Tips on How to Hire Your First Employee

written on November 17, 2010 by Joe Mayer

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Hiring your first employee or hiring an additional employee to help the growing company is never an easy task.  Many end up hiring a person who was recommended by a friend or family member independent of their skills and their “fit” for the job.  We hear a lot that “he/she” was available and I was sure to find work for him/her.  Reading between the lines you realize that most of those hires don’t work out.  We strongly believe in stepping back and look strategically what the company really needs before making a decision.

In the first step we start with an organizational chart.  Yes, everything is done by the same person; however the tasks needing to be performed can be separated into distinct functions.  For most companies these are:

• Sales
• Customer Service
• Purchasing
• Receiving/shipping
• Finance
• Production
• Human Resources

Start with drawing an organizational chart.  Then go over each box and fill in the tasks which need to be done in this functional area.  Spent some time here and make sure that you cover all key tasks and add weekly/daily time estimates.  Next, add up the hours needed to fill this function and add an hourly rate based on the tasks needed.  For example “shipping” might have an $7 per hour pay rate while you’re selling efforts need to be performed by a skilled person familiar with your industry and my pay $35 or more per hour.

Then decide which of the functions you want to fill with a new employee.  Now you know exactly the tasks this new person has to perform, how many hours it will take to perform them and what hourly rate you can pay.  Based on this information you can compile a list of skills necessary to perform the job, the monetary reward the tasks are worth and you can start a targeted search.  While searching, make sure that you stick to your guns, looking for a person who will fit the job, not finding a job for a person you come across or who is pushed on you.

To get ready, spend another couple of hours describing -in as much detail as possible- how the specific tasks need to be performed and what will make the new person successful.  The more time you spend setting up those procedures the faster the learning curve and the more mistakes can be avoided.

You have received resumes and selected one or two persons meeting your criteria.  Before committing to hire a person I would urge you to consider having him/her perform an on-line personality test.  Personality tests like DiSC or Myer Briggs profiles will help you better understand the person you are hiring.  A personality profile does not tell you to hire a person; however it will help you to understand the potential hire’s preferences better.  Is he/she outgoing and will easily connect with your customers, is he/she more reserved and prefers to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s before acting and, even more important will her personality style enhance the decision making in your business.  If all people working for you are just like you, than you are missing a big opportunity.  By adding diversity to the mix, new ideas can be developed and 1 + 1 can become much more than 2 and can propel your business.

Overwhelmed? Just give us a call and we will help you set up your organizational chart and help you pinpoint exactly what you are looking for and what kind of personality traits will complement your skills and enhance the diversity your business needs to grow further.

© 2010 Copyrighted by Dr. Joe Mayer, Managing Partner of the Mayer Business Group, who helps small to medium size business grow their employees and their bottom line by focusing on leadership, vision and strategy. Joe can be reached at JMayer@MayerBusinessGroup.com; www.mayerbusinessgroup.com