I've built an online business and am at a point where I need to hire someone at least part-time to handle customer service and other mundane, scriptable chores so I can focus on growing more. It can be someone who works from home, but I need to be able to trust them and have them within personal reach if need be. At the outset I would prefer to pay someone cash to simplify things. I've been a manager in several jobs but never had an actual employee for my own business. What am I looking at? Pitfalls, things to look for, etc? I'm trying to fast-track some knowledge nuggets so I can skip or at least fast-track the 'hiring 101' class.
My kid needs a job. As for hiring advice, I have none. Except to say that you should hire someone good and not someone bad.
As your business grows, you will find hiring competent people that will do their job the most challenging part of growth imaginable. It is doubly hard in start up or small businesses, as there is inherent risk as an employee. Will my boss make payroll, will the job be there tomorrow, etc. You need to think hard about this hire, actually. Do you care if it is someone short term and not going to grow with you? If so, hiring an intern level person, a college student to work part time, or even hiring a temp agency (they do the vetting for you and if you aren't happy they will replace the person quickly). Some of these you'll be able to pay cash on the side, others you'll need to 1099. If you want this person to grow with the business, learn from you, and stay long term, you'll need to be prepared to offer more than just some cash and promises. You have to treat that person like any other asset in your company and set aside capital to invest in them. The person is going to want to feel like a part of the business and stay. Do you offer benefits? You probably can't afford insurance and things like that yet, but perhaps they could earn equity if the business has growth potential. These are all things to think about.
By the way, actually take the time to build a viable job requisition. Even if the position is temporary or part time. This will help you really think about who you want to hire. After that, build a job requisition for what the position might do a year or two down the road. This will help you figure out if you wan to invest in a person for the future, or just keep temping the job. To build a decent req first lay out the tasks you expect this person to do day in and day out. Also write out any "one off" or special tasks the person may need to accomplish. Next to each task write out the skills you need. So if they are answering phones, they need to have communication skills and attention to detail for taking messages. If they are coding a webpage, they need to know HTML and JSON. You are making a little "mind map" of each task to set of skills. If skills repeat, write them again. So if Answering phones is a task, and has communication skills as a skill, and then meeting with clients is a task, write communication skills again tagged to that task. Once you are complete, you can see where you've written skills multiple times. These become the "required skills" that are of a higher priority and it is what you focus on. If a skill is only listed once, it is still required, but less of a priority. Do the same thing if the job existed a year from now. List potential future tasks and potential future skills. If they match in both, the skill is still is required. If a skill comes up on the "future" req, you can add it as a "preferred skill". Once you have the list of tasks and skills, you can write it out into a decent job req. There are literally a million out there, but write it out with a summary of what your company does. A summary of what the role does and how it fits into the company. The list of required skills, the list of preferred skills, the expectations for part time, full time, contract, etc. This will really help you narrow your search and think about the bigger picture.
you might consider working with a temp/employment agency, they can handle all the paperwork and do the taxes etc. Will cost you a bit more overall for their fees, but will lessen the worries about the administrative part of it, especially as you grow, which hopefully will happen.
hire someone aesthetically pleasing. in case they don't perform to your standards, at least they'll be nice to look at. good luck breh!
i've done some extensive research (for science) on companies that does this if anyone wants some tips. it involves black couches.
Supermac- excellent advice, thanks. That's the kind of info I'm looking for. I will give this some serious thought. Yes, I would prefer to retain talent because learning curve and eventual expertise means this person will be able to get more done in a shorter amount of time. ima- yeah, it really probably does sound like a dream job to most people, sadly. Did I mention that it's work from home? I need the person to have a computer and internet. We will then install some sort of tracking software that sends me random screenshots of what you're doing during the working time-frame (this is standard virtual assistant stuff), so I'm not paying you to wack off or post on Facebook. Or wack off on Cf.net. CometsWin- I'm not ready to divulge that information. It invariably leads to a massive cascade of questions and I'd rather keep this thread on point. Trigonum- nah, I prefer to not have an agency shave off a good chunk of what I'm paying the person. I've had contractors work for me at day jobs and it's criminal how much they take home vs how much we paid the staffing agency. The workers almost always were bitter about it. At this juncture, given the level of skill required, I think I can handle it.
Jontro- technically my wife is the President of our LLC, so I don't think your advice is good in my case. Cheke64- this is actually the kind of hook up I'm looking for, so I have two people to backtrace if I am robbed.
Hook up with the local community colleges or UHCL, then frame it as an internship so you can pay cheap, and hire anyone with retail management experience who may also be studying for a career in your field and looking for a reference. Downside is their living or roommate situation might not be conducive to work-at-home.
Hire me. Pros: We can talk Rockets ball I need barely above minimum wage with a history of senior positions Cons: I'll need to be sponsored Sounds like a pretty big win-win here!
