10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring Your First Employee

 If you started your business a couple of months ago, you might be thinking about hiring your first employee. As the business starts growing, so do the number of tasks. And one cannot possibly manage all the tasks by oneself.

Therefore, every entrepreneur has to think about hiring for small businesses sooner or later. However, hiring your first employee is a very important step. It determines the potential of your business and sets precedent for hiring other employees. So, one has to ask a number of crucial questions before making the first hire:

Is There a Need for Hiring?

Before hiring, it is important to know the reasons for needing a new employee. Maybe you are working alone and can’t manage the tasks on your own. Or maybe you need someone with special skills for particular tasks. It is important to do so because it will save you from unnecessary spending and will prepare you to ask the right questions during the interview.

Is There Plenty of Extra Work?

You should determine the total amount of work that you need to be done every day before making a hire. If you’re hiring for a small business, you might end up hiring a person but there might not be enough work for him/her to do. Hiring a new employee is also quite costly. So, always calculate the amount of work beforehand and see if you can hire part-time work instead to do the job.

What Skills Do You Need the Employee to Have?

If you want the employee to do some specialized tasks, make sure that they have the right skills for it. Hiring someone and thinking that he/she will learn these tasks in a few months is the biggest mistake any entrepreneur can make. Also, try to hire individuals with diverse skills as business operations are quite versatile. This will enable you to count on your employee to handle the complex tasks by himself/herself.

Are You Legally Prepared for Hiring?

Before making your first hire, it is crucial to realize your legal responsibilities. Make sure that you are familiar with things like Social Security benefits, income tax and laws regarding sexual harassment and equal pay extra before you begin hiring. Although this process can be quite overwhelming, it’ll pave way for easily hiring other employees if you do it right.

What are the Costs of Hiring an Employee?

Hiring a new employee is quite expensive. You need to determine the work, advertise the position, do the interviews and purchase new computers and other gadgets to make a hire. Therefore, it is important that you calculate the costs and then move forward with this process. The last thing you want is to run out of funds mid-way the hiring process.

Can a Contractual Worker Do the Job?

Hiring a full-time employee is costly and risky. While you might hire him/her on a full-time position, you might not have an adequate amount of work. That is why it is better to look for freelancers and contractual workers initially especially when you have a small business. It will also save you the costs of monthly salary and other benefits of an employee.

Is the Employee Passionate Enough?

Make sure that the employee is passionate and energetic before hiring him/her. As a new business, you want dynamic individuals who can loyally work towards your company’s success. Also, ensure that your employees are qualified enough to manage difficult problems on their own. This is because important business operations and decisions can get delayed if you have to guide your employees every step of the way.

What will the Employee Add to Your Company’s Culture?

While the qualifications and potential of an individual are important things to consider, an entrepreneur should not underestimate the importance of relationship building. If the employee is experienced but doesn’t like to communicate with the team and build work relationships, then your business operations will not run smoothly. Team communication is crucial to succeeding in business and one should only hire the best individuals to make it work.

How Much Experience Does the Employee Have?

Make sure that the candidate has enough corporate experience before hiring him/her. The ups and downs of a business can be quite overwhelming. In any situation, the employees should be committed and experienced enough to keep going.

What does the Employee Want Out of This Job?

Make sure that you are familiar with the candidate’s future goals and intentions at the time of hiring. It will help you in determining whether he/she is fit for the position or not.

Hiring an employee will not seem difficult if you ask the right questions. When I started my own business, I contacted one of the top manufacturing staffing agencies to hire the best individuals. I compiled a list of questions before the interviews and then selected the candidates depending upon the answers after the interviews. This enabled me to select individuals who have remained loyal and committed to my company to date.