Employees add a lot of value to a business. They increase your operating capability; working in shifts makes sure the doors open early and close as late as you need them to. They increase your manpower and make sure there’s plenty of hands on the shop or office floor. And no human being out there is capable of running an entire business on their own!
Your business is ready to expand. It’s making enough of a profit to take on more and more of the market, and you need to get someone in to help out. All in all, you need to start hiring – but how do you do so for the very first time? A lot of entrepreneurs don’t have any experience with the hiring process, and because of it, a lot of mistakes can be made along the way.
As long as you can afford to, and as long as you know the ins and outs of taking on an employee, it’s time to take on your first pick from the job market!
So, let’s make sure any questionable calls or indecisive decisions are kept to a minimum. It’s a common problem, you’re not alone in stressing out about it! We can ponder and drag our heels a lot when presented with the application pool, so it’s important to know what you’re looking for. And here are just a few points to get you hired in the right direction.
Know Your Purpose
It’s the first thing to work out: what do you need an employee for? It might sound a bit obvious, and that’s because it is, but it stops you from hiring someone you won’t be able to put to work. You need to hire someone who knows what they’re doing (or has the capability to learn!) and can be left to get on with their tasks. To do that, a solid purpose in your hiring process will guarantee you good results.
So, why do you need someone else in the office with you? Is it to take care of all the filing and shredding you don’t have the time to do? Is it to take care of the social media account, because you’re unable to maintain a constant presence on it yourself? Do you need a writer for the website, to make sure there’s some clear and succinct content for your customers to invest in? Discover your most pressing matter ahead of time, and the job advert that’ll draw the best candidates in will practically write itself.
It also eliminates your need to put out a job advert for a jack of all trades. One person cannot take on an entire payroll’s responsibilities, and that’s definitely something you need to understand ahead of time! If you need more than one person for your little business, don’t be afraid to admit that. If you need to take on two or three people with varied skills, to suit different roles, you need to start preparing yourself to do so. Otherwise, you’re going to bog down both yourself and your new employee in long work hours and a lack of quality in your work.
Know Your Employment Law
The next thing to clue yourself up on is employment law. You’ll need to discover the specific law of the area within your country, depending on where you’re based, as there’s no one size fits all policy out there. When you hire someone on, there’s a lot of things you need to take care of, and at the least, you need to know how to pay them fairly. Of course, you knew that – but what don’t you know?
You’re going to need to register as a business that has employees. You’re going to need to find out the various health and safety obligations of the workplace. You’re going to need to discover what a boss is responsible for, in terms of allocating vacation or sick time, and the pension or savings fund… You can already see there’s going to be a lot to remember!
Obeying employment law is definitely key to being a good boss, and to take on someone who’s going to respect you, and then go on to do their best work for your business. There’s plenty of research papers and official documents online, so start there, and download what you find to keep it on hand. Similarly, companies like Yeremian Law can be reached out to, for a quick consultation with you. If you want to hire, for all the right reasons and with zero accidental discriminations, asking an expert seems like a wise move.
Know Who You’re Interviewing
Finally, it’s time to do some checks on your applicants. When you’re looking through an application, and you’re liking what you’re seeing, you’re going to be naturally drawn into offering an interview. Once you do, and you bring them in to have a sit-down and a good chat about why they’re the right fit for the role, you’ll need to plug their name into the database, to find out who they are. Government websites usually are the best place to start with searches like these.
Make sure what you’re checking for relates to the job at hand, otherwise, you’re just prying into someone’s past, and that can be illegal. In most circumstances, you’ll need to find out whether your applicant has the right to work within your country, and you’ll also need to search for a criminal record. Of course, depending on the sector you’re in, someone’s criminal history doesn’t have to be relevant. But it’s good to know any past offenses committed by someone you’re going to be working with.
Are you Ready to Take On Your First Employee?
Hopefully so, as your business depends on it! But make sure you’re doing so with the right purpose, and with all your legal rights and restrictions in check. You’re a new employer, and you want to do right by someone who works for you, and this is where to start.
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Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash