I need to hire my first employee! Where do I begin?

By Kim Becker, Vice President of Human Resources, Hometown Bancorp

(This is the first of a two-part article.)

So your business has grown to the point where you are ready to take the first step in hiring a qualified, experienced, dependable, cheerful and motivated employee!  Naturally you want someone that mirrors your work ethic.  Someone you can count on, who can work on their own once they are trained – someone to relieve some of the day-to-day pressures that rest solely on your shoulders right now.  Someone you can trust.

On the surface, it can appear to be a daunting task!  And in some respects, it is.  After all, hiring employees is one of the most important decisions an employer makes.  But with a few simple guidelines and strategies, you can do this. 

So let’s get started!

Determining the Job Qualifications: Establishing your hiring needs is vital before recruiting for a position.  The first step you should take is to create a job description that outlines the qualifications and skills required to meet those needs.  What job activities, skills, credentials and personal attributes are required to successfully perform the job?  A good job description should include the following:
 

• Title, primary function and major responsibilities
• Required working hours and minimum job requirements
• A list of additional, but nonessential job functions
• Special working conditions that would apply to the position, such as travel requirements, overtime expectations, or unusual environmental conditions (extreme heat, cold or other physical demands).
• Desirable personal qualifications.
• Pre-employment requirements such as prior work experience or demonstration of job skills.
• Once the job description has been drafted, you can begin your search for the right person.
   

Sourcing Candidates: The next step is to advertise your open position.  Start with the Fond du Lac Area Job and Career Center, which offers resources to help you post your job on-line and search for resumes of job seekers in the Fond du Lac area: http://www.fdljobcenter.com/employer.iml.  You may also wish to advertise your job in the help wanted section of the local newspapers.  Be specific as to what type of skills you are looking for, so you won’t have to weed through a pile of resumes that don’t match your minimum requirements.  Use your professional networks to get the word out and use your colleagues as a referral source.  You might also want to consider using a temporary employment agency and have them do the legwork for you.  You will pay a premium for this, but it is a great way to “test drive” a potential employee before actually hiring them.  If he or she is not working out, a phone call to the temp agency is all that is required.  (And you won’t have to deliver the unpleasant news!) 

Hiring employees is one of the most important decisions an employer makes.

Pre-Screening the Candidates: So now you have a stack of resumes – hopefully!  First you will want to relegate those that don’t come anywhere near what you are looking for to the “no thank you” pile.  There may be some that jump out at you as “make my day” candidates.  And then there are the “maybes,” that might be worth a closer look.  A phone screen is a good idea if you’re not quite sure as to whether or not you want to spend the time on a full blown interview.  Although phone interviews typically last about 10 or 20 minutes, much of that time can be wasted if you are not prepared.  Write down your questions in advance and ask them consistently of all applicants.  The first question you may want to ask is about salary requirements – yes, the dreaded salary question.  While this may surprise candidates to have this question asked right off the bat (remember, they most likely have been coached NOT to go there until the end of the process), you will want to point out that you don’t want to waste either person’s time.  If the candidate is reluctant to talk about their current salary, simply ask if the salary range you have set for the position is within their acceptable range.  Here are some additional questions to ask:

• Tell me a little bit about your work history
• What particularly interests you about this job?
• Why are you currently searching for a new position? 
• What are the top three duties in the job you now have (or in your most recent job)?
• What type of work environment brings out your best performance?

If, after completing the phone screen, you decide the individual is not the right fit for your position, explain that you are doing initial interviews and that you will call them back if you have more questions.  Don’t feel that you have to tell them bluntly that they are not a fit - they may suit a future opening, so you don’t want to damage the relationship if they have potential down the road.  For promising candidates that you want to bring in for an interview, put on your sales hat and heighten the candidate’s interest in your company.  Your goal is to cut down on wasted time and effort in the recruiting process, but no screening process is perfect.  Some “misfits" will slip through your net and into the interview stage, but this comes with the recruiting territory and isn’t necessarily a failure of the phone screen process.

Questions Not to Ask During an Interview: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other federal and state agencies have issued guidelines for employers regarding prohibited areas of inquiry during the hiring process.  Some questions are not allowed because they inquire about information that is not job-related, such as age, marital status, race, color, religion or national origin.  The best way to stay out of trouble is to only ask questions that relate to the individual’s ability to do the job.  For more information and a list of “loaded questions to avoid” click on this link:
http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/dwd/publications/viewsort/LIST.ASP  (Equal Rights Division Publication Number ERD-4825-PWEB)
 

Part 2:  The Interview Process and Making the Hiring Decision: In the next article, we talk about conducting interviews and how you will use the process to help you select the best and brightest candidates to hire.