A business, like any other complex system, runs only as well as its individual parts allow it to operate. That is why the hiring and recruiting aspect of ecommerce is one of the most important tasks a business owner or entrepreneur must learn to navigate and streamline. It’s well known that low-performing employees can drag down a business, but there are several strategies that can help mitigate the risk of hiring candidates not suited for the job.

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Good Hiring Practices Can Make or Break You

If you have your finished business plan, the next step is finding recruits who share your vision for the future of your enterprise. For the first-timer, interviewing potential employees may seem like a daunting task, but with the proper preparation, finding a qualified candidate should be no problem.

• If giving an interview either in person or over the phone, you must prepare for the interview just as much as if you were applying for the job yourself. Study the candidates’ resumes and qualifications. This will allow you to quickly and fairly judge the applicant and his or her qualifications.
• Know what skills you are looking for! If you go into the interview uncertain of the qualities that make a successful candidate, your chances of finding one will be slim at best.
•  Ask open-ended questions that require the applicant to demonstrate on-the-spot critical thinking skills.
• Keep it light: both you and the applicant will be more at ease to talk about his or her qualifications and your vision if the atmosphere is not too overbearing.
• Ask for stories! It’s easy for applicants to talk themselves up on a resume, but much harder to face-to-face. Ask for anecdotes about successful and unsuccessful projects and experiences to better gauge the candidate’s knowledge and experience.

Experience in Ecommerce

Perhaps the most important thing to look for in an applicant is previous experience in ecommerce. This doesn’t mean that one should be too quick to judge an applicant because of a lack of work experience or, conversely, assume that one with experience in ecommerce is naturally the best choice. There are however, talents that experienced recruits can offer that may be lacking in other applicants:

• Someone who has worked in ecommerce can greatly increase the appeal of the website. An experienced web-designer can help immensely in tidying-up your website to make it both functional and attractive.
• A previous employee in ecommerce will likely be able to streamline your business and help you cut excess from your operation costs. They will be more likely to know about innovative systems that can streamline workflow--like a credit card processing system for example.
• An experienced candidate in ecommerce will also be valuable in helping find your niche. Because ecommerce is a growing area of business, being able to stand out among the myriad other websites will be a huge boon to your endeavor. Someone familiar with the playing field will doubtless be an enormous help in knowing what other ecommerce websites yours is competing against.

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Stay on the Lookout

Many successful companies are often on the search for talented and hard-working recruits. This allows the business to keep the best employees on board, while keeping options open for a more productive change of personnel. It’s always an unwise decision to simply assume that your team is the best you could have. By adopting efficient hiring techniques and strategies, though, you can be sure looking for new employees will not be a time-consuming burden on your business.