PPB January 2016

from face-to-face interaction like a salesper-

son would. Craft the description to attract

the right kind of person.

Remember, a job description is also a sales

pitch for why a candidate would want to work

for you, so be sure to include information on

why your company is a great place to work.

2. The Interview

Before you decide whether to interview a

candidate, save yourself some time by doing

an initial assessment to determine if he or she

will be worth interviewing. There are great

tools you can use such as ClearFit, which uses

a questionnaire to score the candidate’s appro-

priateness for the role. Another idea is to cre-

ate a simple questionnaire yourself and send it

to candidates. (See sample on previous page.)

Once you have narrowed down the pool

and made sure you are bringing in the right

candidates, prepare the right questions in

advance. The reason why many interviews fail

to assess whether the person is right for the

job is because the interviewer asks rote, pre-

dictable questions for which the interviewee

is prepared. In addition, they are often asked

questions that don’t really address the skills

the person will need for the job.

If you’re hiring a salesperson, be sure to

include in the interview process an opportu-

nity for the person to sell you something. If

you are interviewing candidates for an

administrative role, ask for examples of how

they have maintained order in chaos in previ-

ous roles or demonstrated resourcefulness.

After the candidate has given you one exam-

ple, ask for another so you can get beyond a

pat answer.

3. The Onboarding Process

You’ve successfully hired the right person

and now it’s time for onboarding. Too many

small businesses throw new employees into

the fire and assume they will just learn on the

job. Not only does this not set the person up

for success, but it creates the risk that they

will leave. New employees make a decision in

the first six weeks as to whether they are

going to stay with a company, so the initial

time period is critical to ensuring they want

to stay.

No matter how small your company is,

set up a formal training schedule for the first

week of employment. Create a manual they

can refer to, even if that manual is only a

page or two. It helps document processes and

gets you thinking about how to transfer

knowledge that is in your head to the new

employee. Check in regularly with the new

hire to see how the person is doing and

identify and fill in gaps your training may

have missed.

Catherine Graham is the CEO

and co-founder of commonsku

and president of Toronto,

Ontario-based distributor

RIGHTSLEEVE. She can simul-

taneously compute complex

Excel formulas in her mind and

protect her goaltender from an

odd-man rush.

Handles full cycle of client

management from initial

ideation to order execution,

including day-to-day commu-

nication. Farmer.

Generates ideas, sources

products and executes trans-

actions. Organizer.

Manages purchase orders

and interaction with vendors

to ensure orders ship on

time.

Handles all customer invoic-

ing and accounts receivable

as well as receiving vendor

bills and accounts payable.

Account Manager

Sales Support / Account

Coordinator

Production / Traffic

Manager

Bookkeeping / Accounting

Sample Skills Matrix

Strong nurturing skills, excel-

lent at maintaining relation-

ships to achieve organic

growth.

Creative and resourceful,

knows where to find things

and get all necessary infor-

mation to execute.

Loves working a checklist;

knows how to be persistent

in following up without being

annoying.

Strong love of numbers and

matching; high tolerance for

paper.

Strong at multi-tasking and

juggling; not as comfortable

prospecting or developing

new business.

Highly detail oriented, deep

product knowledge, strong

math skills.

Supremely organized, strong

understanding of logistics

and timelines. Experience

with shipping a bonus.

Excellent math skills, book-

keeping skills a must; full

accounting experience a

major benefit.

Delegates to production/traf-

fic to ensure orderflow time-

lines are met

Delegates to production to

ensure orderflow timelines

are met.

Manages up to ensure

appropriate workflow levels

Liaises with sales team to

communicate order status

and progress as well as

resolve any production

issues.

Works with production/traffic

and sales team to ensure all

costs are accounted for with

invoicing, and supplier billing

is accurate.

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• JANUARY 2016

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