The Efficient Practice: Transform and Optimize Your Financial Advisory Practice for Greater Profits

CHAPTER 3

Managing People and Communications

Certainly among the key resources in any firm are the people who work there. Understanding first how to hire the right people and then manage those same people goes a long way toward effective use of human resources.

There is nothing more inefficient or costly than selecting the wrong person to fill a particular position within a firm. There is the time lost in the process, not to mention the cost, of acquiring a new employee along with wages paid to someone who does not stay. And, even though much has been written on the subject of employee selection, there are still a large number of firms that struggle with this concept. Most often, it is due to a lack of research and preparation prior to the hiring process, but it could be due to a variety of factors such as ill-defined job responsibilities, lack of attention to the team dynamics, personality issues, and other factors. And some firms have hired targets of opportunity. These are people who came to the attention of the firm, who possess certain skills, but may or may not be a good fit for the firm. So, what are the proper steps to ensure that the person you hire turns out to be the right employee?

STEP ONE: PRE-HIRE PREPARATION

Clearly, you cannot hire the right employee if you do not know who or what you are looking for. Having a fairly well-defined idea of who it should be will go a long way to finding this person. One way to accomplish this is with detailed position descriptions. ...