Are you that entrepreneur that rolled up your sleeves and did all the work yourself? As you developed and grew your business, you undoubtedly worked long weekends and evenings to ensure everything got done. Then, when you launched, you finally saw the fruits of your labor, and you started seeing the revenue coming in.
Doing all the work yourself might be a lot of work, but it also saves money. You don’t have to pay out salaries or benefits, and you don’t have to make an effort to recruit people. However, if you are successful and start to grow, then there will inevitably be a time when you have to hire staff to help keep your business functioning properly.
Factors to Consider When Hiring Your First Employee
Hiring people can be exciting and nerve-wracking if you’ve never done it before. However, you don’t want to make the wrong choice. Otherwise, you could halt your business’ progress in its tracks. It’s also a tough hiring environment for employers, so you want to be careful and get the candidate you want, not just the one that happens to be in front of you. Here are some things to consider when hiring your first employee.
Determine Your Needs
If you have filled every position and been wearing every hat, you must decide what to give up. Will you give up the tasks you hate doing the most? The fact is, those might be the tasks that you are best at. Are you going to give up the tasks you aren’t good at? That is an option. However, sometimes the tasks you want to give up don’t relate, and you will have a tough time finding someone who can handle them all. Prioritize your skills and abilities, and then hire for specific needs you think you can fill.
How Much Work Do You Want Need Them To Do?
It can be tricky to go from being the only “employee” to adding a team member. How much work is there really for them to do? You must be prepared to get imperfect candidates if you think there is only enough for a part-time position. On the other hand, if you hire someone full-time with only part-time work, you will be inefficient with your investments. So it would be best if you balanced out how much work there is to do with what level of candidate you can handle in the role.
Are You Financially Ready?
When you hire a new person, the obvious additional cost you will have to deal with is their salary. However, there are other costs involved with hiring someone. For example, you may have to pay for benefits and new equipment, such as a computer and workspace. A new employee may also affect things like your utility costs.
You can try to be efficient with your money by shopping for deals such as affordable workers comp insurance. Workers’ compensation will help cover any expenses that result from a worker getting injured or sick on the job. In addition, it is legally required in almost every state for any business with employees.
Make sure to comprehensively analyze what extra costs you will incur and budget accordingly. You may have to make cuts elsewhere to accommodate your new hire if you can’t afford it.
Be Diligent
The fact is, hiring can open you up to risk. For one, if you hire someone dishonest or with a shady history, they could steal from you. Another risk is that they might be careless; a mistake could lead to a lawsuit or damage your property. Make sure you do your due diligence when trying to hire someone. Contact their references and ask a lot of questions. Hiring someone is not a race, and you can’t afford to rush into something that will cause you problems. Pay attention to details and weed out any candidates you would not want to work with.
Consider Personality
When hiring your first employee, you must remember that you will be working very closely with them. There are no other team members, so if you don’t get along, there are no buffers between you. As the boss, you need to balance your need for experience and skills with someone you can see yourself working long hours with. If you are lucky, you will find someone who fits both criteria. However, at some point, you may have to choose between those two types of candidates. If personalities clash, then it is less likely they will be in it for the long haul, and you will have to hire again.
Write a Detailed Job Description
You never want to lose candidates because they aren’t clear on what you are looking for. If someone reads your job ad and isn’t sure what the job entails or what skills are needed, they will skip it and move on. Make sure that you are very clear with your job description. Outline exactly what the position is, what your workplace culture is like, and what experience you are looking for. You should also add in a salary range. That way, candidates looking for more won’t waste their time or your time applying. Good candidates may also not apply if no salary is listed because they assume the pay is too low. The more information you have, the better. Candidates will appreciate knowing exactly what they are getting into and what skills they will need to highlight on their resumes.
Conclusion
Hiring the right person is essential for a small business. However, it can be very hard, and missteps can mean disaster. It’s also hard to know when it’s appropriate to hire in the first place. As a future employer, you need all your ducks in a row to ensure that you recruit suitable candidates and make the right choice in hiring. Remember these factors to consider when you start hiring your first employee.
