For many of us, summer is winding down. Heading back to work, getting the kids back in school, starting up routines again - this can all feel daunting and overwhelming.
Faced with an endless (and growing!) to-do list, you may have thought about getting help, or had someone suggest it - only to immediately reject the idea. Have you ever thought…
“I don’t have time to find someone.”
“I can’t afford to hire help!”
“I should be able to do this on my own!”
If these thoughts have ever crossed your mind as you struggle with being overloaded with tasks, overwhelmed with projects, and on the verge of burnout - I’d like to offer you a gentle reminder.
Life is all about community - and those of us who have strong networks of support survive the toughest of times. It’s okay to call on your community for help, fellow Light Worker.
There’s no denying that hiring amazing help can seem tricky, but I’ve got your back! In this article, I share tips on recruiting for yoga teachers to take your business from solopreneur to duopreneur. It is a 3-stage process for recruiting help in a stress-free and easeful way so that you can get the support you need, both in your business and personal life!
When Should You Hire Help?
Knowing when to hire help is half the challenge. When you take stock of your life or business and feel like you can’t progress further with your current capacity, that might be a sign that it’s time to hire some help.
We often think of hiring help as an expense, but try shifting your perspective. Think of hiring someone for your life or business as an INVESTMENT instead. When we let go of things that don’t serve us and allow others to support us in areas that aren’t our strengths or that energetically deplete us, we create more time and energy for other, more crucial activities like serving your clients or tapping into your higher creativity.
I recently hired a housekeeper to help with cleaning my home. I also took the plunge and hired an amazing copywriter as well as a terrific Virtual Assistant for my business. Getting external help in these three areas of my personal life and business has freed up my time for the essential tasks that I love doing and am great at. It’s also allowed me to move forward with enjoying all the things and I am truly so grateful to have this support!
It can feel like a big decision but with the right process in place, getting the help you need can be a breeze. When you are ready to take the leap of faith and invest in yourself and your business, try my 3-stage process to recruit amazing people to support you as you serve your highest calling!
Stage 1: PREPARE
In the first stage, we are doing our preparation to hire. Start by creating a job description. Include details about the tasks you need help with, the skills necessary for the role, as well as your values and working culture in your job description. Meditation and journaling can be helpful tools to clarify your values and culture.
Next, you can start taking applications. Share your job description with your network. People in your network are already connected to you and interested in what you have to offer, which makes them ideal candidates to work with you. Posting your job application on Indeed or LinkedIn can also attract great candidates.
You can create a simple application form online. Typeform, Google Forms, and SurveyMonkey are some popular options. These not only allow you to export all responses to a spreadsheet for easy sorting and evaluation, but they also offer automation such as sending out an email reply directly to applicants. You can even use a simple Word document with questions for candidates to fill in their responses. In your application form, it is a good idea to have questions that ask applicants to rank themselves on skills and values as well as deeper, more meaningful questions.
Once you’ve closed your application process (Tip: Set a clear deadline and stick to it!), you can sort and rank applications. Looking at the ranking-type questions, evaluate which candidates are a fit for the role from their responses. It can be helpful to color code responses for a more visual effect (Tip: Try red for ‘not a fit’, yellow for ‘need more information’ and green for ‘possible fit’).
Including questions about expected pay and their location in your application form can also help you sort through applicants who are outside your budget or are not local to you (if this is a requirement for the role). At this point, you can also look into their longer responses to see which candidates are a fit to move to the next stage. Trust your intuition!
Stage 2: INTERVIEW
The second stage is interviewing candidates who may be a fit. To me, this stage is like dating. It is a two-way street and a chance not only for you to see if they are the right choice to hire for your life and business, but also for them to gauge if they would enjoy working with you!
I recommend asking three types of questions in your interviews.
Culture: Ask questions relating to your company culture and the future of the company. This will help you uncover if they are a good fit in terms of values and principles and see if they are interested in growing and expanding with your company in the future.
Skills: Use the STAR method to gauge their competence in certain skill sets.
S - Situation (What was the situation where they needed the skillset?)
T- Task (What was the task they had to accomplish?)
A - Action (What was the action that they took?)
R - Result (What was the outcome?)
Logistics: Clarify with the candidate what the role entails and the job scope of the position. Discuss the payscale, their commitment levels and expectations, and other logistical details as well.
Interviews can be done in multiple stages, depending on the role you are recruiting help for. If you are working with a hiring agency, they may handle the first round of interviews so that you only have to interview the top 3-5 candidates, saving you time and energy.
P.S. Getting help with the recruiting process is yet another way to free up your time - more on that below!
Stage 3: SELECT
Once you’ve narrowed down your pool of candidates to the top three, you can move into selecting the best person for the job. This part of the interview process is the most exciting as you are getting closer to determining the best person for the role!
I highly recommend providing your top candidates with a work sample (a small task similar to what you need help with at home or within your business). This is an excellent and effective way of assessing a candidate’s fit for the role. You can get a clear sense of their working style, work ethic, and communication skills as well as test their abilities to perform relevant tasks. Consider offering candidates fair compensation for their efforts during the work sample process.
The candidate's performance on the work sample tasks may be sufficient to determine which candidate is the perfect hire for your needs. Alternatively, you may decide to conduct a final round of interviews to debrief the task and get feedback from them about the work sample process.
Once you’ve made your decision about who to hire, I recommend calling your top candidate to offer them the job in addition to sending an offer email outlining the job title, pay rate, hours, and scope of work. It is also a great practice to send out an email to all other applicants letting them know that the role has been filled at this time (Tip: “At this time” allows for impermanence and keeps the line of communication open).
Nobody likes rejecting other people but in holistic recruiting, we can think of this as an exercise in gratitude and building community. These people applied to work with you because they’re interested in your work and want to be involved in some sort of relationship with you. Sending them a kind email that thanks them for their time, energy, and effort in applying and lets them know the outcome of their application is a way to honor them. 🙏🏻
Recruiting help in your personal life or business doesn’t have to be overwhelming or stressful! By going through these three stages one at a time, you will easily be able to find and hire the right support you need. If you are looking for more guidance on holistic recruiting for wellness entrepreneurs or want to reduce your mental load even further, I would be honored to support you through this process.
Book a FREE 30-minute chat with me to see how I can best help you. I offer 1:1 guidance and coaching around hiring help or can help you through the entire recruiting process like I’ve done for other wellness entrepreneurs like Shannon Crow, Katie Brauer, Kevin J Courtney, and more! Sign up for your free call and start getting the support you deserve in your life and business today!