What To Know Before Hiring Employees for Your Start-Up

When you’re a new business owner, you face plenty of firsts. However, one of the scariest tasks is hiring your first employee. What makes it even worse is that hiring doesn’t get any easier, either. Each hiring attempt adds new challenges and complications that you’ll have to deal with.

Fortunately, if you go into this next step of your business with a few things in mind, you’ll make some aspects of hiring more manageable. Here’s our list of what to know before hiring employees for your start-up.

Check Legal Requirements

The last thing you want to do is break a few laws while hiring your first employee, so you’ll need to start by checking federal, state, and local regulations. Regardless of where you live, you’ll need to start by acquiring an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This number is like a Social Security number, except that it’s for businesses with any number of employees.

Once you’re registered, check whether your state requires any other documents and review important rules and regulations. Make sure you keep a close eye on IRCA compliance. There is a lot to know about this compliance law; you’ll want to learn all its nuances before you start hiring.

Set Up a Tracking System

You may not have a long list of employees right away, but the sooner you set up a system to keep track of their information, the better. You’ll need to have access to their personal info and maintain records for withholding taxes. Employees rely on your business for part of their yearly tax process, so it’s vital to get this right.

Define the Role and Ideal Candidate

Before posting your position on the internet, you want to make sure you have the role you’re hiring for is well-defined. Vague job listings and roles lead to a new hire that isn’t quite right for the job or a lack of interest in the position. Neither of these options is ideal.

That part may seem obvious, but many start-up owners tend to forget that they need to define which type of candidate they want for the role. While the job description usually includes some of this info, describing your ideal candidate is mainly something you need to do for yourself. If you don’t have a clear vision of who you want in your newly created role, you could end up hiring someone who isn’t the best fit for your company’s mission.

Take Your Time To Make a Decision

The best bit of advice that we can give you in this list of what to know before hiring employees for your start-up is to take your time. Hasty decision-making often leads to undesirable results. Take the necessary time to review your choices, run background checks, and set up a second interview with the best candidates. This process will ensure that you find the help you need to get your start-up off the ground.