Self-employment

Getting the right people can be tricky for a small business, says hi-tech employer

Hire carefully for your small biz

Your small business forever changes once you hire your first employee. It's a big adjustment for entrepreneurs who have grown accustomed to working alone and doing things their way.

ROGER PIERCE
[ 2006-02-15 ]

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Business owner Jay Fitzpatrick has learned how to hire great people; he would rather hire a person with the right attitude than one with just the right skills.

"The secret is to hire an employee with a winning work attitude," entrepreneur Jay Fitzpatrick says.

He owns TechElectric Automation Inc. (www.techelectricautomation.com), a Burlington-based industrial electrical contracting company that specializes in equipment automation. For example, his company will design Man-Machine Interfaces (MMI) for clients, which are touch-sensitive screens that make it easier for equipment operators to run complex machinery.

Up and running for 14 years, TechElectric Automation today employs four people. Fitzpatrick remembers making some major adjustments when he hired his first employee in 1993. "Back then, I ran my business out of my basement," he recalls, "which meant trusting my new employee not to eat all the food in my refrigerator."

Over the years Fitzpatrick has learned how to hire the right kind of person for his growing small business.


"Some of my apprentices were as green as grass," he says, "but we trained them to work in our business. You've got to be prepared to invest your time and knowledge in people."

Fitzpatrick would rather hire a person with the right attitude than one with just the right skills.

"You can't train someone to have the right attitude," he says. "A business owner should hire based on personality and attitude and be prepared to train that person to do the job."

Knowing how difficult it can be to sum up a job applicant during an interview, Fitzpatrick turned to an HR professional for some advice. He learned to ask open-ended interview questions, and to write down acceptable answers to those questions beforehand. "That helps me to weed out inappropriate applicants," he says.

Fitzpatrick's investment in quality people is paying off. "I know I've hired a great team because they often show up on weekends voluntarily just to learn more about our business," he says.



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