Imagine you are a solo entrepreneur for a couple of years now and you’re probably thinking of expanding your business wider and further and this means that you need more hands to work together with you. You have reached a point where you are in dire need of hiring full-time help in the form of an employee. Although it is fairly exciting, you should not underestimate the worries, nerves, and problems you may encounter when hiring your first employee, especially if you do not know how to hire first employee and what to do.
Hiring your first employee may feel strange at first. You are finally letting someone into your business that you personally built, and assume the role of being a boss to your employee. You have to get used to the idea that someone will do tasks for you and know that you cannot do everything by yourself now. But, you have to know how and what to do when hiring your first employee since this is not an easy task to do. Here are some things you have to know when hiring your first employee.
Be Aware Of The Following
Before giving any individual any job offer, be aware of the following factors;
- Cost
You have to keep in mind that hiring your first employee means that your costs will go higher. For example, you have to allocate a budget for your employee’s salary whether monthly of every 15 days. Furthermore, you have to pay 6.2 percent of your employee’s salary for social security tax. Other things to think about are Medicare tax, federal unemployment tax, and possibly state unemployment tax.
Make sure that you can afford to pay your employee monthly to avoid problems in the future.
- Finding Applicants
Wanting to hire an employee is one thing, finding an appropriate employee is another thing. If you want to spend time finding an employee, you have to make sure that you will find the best possible employee to work for you. You might be thinking that it is easy, but it is actually not. Finding good candidates can pose a major challenge since there are a lot of things to consider.
The job application market is filled with interested and eager job applicants and most of them will apply for positions without taking notice of the job requirements, thus leading to unqualified applicants streaming to your job finding. As an employer, you have to prepare for this and devise a method for screening applicants.
- Take Note of Legal Requirements
Since you are now a budding company owner, you have to take note of the legal requirements. You have to understand your obligations as an employer and know what you can do to your employee and what you cannot do. Be mindful of employment laws, employment contracts, tax obligations, minimum hour requirements, wage requirements, implications of hiring and firing employees, etc.
- Interviewing
The main key to hiring an employee will always lie on interviewing ability. Job applicants will only apply for jobs, but you have the complete power to know their capabilities as an employee and ultimately decide whether or not you are going to hire them. Most of your decisions will be based on personality and technical skills mismatch, but during interviews, you as an employer must also be mindful of the applicants’ communication skills, pacing, and work commitments as these too can help in making decisions.
Though your company does not have an established workplace culture yet, make sure that your first employee is someone you can actually work with since you are setting the tone for your business. Align their skill set and personality traits to your goals.
- Take Hiring Seriously
Hiring an employee is not a joke and an easy process. You cannot hire an employee overnight so you have to take it slow and easy. Do not rush things as these can cause problems in the future. Make sure that you have a detailed plan in your head on what to do during the hiring process.
A bad hiring decision can cost a company 30 percent of annual earnings, according to the United States Department of Labor. Take the proper time to evaluate candidates and do not forget the federal and state regulations.
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This article does not mean to scare you in hiring your first employee, but rather help you by showing the hidden side of hiring employees. Hiring your first employee is a great step for your business moving forward and it should be taken slowly and surely. Although it cannot be avoided, make sure to commit as least mistakes as possible. Asking help from people you know with companies is also recommended since they have first hand experiences when hiring employees.