Posts Tagged ‘Save’

photo credit: c h e e s e roc

In today’s large unemployment line and as many businesses look to fill positions that they cut out during the toughest times, it is being seen that some guidelines are becoming obsolete in the hiring process. Businesses are just so eager to fill a much needed position and have so many applicants that they are forgetting the fundamentals behind hiring the right way.

The wrong way first: interview someone for an hour. If you like them, have them interview three or four other people in your organization for an hour each. You’ve invested five hours of your team’s time, but really you only were looking for approval, because you’d already decided you liked the person enough to work with them for years.

Obviously if you and the first 2 or 3 people like the applicant, chances are you are not going to let the last person stand up and say “no, i don’t like them, find someone else”. It’s more of a courtesy that your following through with. Maybe it’s a courtesy that can be done away with.

You have options other than the above mentioned. Seths Blog recently suggested hiring someone on a temporary basis. You can set whatever time limit on this that you want, within reason of course. Give them say 3 or 6 months to work with you and your team, at which time you will do a review and make a final decision on whether they are the best fit or not.

The other option you have is to shorten your interview time. You can usually tell within the first 5 or 10 minutes if you like someone or if you smell something a little fishy about them. After which the rest of the interview is just a bunch of wasted time. So shorten your interviews to maybe say 10 minutes, then allow the rest of your interview team to do the same, that way you’ve only taken up about 30 minutes of your time.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

photo credit: lrargerich

If you travel a great deal for your business or even just a few times a year then you now how expensive this can be, after you put together all the air fair, food, gas if you drive, renting a car, taxi cab fees, dry cleaning services, tips and more it adds up to be one huge bill. OpenForum recently posted some suggestions on how you can travel cheaper this year.

Make lodging reservations directly with the branch you’re staying at.  Use web sites to identify places to stay, but before reserving a room, call the hotel directly before using the online reservation system and don’t hesitate to ask for a reduced rate while on the phone. 

Think about using the buddy system where there are co-workers who will going to the same location as you. You can share hotel rates, cab fair costs, food and more. Always remember to pack at least one day’s worth of essentials in your carry on luggage. All too often people’s luggage gets lost and then they end up having to buy all new items to make it through the next day.

Never ever spend any money in the airport. Don’t stop for a snack, souvenir, bottle of water or can of pop. Why, because the airport has such a huge market up on their prices. Go outside of the airport for these needs and wants, you will find that they are far cheaper.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

photo credit: AMagill

If you’re running a small business today and aren’t thinking about how to tighten your belt, you are surely in rarefied company. But if you’re like the rest of us, you’re scrambling to cover expenses, pay bills and make payroll.

Take a look at all of your expenses going out in such things as insurance and yearly contracts. Instead of just simply renewing these contracts assuming they are still valid, take a look and see where there can be a change made that will save you some money.

You may have several service contracts that you don’t really need anymore. Your insurance policy may not reflect the current years prices and should be changed accordingly. Invite your insurance agent to visit your business once a year to re-evaluate your policy.

OpenForum suggests reviewing your current medical insurance plan and see where a few changes could be made that will definitely save you some money. There may be some medical add ins that you can trim off.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.