We recently connected with Jill Berti and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jill, thanks for joining us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?
It’s funny how even though I’m in the business of helping organizations grow their teams and create impactful work cultures, it was hard to do it for my own business. I was about a year into my HR consulting journey when a business coach told me that I needed to stop working in my business and start working on it if I wanted to grow it. I was at the point where I was maxed out – there’s only so much work that one person can do before having to decide what my strategy was going to be going forward: was I going to continue as a solopreneur or was I ready to build an agency?
The hard part about hiring employees is that it forces you to look at the bigger picture and get out of the weeds. While a lot of it has to do with getting out of the daily work and needing additional help, it also makes you take a step back and requires you to give thought to what type of manager you are, what your leadership style is, and if you have systems in place. It’s so much more than just adding a person to your team and that’s where hiring becomes daunting. There’s also the part about hiring that is often overlooked, which is the legal side and the cost to it. You’re not just paying that person’s hourly rate or salary, you’re also paying employer taxes, getting a payroll provider, finding workers’ comp insurance, the list goes on. BUT, if you can see the full picture and determine if the additional responsibilities of having an employee outweigh the literal and figurative cost of hiring, then you’re making a REALLY exciting decision as a business owner, and you’re stepping into that true CEO role.
With Workery, I decided it was time for help. As part of the consulting relationship, I work very closely with clients and initially only wanted assistance with the projects, not actually communicating with clients. I hired two people as contractors who did project-based work (note that it’s extremely important to understand the legal requirements of classifying someone as a 1099 contractor vs. a W-2 employee!). Within a few months, it made sense for one of them to be classified as an employee because I had grown again and now needed her to be client-facing, and with that it was an easy transition. I didn’t interview for the role since I had been working with her already.
That said, I recently hired another employee that I recruited and interviewed for, which was a vastly different experience. I started with posting the role online, reviewing resumes, scheduling phone screens, and then I used an assessment to determine my top candidates’ work styles and how they make decisions. This assessment was amazing because it also allowed me to create a profile for the role with the key traits I needed in the position, and then I could overlay my candidates’ profiles to see who would be a good fit. It also provided sample interview questions based on each person’s results, and recommendations for coaching and motivating them. From there, I did a final round of interviews with my top candidates based on my previous interview and their assessments. We’re a few weeks in and my new hire is a great fit with the team!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Sure! I was always the kid who wanted to have a lemonade stand – deep down, there was an underlying urge to do my own thing, even after I graduated from college and began my career with Target. I tried starting a curated gift box company in my early 20’s, but failed due to fear; I ultimately got too nervous when it came to marketing it and was worried about people would say about me. Then I watched my brother start his own successful crypto business a few years later. I was inspired by his confidence and began toying around with the idea of career coaching, until I did it for a few people and realized that I actually hated it! Even though I had a successful career in HR, I found that coaching others just wasn’t my passion.
It didn’t dawn on me until COVID that I could actually do HR work remotely because it’s traditionally an in-house role. I was burnt out in my current job and looking for something that would make me excited, but also offer me the flexibility to work remotely full-time so that I could travel with my husband for his job. The shift to remote work during the pandemic opened up the opportunity for me to take what I was an expert at and help so many more people and businesses than I was currently helping in my corporate role.
I know the reputation HR gets – we’re stuffy, boring, sticklers for rules and we fire people. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and that’s what Workery is about. Sure, we help add structure to organizations (often their employees are desperately looking for that), but our main goal is to show small businesses that they NEED HR strategy in order to grow and keep their teams happy. And it doesn’t have to be in the typical way – we can do it in ways that are unique to them, cost effective, and fun for their teams. Small businesses often don’t get the opportunity to incorporate these strategies into their culture until after they’ve already grown. We help them do it sooner.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Here are a few things I’ve picked up throughout my career as an HR expert and a leader:
– Invest time in your team. Get to know them, find out what they’re passionate about both inside and outside of work, and put time in with them sharing feedback, being transparent about goals, etc. It goes a long way.
– You need structure. Even startups. No one wants to work in a role where the expectations are always changing, so be intentional about setting clear and structured milestones or metrics to meet. Also, things like handbooks and how-to’s (if you don’t want to call them policies) are good things, because they give people a place to go when they have questions. Think of them as resources and guides.
– Don’t micromanage. Allow there to be mistakes – that is where growth happens.
– Flexibility goes a long way, especially for employees with families. But to be flexible, you have to trust your team and focus on outcomes over hours worked.
– ASK FOR FEEDBACK. Keep the lines of communication open and be transparent about what you’re working on yourself as a leader. When you do get feedback, actively listen – don’t listen to just provide a response. Your team will respect you and be more willing to share things with you.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
When I was first getting started, I was a one-woman show and trying to figure out how to get anyone to take me seriously. I had about a decade of HR experience, but time doesn’t always mean that you’re an expert. Before taking on clients and while still working my corporate job, I spent about six months creating content – building an instagram page, giving presentations at my local chamber of commerce, and writing blog posts. I also began working with a business coach who gave me the confidence to go after clients and charge rates I would have felt intimidated by on my own.
As a company, doing quality work and focusing on client satisfaction (for us that means being prompt, proposing and executing new ideas that bring value to their cultures, and making ourselves available to to their teams) has brought us a lot of referrals – I truly can’t downplay how much positive word of mouth reviews have helped Workery grow over the last two years.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.workeryconsulting.com
- Instagram: @workeryconsulting
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/workeryconsulting
Image Credits
Melissa Douglas Co. https://melissadouglasco.com/