Growth. It’s so important to grow your team and grow your company. The tough part is, growth doesn’t happen overnight… most of the time. Growth is a slow, gradual process that takes time, energy, and effort. Oftentimes, growth is not needed, wanted, or something a company can afford. And that’s okay! However, when you are ready to grow your team and start expanding departments, there are a few things to help you along the process. Take a look:

• Establish a Brand- We’ve spoken about this before, an employer brand is so important. These days, your brand is everything and it’s what really makes you attractive to those applicants. If you have a stellar brand with a cohesive unit, awesome content, target audience, etc - The odds of someone being more inclined to apply are great. However, if you lack an employer brand all together - these odds lessen. So, before you even start hiring, marketing your positions, or consider looking, make sure you have some sort of solidified employer brand. If you recall back before the New Year, we published a blog called Best Recruiting Trends of 2019. Here, we discussed a myriad of topics, including this topic of establishing a brand. Here’s what we had to say: “When researching 2019 trends, a major trend across the board is employer branding. But what does this mean? As an employer or company, it's important to have a brand and an established one at that.” Short and sweet, right? It’s true though. Many people choose to overlook this as a thing of importance when, in reality, job seekers are actively searching for that bit of employer branding.

  We also discuss this topic in another past blog titled 3 Ways to Efficiently Market Yourself to Hiring Managers. Here’s what we said on that blog: “If you Google Search “ways to market yourself to job posters” like I just did… you’ll see mention of “branding” across many sites. It’s interesting to consider establishing a brand that’s your own but it’s important and can really help set you apart from the competition. But what does this mean? Start simple. You can begin to establish a brand through social media. For example, Instagram. Maybe you’re a creative looking for an outlet. Use your feed. Today, it’s so popular to have a cohesive profile whether there’s one color, theme, or style. While the more artistic types can probably have a bit more fun with this, it’s attainable for corporate workers too. One easy way you can start doing so is choosing a color you want to correlate to your brand. I’ve seen influencers use the color red often or they pick a color scheme like white and black. It’s your brand so all of the choices are yours. Once you decide what you want your brand to look like, it’s time to now decide who you want to align your brand with. If you’re into technology, following and interacting with Bill Gates or Elon Musk would be a great place to start. See what they’re posting, who they’re following, and also who’s following them. Find relevance. Don’t force a brand where it doesn’t make sense. It’s obvious when someone is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Then, once you’ve found your niche, ask yourself “what do I bring to the table that no one else does?” It may be hard, but if you can think of one to two key differentiators, you’re golden. Once you decide your angle, it’s time to run with it. Commit. That way you can really hone in on the jobs you want and the jobs you don’t and can effectively direct you in the right direction.” So, take those first steps ASAP before you start to hire or grow that team to ensure a greater chance at success.

• See What’s Missing- Once you have a brand and you’re ready to slowly start the growth process, see what’s missing. Are you short a marketing person? What about sales? How’s your IT team? Analyze those teams and departments, see who’s missing, see which team could use a new position, and go from there. If one team is overworked and one member wears 5 different hats...maybe focus on them. See if you can create a new role out of those 5 extra hats that “Steve” is wearing. In a past blog we shared, when talking about how to start the hiring process, we touch on this point in a similar way: “What Do You Need?” AND “Who are You Looking for?”

  Check out those two points: “Before you begin actually hiring someone for a job, you first need to recognize “what do you need?” What positions need to be filled? Which departments need help? Have we recently had someone resign who needs replacing? The list of questions to find your answer is extensive - but it should be. You never want to hire someone or fill positions that aren’t needed. If one team is short-staffed and struggling to complete weekly tasks, you may want to start there. Don’t over-staff one team and leave another struggling - you don’t want lop-sided departments. So, to start, figure out what positions you need to create or fill.” Additionally, “Once you decide what positions need to be filled or where you want to hire, you then have to decide who exactly you’re looking for. What is the job description? Who is your ideal candidate? What are your non-negotiables? If you’re looking for someone with 5 years of sales experience, list it. If you require a bachelor’s degree, list it! You must be specific and detail oriented to find that awesome fit.”

• Make a Plan- Okay, so you know which department or team is lacking and you’re ready to grow. Hold your horses! Make a plan. Sit down with each team looking for growth, and pick their brain. Find out what their pain points are. See what they need, who they want, and when they want it. You never want to start hiring for a position without consulting the team in need. Those people deserve a moment of two of your time to discuss and relay those issues to you so that you can accurately deliver that great fit to them.

• Hire for New Skill Sets- Like we previously mentioned a few points back, it’s so important to create those new positions and hire for new skill sets that you may not have currently. One skill set in particular, that’s actually become more of a trend lately is the hiring for soft skills. Here’s a quote from another past blog: “This trend is great because it combines two relevant trends into one common point of interest. When hiring, it is wise to consider a candidate with long lasting potential so you’re not sending out severance packages every 6-12 months. What are soft-skills you ask? Basically, they’re personality based skills that every individual has that vary from candidate to candidate. Soft skills range from critical thinking to creativity. These are skills that will outlast more trendy skills such as something web based because soft skills stand the test of time whereas a lot of computer programs and softwares could be dated in ten years time.” So, once you consider who you’re looking for, what you need, and what skills make the most sense per position, then you can assess which soft skills or which skill sets should be explored.

• Culture, Culture, Culture- Alright, so we know this topic has been discussed over and over again, however, the need for a great culture-fit has not changed. The topic of “culture” at work has been trending for weeks now and it’s something we’ve touched on a great deal in many of our blogs. We even dedicated one whole blog to this topic alone! Here’s a quick excerpt for you to get the ball rolling: “According to The Balance Careers, Company Culture “is the personality of a company. It defines the environment in which employees work. Company culture includes a variety of elements, including work environment, company mission, value, ethics, expectations, and goals.” Are you starting to see why this may be of some importance yet? If a company lacks a great environment or mission, has poor ethics, values, and expectations, and never sets goals - people are going to be very unhappy… Culture represents everything an employee holds dear - it’s all of the important details (aside from revenue) that people care about.” So, when you’re looking to expand your team, it’s so important to establish a noteworthy company culture. Applicants, especially those of the up-in-coming generations are hungry for an awesome culture.

Whether you’re in the midst of growing, are looking to grow, or are starting fresh and have to do a lot of hiring, we hope this list of tips helps! For more helpful content from us, check out our blog where we share brand new business-related content three times a week!