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Human Resources Expert Expert: Margaret Lobenstine
Help wanted
Q: I am looking for a unique person to fill an important role in my company. We help small businesses with Internet products and services, and I need a resident small business champion. This person should love small business, have a working knowledge of HTML, be well–aware of current Internet offerings and have experience writing and editing (because most of our products are advice–based). Any suggestions for what type of person? Programmer, librarian, editor, consultant and writer are among the traditional job descriptions that I have been searching.
A: When you say you need a small business champion, that indicates the ideal candidate must be intimately acquainted with the challenges faced by small businesses. I translate that to mean either someone who has started and run at least one small business or someone who has advised small businesses over many years after having run one themselves.
Such a person may well be familiar with Internet offerings, and, depending on the nature of their business, have honed their writing and editing skills. But you also want someone who knows HTML, something the average small business owner/advisor may have defined as too technical to be worth learning themselves.
The one exception may be someone whose most recent small business is that of Web site developer. These people may also have excellent writing skills, if they are helping their clients with content as well as design.
So instead of searching people's resumes, post your own help wanted ad, beginning with a catchy phrase such as "Is your web design business just the latest in a series of small businesses you've run? Do you help your clients with content as well as design?" and take it from there.
If that doesn't reap good candidates, consider investing in teaching the ideal small business champion HTML after you have him/her on board.
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