As technology continues to 10x our ability to connect and make impact upon our world, we’re finding less and less need to waste operation budgets on renting brick and mortar office buildings. Running your business can be more impactful and financially fruitful when you seek to contract out only who and what you need to be successful.
Think about what your Unique Ability is and then put yourself in a position to ONLY do the things that only you can do. Contract out experts to handle the other stuff.
But how do you find the right PM or VA?
You can spend a lot of money running advertisements and interviewing candidates, time you could be spending growing your business. Alternately you could contract out with a placement service who should be able to locate candidates to meet your specific needs.
Here’s the questions I recommend you ask before jumping into the search process.
- Do I need to hire an employee or a contractor?
- Do I need them temporarily or permanently?
- Do I have the time to personally interview each candidate or do I have someone on my team who I trust that I could delegate this responsibility to?
- Do I have a budget of 3k+ to locate and train a new candidate? A CAP study indicates costs could range from 3k – 213k depending on who you’re looking to hire. And that’s an investment you don’t get back if they turn in their notice after being hired.
If you’re looking for someone who completely dedicates their work time to your business, who you want to make sure follows exact process you have established, and who can work on site then you’re looking for an employee. If on the other hand you’re looking for an expert in their industry, who can work from remote and has a business owner mentality when it comes to providing you services, then you should hire a contractor.
If you’re only needing a temporary solution then definitely go the contractor route. A contractor or employee can meet your permanent solution needs but that depends entirely on what you’re looking for.
And if you answered no to either of the last two questions then you shouldn’t try to do this search on your own and instead work with a recruiter or firm who specializes in placing quality candidates.
Questions to ask recruiters and firms:
- Can I hire this candidate directly or am I locked into a long term agreement with you?
- If I can hire directly, what are the fees associated with this?
- What sets your candidates apart from other firms in the field?
I can tell you that with Satiated Artists, you are always able to hire a candidate directly once a (3) month introductory period has passed. This gives you both time to make sure it’s a good match. The fees are minimum, the equivalent of a 1-3 month contract. Whereas most firms charge a 6-12 month fee to hire direct.
And what sets our candidates apart is that each and every one of them come from a background in theatre, specifically on the producing side i.e. Stage Management and Directing. They’re flexibly minded and know how to get a production or project to “opening night”. They excel at the soft skills giants like Google look for, “communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver.” (Washington Post 12/20/2017)
They’re a perfect match for the entrepreneur mind and they’re just fun to be around.
-Laura Gouin