At a startup business hiring the first employee(s) could be a rather stressful encounter. Proceeding with care a fantastic idea. Congratulations on getting to this degree that extra help is necessary. As the LGBT entrepreneur who has launched and built the business up to now on a great deal of sweat equity together with probably tears and utter dedication, to cover the income of another individual to do everything you’ve been doing could be a frightening thought.
Things the LGBT Entrepreneur should ask while hiring first employees
The very first question is, can the business afford to bring extra staff along with considering all the factors? Committing to wages and benefits is pricey any way you slice it. Rarely can an LGBT startup manage to have even one staff person who is not functioning at full capability. Firing a worker may mean not just severance pay but there might be litigation. What’s more, the price of the downtime, locating a replacement, and attracting the new individual along with ramping them up would be added expenses and drain any company but particularly a small startup.
The second questions LGBT entrepreneurs typically encounter when hiring your first employees are where and how to when locating excellent candidates. The following is a rundown of some basics.
What jobs/tasks to fill/delegate first will be different for every company, based on business, location, and also the abilities of the LGBT business owners. LGBT entrepreneurs have to boil their staffing searches down to a handful of quality people who connect with the company’s mission. Frequently the early hires both include people with the ability to do many tasks across the business and be willing to be trained to perform more job junctions they may not have been hired to do. High-level executives are not usually hired before the business has experienced some substantial growth. You typically do not require a vice president of sales or marketing before there is a customer load to warrant it. In smaller local companies like Pet Grooming, it might be just one or two individuals in the business. Expanding in this sort of business may be adding part-time team members for customer pet pick-ups and drop-off. Be smart and strategic when hiring.
LGBT Entrepreneur Startup Factors
As a business founded by an LGBT person(s) hiring with a sensitivity to the built-in diversity is important. The founder’s sexuality should not be an issue, yet in a small growing company personality fit is a key component. Hiring persons and making it very clear up front that diversity is valued including sexual orientation and validating that there is no apparent conflict is important for both you and the new employee.
Consider Freelance Contractors for your LGBT Owned Business
Ask yourself, “Do I really need to hire someone?” Today so many services can be outsourced or accomplished by freelance contractors. Some work that may be able to be outsourced could include manufacturing, financial/CPA work, technical support, website design, traditional marketing, graphic design, social media marketing, sales, and public relations — even administrative assistants can be hired on a “virtual” basis now online.
Deciding what activities to farm out versus hiring an LGBT friendly employee may come down to deciding if the work activity is centered on your core business strength and how much time is dedicated to the tasks on a regular basis. There may be other LGBT businesses or community friendly vendors that have more resources, skills, and experience than a single individual you may be able to afford to hire.
LGBT Small Company Benefits
When hiring your first staff, LGBT entrepreneur business owners often do best with flexible job seekers who are familiar working in small companies. Typically, the best candidate can perform their job with a lot of independence and doesn’t need a lot of hand-holding.
You might want to consider hiring someone with a large-business background, but they are all too often not an ideal match. In a large business, the daily work process is very different than in a small company. Small companies require each person to do a bit of everything.
On the plus side, an LGBT small business is usually less bureaucratic and so staff typically have a larger array of projects and tasks their jobs than large companies where jobs tend to be siloed. Also, LGBT small business owners typically have a closer relationship with each employee creating a family-like atmosphere. For the prospective employee, landing a job in a small and growing LGBT owned business offers the new employee the possibility for accelerated professional growth as well as being a part of making that growth take place.
Hunting for a Great LGBT Business Employee Match
An LGBT entrepreneur’s best source for hiring your first LGBT friendly employee typically starts with professional networking. Don’t be shy about asking for referrals from your friends and industry colleagues. Also let your professional contacts know such as your accountant, lawyer, board members, and members of any organizations (professional and non-profession) you belong to. Since these trusted people will only recommend someone they know, they have accomplished some of your new hire screening for you. LGBT start-ups typically find their first several candidates levering their personal and professional network this way.
You also enlarge your networking reach with each new employee hire. Candidates through current employees receive an insider trusted perspective of you and your business. Typically current staff will only suggest someone he or she believes will be a great fit for skills and culture. Providing employee referrals bonus program is a fairly inexpensive way to incentivize current employees to offer up great candidates.
No matter how professionally networked you and your staff are this approach will eventually reach it’s maximum ability to continue to deliver the best candidates. Therefore, you also need to consider niche online job portals such as the OutBüro LGBT Job Portal. Large job boards like ZipRecruiter.com, have advantages yet they can often drown you in a see of low quality resumes. In a small LGBT business time is money and sorting through a large volume of candidates is costly and exhausting. Smaller niche sites like the OutBüro LGBT Job Portal can narrow your interested applicants to LGBT friendly quality candidates.
It’s important to be active in professional groups such as the OutBüro LGBT community groups and the OutBüro LinkedIn LGBT Professional networking group. Keep watch on popular blogs and industry websites for great talent seeking a change.
Employment agencies and headhunters can help you find employees from entry-level to executive. Recruiters do all your legwork — for a fee, of course — and are particularly useful if you are hiring a top-level executive.
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