Thoughts from the Hiring Managers Prospective
For the last few months we have been advertising to fill a position. We’ve posted on various paid internet hiring sites as well as undergraduate and graduate business schools. Each day we review about 10-20 resumes.
I like a good, shocking surprise every now and then (emphasis on “good”). I especially like giving someone a good, shocking, surprise. Something completely unexpected, that gets etched in their memory.
Over time we fall into a routine of busy-ness during the holidays, just trying to get through them and make sure nothing get screwed up.
As CFO’s we are often involved in the compensation discussion when it comes to new hires or adding staff, managers or executives to a company.
The discussion on pay generally revolves around setting a range based on industry, desired skills and what is currently being paid for similar positions within the company.
What can business owners learn from squirrels, mice and beavers? How about looking both ways before crossing the road! Or maybe knowing how to stay warm during long winter months? Probably the most important lesson we can learn from these animals is that if you want to survive, you have to plan ahead.
We spend a lot of time helping businesses improve their profits and cash-flow. When we stopped to think about all the ideas and experience we have managing and controlling risk and costs in a business, we realized many of these ideas also apply to individuals managing their daily lives and personal finances.
When we’re working with small business owners the subjects of hiring, pay ranges, payroll costs and appropriate pay increases come up. Since there is often no formal pay structure in place to act as a guide, the decisions in these areas tend to be knee jerk reactions when someone is hired, promoted, or asks for a pay increase.
Those of us who are “numbers” people are blessed with being comfortable working with and interpreting numbers. This is not always the case with those folks who are more right brained and tend to be challenged when it comes to looking at numbers.
The first thing to know about numbers is that numbers by themselves have no meaning.
We work with a lot of small businesses and often they are challenged covering all the office functions most businesses have to deal with on a daily basis. One of the most critical office function of any business is processing payroll. It’s a necessary function that on the surface seems straight forward but when you take a closer look and examine all the related factors, you may be exposing yourself to unnecessary risks if you handle your payroll in-house.
By Tom Carbone, Senior Financial Analyst
As a small business owner, have you ever asked your bookkeeper or controller to provide you with an income statement and felt like you’re reading a foreign language? Your eyes probably wander directly to the bottom line. “Hmm…how much money did we make? What!? We had a $40,000 loss? That can’t be right!?!” Then you look at all the rest of the numbers on the page and you’re still not sure why. “Cost of Goods Sold? Gross Profit? Expenses? Where did we go wrong? More importantly, WHY did we lose money?”
A few years ago, I had an entertaining experience while upgrading my phone, which I wrote about in our newsletter. It is once again time for a phone upgrade, so I thought I’d share this “throwback article”, which I hope you find amusing. – TR
