Starting a business in a tough economic climate can be hard and more than likely, extremely tough. Competitive conditions aside, climates like the one we are experiencing in 2009 provide an opportunity for new businesses to compete against weak competitors and can allow you to capture a higher market share than what would have been previously possible.
“As a startup company launched in May 2008, with one year behind us, we’re lucky enough to be poised for future growth. Experiencing the worst recession since World War II, however, was nowhere in our business plan. So, how have we managed to grow our business? Our customers have a decent income, yet deem high quality, performance medical scrubs and lab coats as half necessity/half luxury. So we’ve relied on some luck and, almost always, “out-of-the-box” tactics to keep orders coming in…
Three innovative interview tactics we used to simplify our search:
1) Add mandatory questions to your job posting. Nine out of ten of those who replied flat out said “I’ve never seen questions before in a job posting,” which is exactly our style. Write four true-to-life questions, including customer or vendor scenarios, and ask interested applicants to answer three of them. The majority of genuinely interested applicants (and those we were interested in) answered all four questions. Important character traits — judgment, writing style, experience and confidence — can be ascertained from these answers. Candidates who don’t reply to the questions (even with a stellar resume) should be red flagged.
2) Only consider those who write a personalized note and/or go out of their way to show sincere interest in the position. A large percentage of candidates will simply “blanket” email all relevant postings within their areas of expertise. If someone takes the time to read your posting in full, go to your web site, and have something insightful to say, with an undertone of sincere interest – they’re worthy of a closer look…”
Clearly great ideas can be learned from new innovators in the field and there is no need to pay money to hear speakers talk about how to succeed when innovating businesses such as Medelita.com are giving it away for free.
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