Why you need industry-specific talent To run your business

For the past 20 years, the world of business had shifted its focus from specialist lenses to broad-spectrum hiring. The massive explosion of small businesses after the arrival of the new millennium shook the large and medium-sized businesses to their cores. Suddenly, they were competing for talent, with much smaller enterprises. They had to broaden their requirements for candidates and hire professionals that possessed multiple skills. However, the trade-off was, they were not highly skilled in any one area. Although businesses gained the benefit of not having to hire as many people as tasks could be overlapped, they lost out on higher-quality professionals. Now, however, the tables have flipped. There’s an abundance of professionals and the number of young, skilled and educated workers outweighs the number of businesses and roles. So, in 2020 we are bound to see a return to the need for specialists that can help businesses beat their rivals in sheer quality. Where this is most evident, is in the running of your business.

Short-lived SMEs, are a thing of the past?

Small businesses are notorious for being under pressure for survival, from day one. It's common for small businesses to collapse during the first 5 years. About 20% fail in the first year alone and 50 per cent will vanish in year five. The main reason for this isn’t a lack of innovation or products and services that have a reasonable position in the markets. The main reason for such an early death is financial planning. You need to have fantastic foresight to be able to dodge and weave all the wrecking balls that are coming your way. These are the types of specialists you need to consider hiring for the challenges you face in your specific industry.

• Accountant: This type of professional will keep your spending in check. You’ll work with them to hash out a budget. It's their job to make sure you’re sticking to it. They will prepare your financial reports for you, the market and regulators to mull over. Making sure you’re paying the right amount of business tax is their responsibility also.
• Planner: A financial planner will help you meet your long-term financial goals. They will scale your goals in accordance with what is feasible. Essentially, the planner will use case studies of other businesses, scour the industry to check and understand the costs of various operations and finally, give you an estimated pathway to achieving your goals.
• Advisor: Your personal confidant and companion when it comes to finances, is the financial advisor. They will be a mature, experienced and or highly skilled individual that will study you and your business. It's their job to give you advice on when to execute an operation and what decisions would be best to gain maximum success in small-scale and large-scale operations.

Staff retention and productivity

The one thing that you’re fighting an uphill battle against, is staff retention. Why would a young talented professional, work for your small business when they can just as easily, be hired by a large business for more pay? The best benefits you can give them is a different working culture and employee satisfaction. This will involve the hiring of a human resources specialist. The HR department is tasked with many things, but ultimately, it's there to protect and help your business regarding employees. Here’s why you should hire an HR specialist that is familiar with your industry.

• The tech sector: Perhaps the most competitive of all sectors, the technology industries around the world are constantly improving their products at breakneck speed. Therefore, an HR specialist in technology will provide you with contemporary training programs which meet the industry-standards. This will bring your employees up to the modern benchmark, allowing them to understand which direction the hardware and software are heading in the industry.
• The automotive sector: HR departments in the automotive sector are highly versed in knowing what kind of future the manufacturing industry is heading toward. It's critical that you hire a specialist that knows how to keep employees satisfied in this particularly labor-intensive profession. Employee benefits, healthcare concerns, safety precautions at work and most importantly manufacturing training. As new tools and equipment become available, specialist HR staff will devise new training programs for you to implement.

HR specialists that are industry-specific, understand the challenges your workers go through more than a run of the mill HR worker. Therefore, look to hire HR professionals that have a history of working in your specific type of business.

Making your business run smoother

The role of the business administrator is often that of the unsung hero. The admin staff presides over the day-to-day operations within the business. They are the key employees that decide what kind of task software to use and what kind of software each department needs to work at it's best. However, this all depends on what kind of business you’re running. Administrative tasks vary greatly from industry to industry. The challenges an admin in the food and beverage business may face will be different from those in the aviation industry. Therefore you need to hire admins which have specific qualifications.

• Healthcare industry: If you’re a hospital manager looking to hire admin staff that will make your business run smoother, look for those with a healthcare administration degree. A professional that has achieved one of these types of online mha programs, will have a qualification that is recognized by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). They will be knowledgeable in health systems, understanding the unique balance of roles that payers, providers, and patients have. Strategic management is a skill they will be highly versed in, allowing them to manage people, projects, innovation and the most vital areas of your organization.
• Marketing: One of the key responsibilities of any business administrator is to select the company’s software. After a long and detailed discussion with the skilled employees in the business, the admin staff will choose a software that will allow employees to bring out the best in themselves. Whether it's design software, image editing or video editing software, the admin staff will make sure your employees are given the best tools within your budget.
• Retail industry: A specialist administrator in the retail industry, will know how to forge alliances with other businesses. If you ever enter into a B2B relationship, conjoining your administrative tasks with your partner is going to be easier with a specialist who knows about the cloud system and logistical software. The supply and delivery of components and products have been done on a shared platform so both parties can order and accept without cross-platform issues.

Know the risk factor

Very rarely will you come across a profession that is as versatile as risk management. Every business owner needs to have or be in contact with at least one risk analyst. This type of professional examines your operations from top to bottom and assess the external and internal threats to each. What could derail your financial plan? Which rival is likely to battle you in competitive pricing? What are the downsides to the projects you’re doing? Are there any political risks that could affect your business? There are many questions that the risk analyst will seek to answer and give you the best strategies for both offensive and defensive postures. There are, however, different types of risk analysts for specific industries.

• Credit Risk: If you’re a company that gives loans to businesses and individuals, you will need a credit risk analyst. Their responsibility is to examine the risk of borrower’s failure to repay their loan. They will assess the various financial instruments you offer and whether or not the risk-reward ratio is worth it. They will explore the plethora of things that could result in cash flow interruptions and which clients are more risk than they’re worth. Their main responsibility will be to create risk models that warn you when the business is overexposed.
• Retail industry: If you’re a business that exports and or imports, you would do well to hire geopolitical and economics risk analysts. You will be told when certain ports may be under threat. Whether there is a civil war brewing or perhaps different nations’ navies that are at loggerheads, preventing the flow of goods, you will be better informed as to the alternative options. An economics analyst will inform you when a market is peaking or when it is going through trouble, which will affect your business.
• Research risk: Many businesses relying on product research to beat their rivals, would do well to hire a research risk specialist. They will inform you of where the industry is headed, what your rivals will most likely invest in and what type of product would be better for your future.

There is a return to the specialist hire, occurring in the world of business right now. If you want to run your business to the highest degree possible, you will need these types of specialists working for you. Look for candidates that have been in your industry for a long time and have a track record of understanding the types of issues you find most concerning.