Hiring Your First Business Employee

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If you run a small business, you might be used to doing everything yourself, but if you’ve noticed that getting everything done that needs to be done si getting harder all the time, it may be that you need to think about hiring your first employee.

Hiring san employee for the first time can be daunting, especially when you’re a tiny business, but I’ve put together some tips that will help you get it right:

Cast your net widely

When looking for an employee, you want to get the best possible person for the role, so don’t be afraid to go global in your search. By opening up to the whole world, you are more likely to find the person that is the perfect fit for you. Many people are put off from this because they think they’ll struggle with working visas or helping employees apply for a spouse visa extension, for example, but this is actually not as tough as you might think, and thanks to tech, overseas employees can often work for you from any location in the world.

Carry out all the checks

Your business is small, which means it is vulnerable. That’s why you should carry out all relevant checks on your employee to ensure that they are who they say they are and that they can do the job. Call their referees, get them DBS checked snd do whatever you need to do to feel confident you can trust them with your company. Yes, this may take more time and money, but it will be worth it to keep the business you’ve built up safe.

Meet them

If possible, try to meet candidates in person, or at least over Zoom, before employing them. Since it’s a small business, you will be working very closely with them, so you want to make sure they are the kind of person you can get along with. Meeting them will also he;p you to size them up to see if they are capable of the tasks you are hiring them for, and it should help you to find the candidate you’re most comfortable with too.

Get a professional contract

When you do find the right candidate, it would be really useful to ensure that you have a really good contract drawn up by a business attorney. That way, you can protect your company rights, and ensure your employee has fair protection at the same time too. Legal contracts might not be cheap to create, but they are much cheaper than a lawsuit!

Know your duties

As an employer, you will legally be required to do a range of things from contributing to your employees National Insurance to ensuring that they are safe in the workplace. You need to be aware of all of your duties and ensure that you adhere to them if you don’t want to get in trouble with the law or see your business go under, so take the time to get it right.

Now, you’re ready to hire your first employee.

K Elizabeth xoxox

*Collaborative Post