Hiring Your First Employees: A Guide For Small Businesses

You might have thought that getting your business up and running and off the ground was the hard part, but growing your business can be just as tricky. Especially, when the time comes to add a few extra hands to your team.

While taking on your first few employees is a big step, it is also an amazing milestone to reach. If you have made a success of your business and got to the point where you need extra help, you should be very proud.

Having a good team of people working alongside you could be your most valuable asset. Believe it or not, your employees can make the difference between how successful your business is. That is why it is crucial that you take your time to choose your employees and pick people with the right skills, knowledge and attitude for the job.

Choosing employees can be tricky, that’s why we have put together this useful guide to help you. For more information, keep reading below:

Consult a lawyer

The first thing you should do, before advertising any job roles is consult a lawyer. Employment law is complex, so it’s important that you know what you are doing and how to stay on the right side of the law. Otherwise, you could put yourself and the future of your business at risk.

Choose a lawyer who has experience dealing with employment law and small business and make an appointment to discuss your options with them. Make sure that before you start advertising for employees, that you know what you should and should not do.

Create good adverts

The key to finding the right type of people for your business is creating a job advert that focuses on the role. As well as the specific skills and experience a successful candidate will need.

Think about what it is you want each new employee to do – what will their main tasks be? Before advertising each position, make sure that you are clear about what you will need each new employee to do. Ideally, you want to create an advert that is clear, concise and descriptive – this should help you to draw in the perfect candidates.

Prepare for each interview

Don’t make the mistake of going into an interview without properly preparing for it. You might be the one doing the hiring, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to prepare.

Before each interview, print out a copy of the interviewees resume and have a read through it. This will give you an idea of their skills and experience – you can refer to these in the interview.

Come up with a list of questions to ask each candidate – these should be specific to the role they are interviewing for. You don’t have to follow this list exactly, you can add questions in or leave them out, depending on what you feel is necessary.

Hire on a trial basis

As a new employer, you have a lot to learn, so don’t rush into any decisions. Hire each successful candidate on a trial basis –  this is normally a three-month period, and see how they get on.

Hiring on a trial basis will allow you to monitor your new employees and evaluate whether they are right for your company. Over the three-month trial period, you can monitor work speed, motivation levels and how committed they are to their job. If a trial employee isn’t right for the role, you can always let them go.

Remember, being an employer will take time to get use to. Don’t worry about making mistakes, just like your new employees, you will learn as you go along.