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Hiring Your First Employee? 4 Tips To Make It A Success

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Congratulations on deciding to start a small business. At some point in time, your one-person setup is not going to be enough and you'll need to hire some extra help. This can be a scary process, but when it comes time to expand, here are four tips to help you hire that very first employee successfully:

1. Determine What You Need the Most.

If you're just starting out, then you likely need a lot of help with a variety of tasks, from answering the phone to taking charge of your marketing campaign. Unfortunately, you can't hire one person who knows how to do it all. Instead, you need to sit down, make a list of the tasks that you do need help with and determine which ones are the most important. Think about the ones that are taking far too much of your time each day. Once you figure it out, write a very detailed description for the job advertisement. The more detailed the description, the better the chances are of getting someone who is actually qualified for the job.

2. Don't Settle for the First Person Who Applies.

Once you post your job position and start receiving applications, you'll want to just head-first and hire the first person you can because you are in way over your head. However, if you do this, you will likely wind up being extremely disappointed. While it is fine to hire someone quickly, it is important that they have the necessary qualifications to perform the job that you need them to. Once you do hire someone, you can continue to accept applications and actively seek out applicants for the future or in the event that your current hire can't perform the tasks as you thought they would be able to.

3. Don't Overlook the Importance of Pre-Screening Measures.

While you may be in a hurry to get someone by your side to help you out, you don't need to overlook pre-screening measures. The most important of these include background checks. However, you can also conduct skills tests, behavioral assessments and other screening assessments to gauge how well a person is fitted to work with you in the position that you have for hire. It's the best way to cover all of your bases. If you fail to do this, you have a lot to lose as the owner of a small business startup.

4. Stay Compliant with Local and State Regulations.

The last thing you want to do is to break the law when you're hiring your first employee. After all, this is the step that truly makes you an employer. However, there are a lot of liabilities and paperwork, so it is crucial that you are on top of all of this. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers an eight-point checklist to help you ensure you are good to go when it comes to hiring your first employee, which includes getting an EIN, preparing for the withholding of taxes and obtaining workers' compensation insurance.

If you need help getting ready to hire that first employee, consider speaking to a payroll specialist, like A & C Accounting & Tax, who can assist you face-to-face with the process. When it comes to running a business and managing money, things can get complicated.


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