Poor Staffing Decisions

2. No set interviewing process. Let’s face it, resumes are something of an art form today. It’s really hard to rely on a one page document that is probably more processed than Velveeta cheese. You should have a series of interviews (with more than just you) designed to learn more about the candidate personally and professionally. One of the early mistakes new entrepreneurs make is they gloss over checking references. A really good candidate should have willing work and personal references who will speak on their behalf so you can validate the quality of the candidate. Not having references may give you a flashing red sign that the candidate did not perform well in their past few jobs. Make sure you run each candidate through some type of technology test as almost all interviewees put down that they know how to do PowerPoint, Excel, etc., but few really know these programs. 

3. Have a dating period. One of things I learned as an entrepreneur is to fail fast. Don’t hire a new candidate full time until you have some sort of 90 day trial period. During that dating phase, your level of difficulty and scrutiny should be as high as humanly possible. You don’t want to become buddy-buddy with your new employee, as this will set things off on the wrong path. You should be certain to test every aspect with the candidate on the job after they have passed your interview process to make sure this is the right candidate for your company. That way, you’ve only lost 90 days if it doesn’t work out—or less!