Definitely don't just look locally. There is a much, much larger global market.

When you recruit, pay at least 3 people to do a trial task. Give them a fixed amount of time (eg 3 hours) and compare the results. Don't let people who interview well confuse you between people who produce great work.

When posting these types of jobs, be as specific as possible to the needs and ask for examples of someone's work.

Consider posing a "What If" scenario and have applicants answer how they would handle it. This will give you a good idea of their skillsets, problem solving, and initiative.

Lastly, consider investing in a personality test / profile to determine of the applicant is a good fit.

I'm happy to expand, if necessary. Book a call.

I ran into this when I was hiring an assistant for my, you guessed it, boutique creative services company. Those of us who have grown accustomed to self-employment (and calling the shots) sometimes have a hard time letting go. ButI had to admit that I couldn't simply leverage my own productivity any more and squeeze more billable time out of your work days. In fact, my primary goal in hiring an assistant was to separate my potential income from the number of hours in the day.

1. Start looking for candidates within your own network. (I ended up hiring a guy I've known for five years, and it was my wife who told him I was looking for someone!)

2. Write down character traits that matter in your business. Here was my list:

+ Strong understanding of professionalism
+ Punctuality
+ Appropriate dress for various occasions
+ Good manners
+ Confidence
+ Willingness to listen without interrupting
+ Willingness to ask questions
+ Willingness to take initiative and NOT ask questions, as the situation warrants; doesn't always wait to be told what to do next

The last was perhaps the most important to me because I simply didn't have the time to look over his shoulder and explain everything step-by-step. I needed a confident self-starter.

I then wrote down needed personality traits, skills, and finally the things that I was most excited about offloading. Hire someone to do the things you least enjoy doing! I call those "low-leverage activities." You can see my list here: https://kicktastic.com/blog/article/how-to-hire-an-assistant/.

Anyhow, I started onboarding my new assistant in late 2012, and my business grew by over 200% in 2013. So the proof is in the pudding I guess.

Hope this helps,
Austin

I work with this topic frequently with many clients. Where everyone seems to get stuck is on how the work gets done, not just what the work actually is.

While knowing what you need to get done is important, how this individual will fit into the culture of your organization is critical. My suggestion is that you put together a day-to-day task description that will lead to a job description - from here you can sort out 'need to have' versus 'nice to have' in skill set & attitude. I would hate to see you waste your time & energy hiring someone that can do the job but derails everything else in the organization.

I would be happy to have a call on this with you to take you through the process more completely.