Business Marketing Magazine Summer 2017 Summer2017 | Page 7

It always surprises me when I hear that busi-
ness owners have hired or are considering hir-
ing an employee that they haven’t thoroughly
researched. Regardless of the size of your
company, it’s important to know who you are
bringing into the fold, to protect your rights
and interests, minimize risk, and pick the best
possible candidate for the position you are
seeking to fill.
When I hire employees I’m aiming for long-
term relationships that benefit both the em-
ployee and my company. The more time I put
into finding the right person, the higher the
likelihood is that I will meet that goal.
A significant amount of our time each day is
spent at work; there is no reason to keep a
bad player on your team. A toxic personali-
ty who doesn’t mesh with others can easily
spread gloom throughout an office and lower
morale. A cheerful team player will have the
opposite effect, helping to make your place of
employment feel like a second home, some-
where you are genuinely happy to go each
day, and be productive while you’re there.
Before moving into our building, my current
officemates and I had several informal meet-
ings where we expressed our expectations
and hopes of having an office where all of us
could be productive, while also maintaining a
positive workspace that fosters goodwill. This
is crucial to us (and everyone else, I imagine)
as each one of us is involved in the legal com-
munity and we tend to be workaholics. It was,
and still is, important to us all to have open
lines of communication and address any ten-
sion before it becomes a problem.
Finding the right support staff was and re-
mains a high priority. Law offices are gener-
ally fast paced and there are daily fires to put
out. There are times we are literally dealing
with life and death situations. The work can
be stressful, but is also extremely rewarding.
Common sense is a must, as is integrity, quick-
ly admitting to a mistake and finding a solu-
tion to fix an issue is hugely important, and a
sense of humor is highly valued and essential.
For some, experience may be high on the
list of qualities you are searching for, and for
others a willingness to learn and good attitude
might be key. As in any relationship, it’s im-
portant to prioritize what qualities your em-
ployees must have and know what your deal
breakers are before you begin the search for a
new employee.
In the age of social media it’s not hard to do
your due diligence and flesh out potential
employees. Take Facebook for example, if
your future employee is posting he or she
hates their current position, has daily photos
of cocktails before noon, posts hourly selfies
and updates, or is clearly a job-hopper you
may want to pass on that person and check
out your next candidate. Those habits are not
likely to change when they are working for
you. There’s nothing quite as frustrating as
seeing an employee play on the Internet when
you are trying to meet a deadline.
We’ve all either experienced or heard stories
of an employee who dipped into company
money, quit without any notice, isn’t timely,
takes sick days to go skiing or golfing, etc. You
are not necessarily going to stop that from
happening, but knowing who your future
employee is can arm you with information
on whether that person will be a good fit for
your company. I’m the first one willing to give
someone a chance, but I need to know up-
front what I am dealing with so I can make an
informed decision.