Hiring For The First Time
No Easy Decision Or Task
Hiring For The First Time
No Easy Decision Or Task
By: Sandy Cody
Draker Cody
scody @ drakercody. com
You’ ve started a successful business that has grown to the point that you need to hire your first employee. Congratulations!
It’ s exciting to grow, but hiring additional staff is one of the most important decisions a small business owner will make. Adding staff will give you additional responsibilities, obligations and expenses. Having employees also can give you big headaches if your new hire is not a good fit.
Our company uses the following worksheet to help guide executives in their initial and ongoing staffing processes.
Creating the Human Resource Function: Business Requirements Checklist:
• Review your business and / or strategic plan and ask yourself:
• Did the original business plan consider adding staff?
• If it did, review the goals, objectives and criteria for adding staff.
• If the business plan did not include staff, what were the reasons? Was the goal to remain small and not have employees? On the other hand, was the future need for employees just overlooked?
The answers are not right or wrong; just consider them a starting point in examining where the company is today and what your current needs are relative to the business plan.
• Due to the growth, what areas of the business may be suffering? Also ask yourself“ In what areas am I not proficient and could those areas use assistance from someone other than me? The answers to these questions will establish for what functions or tasks you will want to seek assistance.
When answering the questions above, also consider“ What do I enjoy doing? What are my strongest and weakest skills? What am I willing to give up and trust others to do?”
• Having decided what you can AFFORD, what YOU want to do and what you want OTHERS to do, it is time to consider the Human Resource function itself.
• All of us know that expanding our businesses to include staff brings certain obligations mandated by federal and state legislation and, in some cases, by the regulations of our particular industry. Therefore, it is critical to research what is required when we decide to have staff.
Of course, this brings many more questions to answer before you hire, including costs, tax advantages, policies, job descriptions, wage and salary plans, and more.
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• Once comfortable with the business growth and its long-term strategies, it is appropriate to revisit the plan and ask:
• Is the financial climate of the company such that it will support employees and the related costs?
MOMENTUM / April 2018 33