5 months of vacation and a time share package as part of their compensation.
Cause: No one doing oversight or managing contracts – all the things that keep a business humming.
Too Many Hats Symptom #3
Symptom: A water slide and hot tub show up in the foyer. Really? The foyer!
Cause: Decision Fatigue – You accidently said yes to this on a Friday at 6pm when you had already made 300 decisions that day on topics ranging from “do we expand into Europe” to “do we start buying coffee filters made from recycled paper?”
Too Many Hats Symptom #4
Symptom: It’s moving day and there’s no signage, no furniture and no moving truck. There are, however, 4 boxes of doughnuts.
Cause: Everyone thought it was someone else’s job to organize everything because nobody had ever done this before. On the bright side, there are doughnuts. It’s not a total loss. Right?
Solution
In many small to medium sized businesses there is a right hand person who helps take care of the things the founder simply doesn’t have time to do. They might have a title like “Director of Finance and Administration”. It’s that person’s responsibility to, among other things:
- Take care of things such as infrastructure set-up and maintenance – anything from HR (manage contracts) to real estate leases, along with the underlying systems and processes that make the company run
- Set pricing guidelines
- Establish the financial model based on your goals/vision
This allows a founder to do what they typically do best – build the company by bringing in the right people and the right business. You know, the stuff that allowed you to be successful in the first place. The right finance person is the key asset that connects business metrics with financial results and takes your business to the next level. And maybe, just maybe, allows you to wear only a couple of hats in the process.
Your Next Step
No one should walk the job search or hiring road alone. At Clarity Recruitment we help others realize their success through a process that marries proprietary technology with unwavering commitment. Contact us today to take control of your career, or to partner with us to hire well.
Clarity Recruitment, connecting exceptional people with remarkable companies.