Hiring Employees

Hiring Your First Employee

Written by Nidhi Ann Raj for Gaebler Ventures

This is first step to take in the direction of business expansion. Hence it is an important decision to make.

Your business is booming and you have reached a stage where you feel it is impossible to handle it solely.

As many entrepreneurs do, you decide to hire an employee. Before you actually do so, sit down and go over a few things to make sure that you are ready to take this leap. Remember that your business may fail, even with increased helping hands.

To start with, go over your finances and ledger books to study your business cycles since inception. This helps you to confirm that this is not one of those peak periods of your business cycle, but that your business is steady enough to expand. This timing is extremely important and should be right.

The decision to hire should not be made only with the intention of unloading a part of your burden to another shoulder. It should be a decision made with a long term vision, as this can accelerate your business in the direction you want to take it or change its course altogether.

So, once you have decided to hire, pen your requirements in the form of a job description that elaborates the scope and limitations of your employee's work. Remember that the first employee of a firm will have more responsibilities than another employee with the same job title in an established firm.

Next look at the costs involved in hiring an employee. Costs will include recruitment costs, employee benefits, training and completing legal formalities. If you think you cannot manage these HR duties in addition to your other responsibilities, consider using the services of an external consultant to help in the hiring process. Personally, I would want to hire my first employee on my own.

Once you have shortlisted a few candidates, interview them carefully to understand if their personal aspirations match with the firm's long term goals. If you are in doubt, then employ them on a part time basis and make them permanent only after they have gained your trust. As an employer, you should remember that the company is not yours alone and belongs to your employees as well. Hence, follow the mantra that if you keep your employees happy, they will make you proud. As you expand, they may also bring in more like themselves on board, thus building a group of trustworthy employees.

Nevertheless, this is the most important hire and it could be one of the best or worst decisions you have made for your business.

Nidhi Ann Raj is a gifted writer who is currently pursuing post-graduate studies at George Brown College in Toronto Canada, where she is specializing in Marketing and Finance.

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