Attracting Your Dream Team: Hiring Tips for Startups
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Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business.
Working on your business, not in your business, is a well-established maxim for small-business success.
No matter how many hats you're comfortable wearing, at some point you're going to need to take a few of them off, let employees take over and focus on growing your business.
But hiring employees isn't as simple as placing a want-ad and waiting for qualified candidates to beat a path to your door.
Here are a few tips for hiring a quality team that can help your business grow.
Establish Your Budget
Your resources are, of course, not infinite. Which means you're going to have to go through your budget to determine how many employees you can hire.
Your budget may also dictate the level of experience you can attract. Is it better to hire two entry-level employees who will need extensive training or one more experienced worker who won't need so much hand-holding? Referring to the budget you established when you created your business plan is a good place to start.
Establish the Positions and Benefits
To attract the type of candidates you want, you'll first have to figure out what you need in an employee. That means you'll need to craft the kind of detailed job descriptions that will attract the right people and act as a guidepost for hiring decisions. An effective job description should include:
Establish Salary and Benefits
Finally, you'll need to determine how much you can pay your employees. This isn't entirely up to you, however. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulates minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor, hours worked and employer record-keeping requirements.
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Some employees, for example, must be paid at least the federal (or state, if it's higher) minimum hourly wage. Exempt employees — typically managers, supervisors and those paid an annual salary — are not subject to minimum wage or overtime requirements.
Where you have discretion, you can research other companies in your area to get a sense of what they're paying employees in similar positions and use that information to set salary ranges you're comfortable paying. Within that range, you would typically pay a higher salary to a more experienced employee and a lower one to someone who may need more training to get up to speed.
Recruit and Hire Your Team
The first thing you'll need is a job application that collects basic information. Note that there are laws governing the information you can—and cannot—collect. Your lawyer or mentor can help ensure you're in compliance.
Next, it's on to recruiting and interviewing. Post the job description you created to job boards or use it to place ads in publications or on websites your likely candidates frequent.
Once you've identified potential candidates, prepare a list of questions that will help you determine whether they’re suitable for the open position specifically and for the company generally. You want to look for a culture fit in addition to a technical/skills fit.
Quick note: As with your job application, there are questions you can and can't ask during an interview. Ask your lawyer or mentor for help or use SCORE's Job Interview Worksheet for help in prepping for interviews.
For candidates who make it through your interview process, be sure to check references and perform background checks, if required, before extending an offer.
Once you're ready to make an offer, you can do so through any medium that makes sense — phone, email or text — but follow up with a formal written letter when and if your offer is accepted.
Reach Out to SCORE for Help
Have more questions? Reach out to SCORE for free, expert mentoring and resources to guide you through your small business journey. Visit score.org to learn more.