The Virtual Handshake: Working On Hiring New People For A Home-Based Business.
November 21, 2018 by Staff
Filed under Money/Business, Tech/Internet, Weekly Columns
(Akiit.com) When you’re looking for the best way to get help for your business, the importance of hiring the right person cannot be underestimated. But what happens when you are hiring someone to be part of a business where there is no physical location? You don’t have the money to set up an office, so you are working at home, and this is how you like it. Working on hiring people for a home based business comes with its own set of challenges, professionally, financially, and personally. So what do we need?
Hiring People Through The Right Channels
The problem with hiring people for a business that you’ve set up from the comfort of your own home is that a home based business can give off the impression that you aren’t a force to be reckoned with. Because you don’t appear to be one of the bigger businesses, this may attract a certain caliber of applicant. Instead, you should give consideration to hiring people through reputable recruitment channels. It can be tempting to hire freelancers through the 
numerous freelance websites, but this could result in more work if the freelancer doesn’t get the job right. You can hire workers through reputable agencies, but also be sure that you have a formal induction process. This gives the applicant the impression of what they’re dealing with, and it forces you to up your game too.
Ensuring The Technology Is Up To Scratch
Once you’ve hired the right people, you have to ensure that you’ve got everything in place to keep them, and the business, secure. Because you will be handling numerous sensitive data, and you trust your employees to operate with the same professionalism as you, a few technological essentials have to be put in place, not just a cloud server and antivirus programs, but the collaboration tools you use to aid the business, rather than hinder it. While most modern businesses make the most of collaboration tools, you have to pick the right one. This isn’t just in relation to the productivity side of things, but the communication also. Hiring new people for a business that you want to be taken as seriously as those in skyscrapers and offices requires you to run the business as tightly as possible.
This can be difficult with remote workers, and this means you’ll have to ensure adequate and consistent communication with your employees. Now, this doesn’t mean breathing down their neck constantly, but rather getting into a system where people can contact you if necessary, but you are managing them at arm’s length. You could have a brief Skype chat in the morning, and let them get on with their day. The key to having a good relationship with remote employees is that you know when you need to speak to them.
It’s not just about the right people, but it’s about how you manage them. It’s more difficult to have a business from your own home because the personal and professional aspects of your life become intertwined. But if you ensure from the very start that you plan on making this business as professional as possible, people will take you seriously, and you will have the right people on board.
Staff Writer; Peter Brown