It's not enough to have a college degree; business owners today are looking for new hires with skills they can use to better their company. If you don't hire staff that have a particular set of skills, skills they have acquired after gaining experience in their respective fields, you can't expect the non-skilled employees you did hire to hit the ground running.
To run a business successfully, you need to hire employees that have experience under their belt. This is especially pertinent to small businesses as they are more susceptible to being short changed. If an employee you hired has a string of excuses as to why they can't come in, the only thing they're really skilled at is, to be it lightly, storytelling.
You need a staff built up of professionals that know what they're doing. Think of your staff like as an insurance package. If they're good at their job, your business is protected.
Speaking of insurance, doubly protect your business with cyber liability insurance coverage with CyberPolicy!
Staff Got Skills
Skill 1: Trained in cybersecurity. 43 percent of cyberattacks target small businesses. The most successful of the attacks occur through phishing email campaigns. Sadly, many cyberattacks occur due to human error, i.e., an employee opened a phishing email that gave a cybercriminal access to sensitive data.
During the interview process, ask your job candidates how familiar they are with cybersecurity and ask them how they would handle certain cyber situations, such as: \"If I emailed you asking for an employee's W-2, would you email it to me?\" If they answer yes, you know they don't have the cybersecurity skills you're looking for.
Skill 2: Can compose professional emails. You will want your office to maintain a level of professionalism, especially with clients. You will encounter clients turned off to cheery hellos and too many exclamation marks in an email.
On customer service emails, make sure your business has a clear style and voice and that your staff can write an email in that voice.
Skill 3: Able to adapt quickly to new situations. Work can be stressful, especially when you have to wear many different hats. As a small business owner, you will be relying on your staff to multitask and to perform jobs they may not ordinarily do. An adaptable employee will see these moments as an opportunity for growth and will rise to the occasion.
Skill 4: Is a self-starter. You won't always be in the office to supervise. You will be meeting with clients and networking a trade shows, among other things. You shouldn't have to worry about leaving your staff unsupervised; they should be able to work or find a new project to work without having you over their shoulder. Someone who can recognize where work needs to be done and gets it done without being told is an employee you want on your team.
Skill 5: Has emotional intelligence. You'll want your employees to be able to work well together. If there's even one person who doesn't understand when it's time to listen, shows no empathy and does little to bond with the team, the whole staff is going to feel it. Hire people who like working with and helping people.
Everyone has a skill in something, but there are skills that are more valuable than others. Hire a staff with the above skills and your business will flourish. To keep it flourishing, protect your business with cyber liability insurance coverage today with CyberPolicy.
