A guide to hiring your first employee

The first step of the hiring process is deciding what role needs to be filled. You can’t find what you need if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for in the first place. Think- where are the gaps in your current team? 

Will a role soon become vacant? Analyse the job specifications and identify the knowledge, skills and experience needed for the role.  

The key to this is to be proactive. Don’t wait until an employee has left, or a new project desperately needs another person working on it. Doing this will mean you rush to find a replacement and may not get the best fit for the role. 

Perhaps the most crucial of the seven recruitment steps is the job description. This is critical in attracting the right people, as well as ensuring the right responsibilities are covered. Start with an outline of key responsibilities and work your way to a full description from there.  

A job description must include the following:  

• Title 
• Duties & responsibilities 
• Qualifications & skills 
• Location 
• Compensation, perks & benefits 

Of course, this is just the bare bones. To create a truly great job description, you should make the content emotive and as jargon-free as possible. You can find a more in depth look at making an attractive job description here. 

You’ve found a gap in your current team. You’ve written a comprehensive job description. Now, you need to get the word out and attract the right talent.  

No doubt you’re aware of the many different channels you can use to hire. Some of them include; advertisements, job portals, and social media websites.  

Why not use multiple channels in your search? What works for one role may not be the best path for another. The recruitment process in human resource management is different to the process for finding construction workers. 

Don’t forget to advertise internally too. You might find that the person you’re looking for is in the next room over, or a floor below. 

As soon as you receive applicants, you can begin the employee selection process. This is broken down into two stages: shortlisting and assessment.  

First, shortlisting. Decide how many candidates you want to interview. Next, make a list of essential criteria, such as a certain level of qualifications or experience.  

You can narrow this even further by adding “desirable” criteria. 

Now, go through your list of candidates, and whittle it down to those you want to interview. Use your essential criteria to remove any applicants who don’t meet your requirements, and you can make the list even smaller using your “desirable” criteria. 

Remember, it’s illegal to discriminate against candidates based on protected characteristics, such as age, disability, or sex. 

You must only review information relevant to their ability to perform the role. There are some top tips to avoid discrimination in recruitment here. 

Next, assessment. This stage is a little more subjective. It means looking over the finer details of the CV and cover letter to glean as much information as possible about the candidate. Pick out career gaps, learn from the candidates interests and hobbies, review the competence of their cover letter. 

Then, once you have all the information you need, invite applicants to an interview. 

Like the previous couple of steps, the interview process differs depending on your preference. You can perform the interview in person, via video call, or over the phone. You can conduct the interviews in multiple stages, or just have a single meeting. 

Whatever your approach may be, remember that the interview is your final chance to screen the candidate for suitability. Make sure you ask the questions most appropriate to find out if they have the necessary experience and will be a good fit. Keep your questions direct, rather than abstract, and make sure they are relevant to the role. 

Finally, remember that an interview is a two-way process. The candidate will also be assessing whether your company is a suitable fit for them, so answer their questions openly and honestly. Be respectful and take the opportunity to sell them on the role. 

By this stage, you should have a good idea who you want to employ. Before you send a letter offering them the role however, there are a couple of things you should do:  

1. Check their references. 
2. Do a final assessment of their CV. 

Chances are, if anything was amiss, you would’ve spotted it already. However, it’s always worth checking if something has fallen through the cracks.  

Once you’re happy however, you should send a job offer letter. 

The last of the job hiring process steps is the introduction and induction of the new employee. Under UK employment law, the individual becomes an official employee from the day they accept an “unconditional” job offer. That means they have all the employment rights an employee is entitled to. 

The induction process is key to employee retention. Making the individual feel settled as soon as possible has lots of benefits. Providing a welcome kit and introducing them to key staff in the business is a great start. 

Providing all the necessary documents as quickly as possible and organising future meetings will also prove beneficial.  

Remember to check in regularly with the new starter to discuss any issues they’re facing and help them settle.  

You should include a probation period in the employee’s contract. This is essentially a trial period to make sure your new hires are performing as you expected when offering the role.