Recruiting and Hiring
Hiring an employee is truly making an investment in your business. When you
hire someone to work for you, you will invest time, money, training, and trust.
If you do it right, your business can move forward much faster than ever before;
if you do it wrong, not only can you lose your investment, but you can be
subject to lawsuits that can cause you to lose much more.
When most people think of hiring an employee, they tend to think only of
classified ads and interviews. But there's much more to successful hiring than
that. It's an important process with serious implications for the future of your
business, and you should put in the time to examine your needs and to hire and
recruit in a systematic, legal way.
Some topics for consideration as you determine whom, if anyone, to hire are:
- Should
you hire someone? Before you go about finding someone to work for you in
any capacity, be certain that you'll need the extra help for the foreseeable
future. You may be able to meet your needs without going to the time and
expense of hiring an employee or other worker by working with independent
contractors, temporary help, leased employees, or family members.
- What
legal responsibilities will you be exposed to? Hiring the first employee
is a big step — at a minimum you'll have to do payroll, withhold taxes,
and supervise the person. In many cases you'll become subject to additional
laws as you hire more people; for example, you may become subject to certain
employment-related laws when you add a second, a fourth, or a fifteenth
employee.
- How
do you let people know that you have a job opening? Once you've
determined what you need done and what type of worker you want, it's time to
let the world know. Find out how to advertise and write job ads, and learn
other ways of attracting applicants here.
- What
do you need done? Once you've figured out which staffing solution works
best for you, take a look at exactly what tasks you want done. Using job
descriptions can help here.
- How
do you gather information from applicants? After you've publicized the
opening, you should have some applicants expressing interest. Will you
require that applicants complete applications, or will you accept resumes?
Here, we'll help you figure out how to handle the responses and begin
testing them, if necessary.
- How
do you interview candidates? You've collected all the information, so
now what? We'll tell you what to ask, what not to ask, and how to plan for
your interview.
- How
do you check out an applicant's background? In order to avoid negligent
hiring claims and to protect your business, make sure that you thoroughly
check references, credentials, and maybe even run a credit check.
- How
do you make the job offer? After you've made your decision and chosen
someone to hire, we'll tell you the best way to make a job offer.
- What
do you do after you've hired someone? Once someone has accepted your
offer, check out our pointers on how to get all the necessary paperwork done
quickly. We'll also give you some tips on how to make the employee feel
comfortable through orientation so that he or she can become a productive
employee as soon as possible.