Ready to start hiring?
Dealing with hard-to-fill positions? Let us help.

Post Job

How To Hire Employees For A Small Business [Employer Guide]

By Kristin Kizer - Dec. 14, 2022
jobs
Post A Job For Free, Promote It For A Fee

When hiring employees is not something you do regularly, it can be intimidating. It’s quite a process with some legal implications, and you want to make the right decision, so you don’t have to do it again in the near future. Keep reading to learn more about how to hire employees for your small business.

Key Takeaways

  • It pays to evaluate whether you actually need a new employee and if you’re ready to hire one.

  • Defining the job and the duties is as important as creating a profile of your ideal employee.

  • There are some legal aspects to hiring an employee for the first time that needs to be taken care of before you make them a job offer.

  • Interviewing candidates requires great listening skills, which you can improve with practice and prepared questions.

  • Your job doesn’t end when someone accepts your job offer; training is a very important employer obligation.

Do You Need a New Employee?

The first question to ask yourself is if you really need a new employee. You could be completely overwhelmed and unable to fill orders for your customers and still not need an employee. We’re not saying that you don’t need some help, but hiring a contractor might be your solution as opposed to hiring an employee.

It’s time to look big picture at your situation and determine whether you need help today or if you’re going to need ongoing support in the future. If this will be a constant need, then it will veer more into a permanent employee category. What about how many hours you’ll need them? If it’s flexible and not full-time, then you’re moving into the independent contractor realm.

Get Started Hiring Now

Are You Ready to Hire a New Employee?

If you’ve determined that you need help in an ongoing capacity and they will have to work regular hours, the next question to ask yourself is if you’re ready to hire someone new. While your workload might be such that you need an employee, can you afford to hire someone at this point? This is an ongoing expense, so you’ll need to review the company accounts and budget to see if it’s feasible.

If you’re financially ready to hire, it’s time to look at some of the logistics. Who will do the hiring? What will the new employee’s role be, and have you defined it? What does that new hire bring to your company in an ideal situation? Who will train that person? All of these questions and many more need to be considered before you take the next step.

  • Define the Job

    Your next step is to jot down what you want your new employee to do. This doesn’t have to take a long time or be a very involved process, but it’s a key step. Having a list of the duties you expect your new hire to do, along with what experience or previous skills you’d like them to have, will help in the next stages of hiring, and it will further clarify your job opening and your expectations.

  • Define the Employee

    Once you’ve defined what you want them to do, it’s time to define the employee. This might seem strange at first, but it’s a very useful step in the process. Try to imagine the ideal hire for this job. Do they come with experience and already know how to do what you’re asking, or do you want to train them to do the work your way?

    Break down what you see as professional and personal characteristics. If you want to take it a step further, prioritize those traits so you can better identify them during the hiring process.

  • Write Your Job Description and Post Your Job Opening

    This is one of the steps where you’re going to be glad you defined the job and know what you want them to do. It’s time to pull it all together and write an appealing job description. When writing the job description, you want to set expectations about what the job entails, you want to introduce people to your company in a favorable way, and you’ll benefit from being very specific about what you want.

    Once you’ve crafted a great job description, it’s time to post it to Zippia; we’re one of the best websites for matching employers and employees. You might also want to try using local job boards, other web outlets, and possibly professional organizations if they fit your opening.

  • Complete Legal Requirements to Hire a New Employee

    While your job posting is getting attention, it’s time for you to iron out the legal requirements of hiring an employee.

    If you’re a sole proprietor and hiring someone for the very first time, you might not have an Employer Identification Number or EIN yet. You’ll need to apply for your EIN so the IRS knows who your business is. You can get the documents and information you need on the IRS website and apply right there. If you’d rather do it over the phone, you can call (800) 829-4933 and get your EIN that way.

    Most states require you to have workers’ compensation insurance which can be purchased through the state or from a private insurance company. While you’re busy researching what your state requires, you’ll also want to see if there are any local laws regarding minimum wage, garnishments, termination, and other key aspects of hiring employees.

    If you are running a business on your own, now is the time to do some research into labor laws and how to be labor compliant federally, in your state, and locally.

  • Prepare for Employment Payroll Taxes

    Once you’ve hired someone, you become a proxy tax collector and are required to collect payroll taxes and confirm their employment eligibility. Your employee will need to fill out a W-4 form and an I-9 form. The I-9 proves that they’re legally authorized to work, and the W-4 will have data regarding their tax filings.

    It’s best to have a professional accounting set up for your payroll system so you start out paying your employee correctly while also withholding the right amount of taxes for the government. There are payroll services that can handle this part of hiring an employee for you if this is too complicated for your business, but they come with an added expense.

  • Interview Candidates

    Presumably, you’ve now got a batch of interested candidates, and you’re prepared to select your new hire. This is an exciting time, and you’re getting close to having the help your business needs to move to the next step of success.

    Interviewing candidates can be a huge hurdle and very intimidating for someone who has never done it before. The key to successfully interviewing someone for a job is to listen to their answers, which don’t always come easily. Preparation and practice will help you become familiar with the questions you want to ask. Relaxing and treating the interview like a conversation will also help.

    Make sure you’ve written your interview questions out beforehand. Ask questions that will encourage the interviewee to talk about themselves. The more information they give you, the easier it will be to compare them to what you envisioned as your ideal employee.

  • Offer a Job

    You’ve interviewed the candidates, and you have your top three picks; now it’s time to make an offer. Are you prepared for a counteroffer on salary and benefits, or do you want to hold firm? These are things to consider before you make the offer so you’re prepared for any response. Also, this is a big decision for the candidate, so don’t be surprised if they ask to think about it for a few days.

    At some point, you’ll need to make a written offer, so it’s clear to all parties and documented. You can do that right at the start with an email, or you can make a phone call and then follow up with the written offer. How you handle it is up to you.

    Finally, once you have an accepted offer, it’s time to let the other candidates know that they didn’t get the job. Typically, an email thanking them for their time and telling them that you’ve decided to go with another candidate is enough. It’s not an easy task, but it’s a professional and polite thing to do.

  • Train Your New Employee

    You’ve hired someone, but that’s not the end of the story. It’s best to have a training plan in place before they show up for their first day of work. The first day at a new job is awkward for everyone; it’s even worse when there’s nothing to do and no one to tell you how to do the job. Training them is still part of hiring an employee and keeping them.

    Remember, the hiring process can be expensive and time-consuming. Once you hire a great employee, you want to keep them. From here on out, your job is to make it easy and enjoyable for them to do their new job. If this is accomplished, you’ll develop a solid and successful working relationship.

Hiring Employees for a Small Business FAQ

  1. Is hiring a new employee difficult?

    Yes and no, the hiring process can be difficult, especially if you’ve never done it before, but it’s something that can easily be learned and accomplished successfully. Read the article above and follow the steps, so you are prepared to hire, you’re legally ready to hire, and you know what you want in a candidate. Once you’ve nailed that, the hardest part is selecting the right person.

  2. Do I need to hire an employee for my small business?

    To figure out if your small business needs a new employee, look at your workload and your financial situation. Small businesses tend to hire people infrequently, so it’s a big decision. The best approach is to look at how much burden current employees have and if there are things that aren’t getting done because there isn’t enough help. Next up, finances. Can you afford a new employee?

    If you already have some employees, the process will be easier, and you’ll have a better idea of the expenses. If you’ve never hired an employee, you’ll have to figure in more expenses than just their salary, so be prepared.

  3. Where should I post my job opening?

    Zippia is the best place to post your job opening. Zippia offers an easy-to-use format that makes hiring and finding a job enjoyable and efficient. We not only provide an online job board for employees and employers, but we offer business insights to help you manage and run your company successfully.

    In addition to Zippia, you might want to look into some other online options, local job boards, professional organizations, and other outlets too. It’s all about reaching your target audience and catching the attention of someone who fits your ideal candidate profile.

  4. Does my job offer need to be in writing?

    No, your job offer doesn’t need to be in writing, legally. That said, you should definitely put the offer in writing so there is no confusion and so you have documentation in case there is a dispute later on.

    When hiring employees and managing a team professionally, it’s always best to get as much of it in writing as possible to protect your business and your personal assets.

Author

Kristin Kizer

Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.

Ready To Start Hiring?

Related posts

Find Your Next Hire Out Of Over 5 Million Candidates

Get connected with quality candidates whose resumes on Zippia best fit your job description.