Handling business is no easy task; it requires consistent work ethics and solutions to people’s problems. Small businesses can quickly get into the game of growing if they have potential employees. The first task in any business is to hire qualified employees and then elevate your business growth to great heights. But there’s always a stake; you have to keep up with each and every employee to make sure they are fully doing their job. This is obviously where a manager’s position comes up, and you realize how important managers are to the success of any new business.
In this article, we will discuss about
- Hiring business managers
- How to hire proper business managers
- Skill tests and interview
Business managers are a positive asset to any young company. They handle day-to-day operations, hire and train new employees, and provide coaching. Thus, finding the right manager who can contribute to the steady growth of the company is crucial. If your manager is not up to par or less qualified, there’s a slight chance that disruptions in work ethics could significantly affect your business.
In this article, if you’re a small business looking to hire a business manager, there are certain things you need to check to ensure you’ve hired the perfect one. Hiring the right manager is a once-in-a-lifetime decision, so you should make the best choice that positively affects your company’s reputation and standards.
Table of Contents
Why Hire A Manager?
Hiring a business manager is an asset. Likewise, I feel a business manager can improve your business growth. The right hire can always help in meeting company objectives and completing daily tasks. A business manager helps maintain the company’s stability and manages the employees. Understanding the advantages of being a business manager, such as being the positive front image of a brand, can create a good connection with clients and customers. An impressive manager ensures strategic planning and efficient team management, contributing to overall business success.
Business managers also keep a general oversight of the way a business operates and particularly pay attention to vital aspects like improving processes, ensuring performance levels are high, and increasing profits in an elevated way. If only performance were better and consistent, the incoming profits would be steady and increase. Here, business owners should let managers be able to direct and coordinate business activities in relation to production, including pricing, sales, and distribution. They also ensure every independent administrative activity is completed with regard to the products and services that are provided.
Here are the other areas where business managers are also responsible: staffing, interviewing applicants, setting up their routines, daily tasks, and assigning work schedules and duties to each individual working under them.
When you look at the above responsibilities and job duties, this is not an easy task. When starting a business, you need to figure all these out by yourself and your small team. This can get extremely hectic once more members join, and that’s when you’ll finally realize the worth of a business manager. The idea of a manager working with your board members and also communicating properly with staff members can help to meet the overall goals of the business as well as at a departmental level.
They can also be beneficial in some cases where business managers work directly on financial activities, such as setting budgets to fund operations. Here, business managers also help to create awareness, conduct cultural activities inside the workspace, and instigate programs for sustainability, effective waste management, recycling, and conservation.
Ranks of Business Managers
When hiring a manager, you have to decide on which rank or position is essential. For example, if you’re a very small team business, having one single manager is enough. However, larger businesses that have multiple levels and groups of employees may require multiple managers together. There are three common levels of managers:
First-line managers: It’s an entry-level management position. Here, they can serve as directing employees and report back to middle managers. You can see assistant managers, office managers, etc., being hired for this position.
Middle managers: As the name suggests, middle managers are a step above first-line and a step down from top boss CEO-level managers. These roles are filled by people with more of a strategic role rather than providing direct supervision or communication with the employees. They often communicate ideas, goals, and objectives from upper teams to lower managers.
Top-level managers: These managers are at the top of the manager positions and chain. Here, mostly COOs (Chief Operating Officers), financial officers (CFOs), and executive officers (CEOs) are considered Top managers. Basically, they manage the overall business in terms of operations, employment, products, and services. They are responsible for setting organizational goals and establishing corporate direction.
How To Hire a Business Manager
Now that the basics of a business manager are covered let’s explore the ways to follow when you’re hiring a manager. I have asked for personal experiences from people who are willing to talk about hiring their best managers. How do you get the full package? Your employees should not end up working for a strict boss who is rude and arrogant; instead, the manager should be understanding and set an ideal guiding path for employees. Nobody wants to hire a terrible and toxic manager, do they?
So, the stakes are always high when it comes to hiring a manager, and the hiring process is similar to hiring a normal employee. But how can you make it different and find the most inspiring and supportive managers to also increase employee retention and improve overall productivity? Well, it’s time to focus on the following concepts in mind before considering hiring a manager.
Writing A Business Manager Job Description
Every hiring person stresses the importance of having a strong job description. An impressive and thoughtful description is crucial. The job description should include a compelling summary of the role and a detailed list of duties and responsibilities. Some people also add the required and preferred skills for the position.
When you ask me, I’d suggest that it’s important to mention key skills but not mention every single policy and procedure in the description. You should not complicate the position for a potential candidate reading the description. You can analyze them more with the kind of questions you ask in an interview and through different tests.
You can begin your job description with two or three sentences that include an introduction of your company and its values as an employer. You can also include a newly revamped management philosophy that you are looking for in your company. Use active verbs when describing the roles and responsibilities, such as mentors, leads, motivates, coaches, etc. This will help create a positive impression on your candidates. Additionally, you can add hours, benefits, deadlines, and a salary range. It’s also crucial that they know from the very beginning what they’ll be seeing on their pay stub every month as well as all the conditions and benefits of the job. In the next paragraph, you can include years of experience, education, skills, and qualifications that you’re looking for.
Where to Find a New Manager Employee?
To find the best managers, you should also know where to find them. You can consider the following strategies when recruiting:
Promote from within: This is the easiest way to find a manager in terms of immediate hiring. You can identify your employees who have excellent potential and leadership qualities. This will be far easier because the employees already have company knowledge, and it’s easier to communicate and recruit from within. So, you can look within your business’s employee list and promote them to managerial positions to increase positive work culture. They’ll get motivated to learn more about different future opportunities and professionally take chances to improve their work. They’re also ready to accept challenges, improve productivity, and make decisions efficiently.
Post on job boards: The most common way hiring managers try to fill their roles is by job posting the hiring news online. This can attract new people and qualified candidates to your job. However, the problem is shortlisting people and conducting interviews afterward, which depends on what you want from them.
Attend business events and fairs: While you can recruit qualified managers through online postings, you can also attend business conferences to find them. This can help you create awareness about your brand identity and meet professionally qualified people. It’s also a great way to interact and meet potential candidates as managers, allowing you to speak with them directly about what you’re looking for and network with them for future needs.
Social media: Social media platforms can be leveraged to spread news about your company’s hiring. You can take advantage of LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook pages to share job descriptions and other new opportunities. This is the new trend of hiring and finding new people where you can also engage with them and see their previous work.
Skills To Look For A Great Manager
Even after you shortlist the candidates, you need to find a great business manager who also tends to possess skills, attributes, and proper work experience. Some of the common or basic or soft skills you should look for are:
- Prior business experience, especially in management roles
- Attention to detail
- Communication skills
- Ability to motivate
- Multitasking ability
- Computer skills
- Leadership skills
Here is the next set of additional skills that can be looked at as an added bonus if your candidate has one.
Negotiation and persuasion skills: Managers often work and communicate with people other than their own employees. So, having negotiation and persuasion skills to make necessary changes when dealing with customers and suppliers will benefit the company in many ways. These skills will also help employees become more productive and improve their work-life balance.
Monitoring and system analysis: Managers should be able to understand differences in employees’ productivity and performance. Monitoring staff, ensuring that system analysis, and being aware of management software can be added benefits for businesses. Always hire a manager who has these qualities.
Critical thinking and decision-making: Managers often have to deal with problems and issues in a workplace and resolve them quickly and reasonably. So, one of the key skills a manager should have is critical thinking and judgment skills to make effective and efficient decisions.
Now, looking at some of the good quality traits a manager should have, here are the two most voted traits people told me they find common in inspiring best managers,
Trustworthiness:
A manager with good, trustworthy qualities is rare, but trust me, those managers can be considered precious. When you can easily rely on your managers for other aspects of the business like sensitive documents, money, office agendas, or big decision-making, you should get a manager who helps you follow up with each thing and takes tasks autonomously while also maintaining confidentiality. So, if you don’t trust your manager as a business owner, there’s no point in having one. You should also consider doing a background check on managers before you send out an offer letter.
Flexibility:
In a business, changes are inevitable. There can be instances where you face sudden changes and different issues in life. Sometimes you experiment with new work culture tactics that can work or not work. This is the same thing that goes for trying out new products and services that don’t get proper customer traction. This is where managerial flexibility is considered a key trait when looking for perfect managers.
Interview Questions For Manager Candidates
Now, the interview process can be considered a crucial part of the hiring process. This is where you get to connect with your candidate on a personal level. Here, you can evaluate the candidates based on their personality, previous experience, and confidence in answering questions. Are you wondering what some of the few questions you should ask a possible business manager candidate? Here are a few questions based on managerial positions:
- How do you communicate with employees at the start of each workday?
- How would you handle a customer who said your employee overcharged them?
- As a manager, what kinds of tasks would you prioritize for yourself and your team?
- How would you describe our brand to a new employee?
- Tell me about the last time you managed a conflict between employees.
After the interview, you can also give them tests or assessments to evaluate their technical or communication skills. Remember to get their feedback on your interview as well.
Conclusion
Hiring a manager can change the trajectory of your business. The main thing you have to remember is not to hire a bully and give a chance to empaths. Because employee retention is also an important part of the business. The business manager needs to coordinate activities and direct employees, including staffing and hiring future prospective candidates. This also means managers need to work along with the board members and take part in monitoring performance and setting overall objectives and goals.
By this, you know that there are a lot of strategies and thoughts that go into finding the right manager for your business. Hiring can be a difficult process when it comes to finding the right employee for a business. So, in this article, I have provided a strategic way to hire a business manager.
FAQs
How do I hire a business manager?
When considering how to hire a business manager, it’s essential to recognize the complexity of the responsibilities and job duties involved. As a business owner, initially, you may have to navigate these tasks with your small team. A business manager plays a crucial role in working alongside board members and effectively communicating with staff to meet the overall goals of the business and align efforts at a departmental level.
How much does it cost to hire a business manager?
Hiring costs can vary according to your demand, prior experiences, and recruitment aspects. The cost of hiring a business manager typically involves a monthly retainer fee starting at $1,500 or a percentage of your income, commonly around 5%, as payment for their services.
