Even in a recession, there is always good news.
The Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel reported this week that over the past year, Knoxville has seen a sharp growth in jobs, moving from 92nd to 58th in terms of total jobs, and 22 in terms of growth.
While most of the jobs were in K-12 education and health services, the Sentinel also reported that a sizable portion of jobs also came from "an increase in private-sector professional and business services."
But while job growth is always a good thing, the challenge for small businesses is how to maintain that growth through smart hires. As Carolyn Hughes,
writing for the Washington Post, puts it: "Your success as a business depends upon your commitment to the hiring process."
So how do you do that?
"As a small business owner this is the time to be the most careful about whom you hire," Hughes writes. "And, in the long run, you’ll lose more in productivity and morale by hiring and firing workers than you will by waiting to make an offer to the right candidate."