When you are interviewing a prospective employee, you must show them some of the same traits that you want to see in your ideal candidate for the position. For instance, why should your employee be passionate and enthusiastic about working for you, if you do not show enthusiasm about your business? Be open about your company and the position your applicant is striving for. You can explain how much progress your business has made and tell them how and why the position is an important role in your company. Show them that you value and care about the position they're applying for, otherwise what reason do they have to give the job their best?



Regularly scheduled evaluations to discuss performance and goals with employees are something you often find in large corporations, but with a smaller business you can do this much less formally. In your small business, you may have the opportunity to interact with all of your employees on a one-on-one basis and this can be an advantage of running a smaller, personal business!

If you get to work closely with your subordinates on a day-to-day basis, you don't have to conduct formal evaluations every 6 months, rather you can create a more open professional relationship with your employees by offering your feedback, discussing goals, and also asking if they have any suggestions for you about how your office operates.

Generously praise them for a job well done, so your employees will understand that you appreciate and value the work they are doing. Not only will this encourage sustained quality performance, but it can make it easier to give negative feedback if need be. Never avoid confronting your subordinates and hope an issue will just correct itself. You cannot logically expect a situation to improve by not being addressed, avoiding a problem you have with an employee will cause it to escalate, increasing your stress to an extreme, such as exploding and losing an employee that may have performed well in the past.

Of course, you need to ask a lot of questions, but don't concentrate only on their qualifications for the job you're offering. Be friendly and draw them out, this can enable you to find out what sort of employee they will be. Will he or she take this job seriously? Are they enthusiastic about working for you and will they care about the progress of your company? If you find something unusual about their resume, start there. If the applicant has worked in a foreign country, ask them about that experience; not only the job experience, but their personal experience of living abroad. You can put them more at ease about the interview and encourage them to be open with you, enabling you to move on smoothly to more pertinent topics.

A Personal Assistant is altogether a different sort of employee and probably the most vital to any business person. The tasks of this person can range from answering the phone and getting coffee, to negotiating with another assistant to schedule an appointment for you with an influential contact. This role can require the most unique skills and talents, and let's be honest here: it can be difficult to find an assistant who will exceed your expectations.

More than any other employee, the performance of your assistant depends on his or her morale and level of belief in and enthusiasm about you and your business. If your assistant feels appreciated and respected, they will truly go above and beyond to help you. However, there can be several adverse effects of a disgruntled assistant. This employee, more than any other, can impact your relationship with clients, customers, sponsors, vendors, partners, in general anyone who contacts your office.

The professional relationship you create with your assistant can be the most important relationship you build for your business, so make sure your interactions with him or her are respectful, appreciative, and open, but not too friendly or personal as this is also the employee who must respect you the most.