Checklist to Hiring Your First Employee

For months you may have been single-handedly running your business, wearing every hat from CEO to receptionist to keep everything afloat. There comes a time in most business owners lives where it’s time to hire an employee to help to keep everything running smoothly.

This is a milestone in itself, as it means that your business is successful and buoyant enough to support another person. The hiring process can be a sticky business, so it’s important to make sure that you are hiring somebody who is going to make your business much better.

Before you let anybody on board, it’s important to make sure that you are getting a real sense of what they are like, their work ethic and how they will better your business. There are so many business owners that fall at the first hurdle by hiring somebody who doesn’t share the same ideas and goals, which means that they will not work as effectively. If you want to keep a tight ship, it’s important to follow these steps and hire the perfect person for the role.

Don’t always trust your initial instincts:

It’s easy to fall under the spell of somebody who can talk the talk, but who can’t walk the walk, so it’s important to make sure that you can spot the difference. It’s important to stagger out the hiring process into several different interviews, which will explore the psychological, behavioural and professional tendencies of an employee before you welcome them on board.

It doesn’t matter whether you are hiring for a person to file paperwork or to liaise with clients, they still need to have the correct attitude for the role. Studies have shown that a staggering 40% of all applicants will over-exaggerate their competencies to get the role, which means that they will underperform on the job. Ask questions about experience, with real examples, as well as behavioural questions. Always look to hire somebody who you can develop within the company.

Screen for unwanted behaviour:

Now that you have a better understanding of your interviewee, in terms of experience and their understanding of the role, it’s important to also think about how they are going to behave in certain situations. Hiring somebody who is not suitable for the role can lead to unrest and disputes in your business, which can be extremely detrimental and can mean that you have to get dispute resolution lawyers involved.

Depending on the position you are seeking to fill, especially if there is a client facing role, there needs to be some form of behavioural or psychometric testing as well as handwriting and aptitude tests. This will give you a better insight into how an individual will perform in certain situations. If your employee is faced with a stressful situation, you need to be confident that they can handle it.

Agree on a salary threshold:

Now that you have passed the preliminary stages, it’s important to make sure that you both make an agreement on the salary threshold, bonus structure and any other perks that you may offer. This will often be the selling point for an employee, so it’s important to be open to negotiation.

At this stage of the interview process, it will be pretty clear of how the interviewee will favour in the role and how they will perform. Once you are confident with the process, it’s important to make an offer as hesitation could mean that you lose your potential employee to another business.

Published by Kidal Delonix (1200 Posts)

Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.