Your small business’s growth is a huge step toward new and exciting opportunities—and also challenges like handling increasing demands and ensuring operations run smoothly. Effective hiring is the best way to tackle these challenges.
While the hiring process can be complex and has a steep learning curve—especially if your business is just starting to take off—countless businesses have used the same techniques over decades to bring on new talent. In this guide, you’ll learn how to hire employees for your small business in six straightforward steps for a dynamic, cohesive, and capable team.
6 steps to hire employees for your small business
Making the decision to hire new talent is the first hurdle in the hiring process. Once you’re ready, here are the mechanics of how many small businesses hire new staff.
1. Start with the administrative legwork
The hiring process requires some administrative prep up front—you’ll want to make sure you’re fulfilling all your legal obligations, complying with labor and tax laws, and filing all the necessary paperwork.
If your organization is in the United States, start by getting your Employer Identification Number (EIN), a unique taxpayer identification number issued by the IRS. EINs are used for tax administration and compliance purposes, and you can get one by filling out Form SS-4.
Once you have an EIN, consider how you’re going to meet other legal and tax requirements. Compliance can get complicated if you’re looking to build a distributed workforce. Every country has its own employment regulations, and U.S. labor and tax laws vary by state, so if possible, discuss your hiring plans with legal and financial experts before getting started.
One way to simplify this part of the process is by partnering with an employer of record (EOR), which hires and employs people on your behalf. Some EORs operate locally (in certain countries or regions), but a global EOR like Oyster can hire globally and ensure compliance wherever your business operates.
Another option is to work with a professional employer organization (PEO), which is a company that co-employs your team members and functions as an outsourced HR department. They take care of new hire paperwork, payroll, benefits, and compliance concerns, which reduces your administrative burden.
2. Write an engaging job description
Job descriptions tell potential candidates what your company does, what the role you’re hiring for entails, and what compensation and benefits you offer. To stand out to qualified applicants as they peruse job boards, your job description should be informative and compelling with four key components:
- A captivating start: Prospective small business employees are often looking for a chance to be part of something meaningful, so highlight what makes your company and the role you’re hiring for special from the very beginning. For example, if you’re offering an opportunity to be part of a company with stellar team culture, lead with that.
- What your company is looking for: Clearly define the role you’re looking to fill and the kind of employee you’re hoping will fill it. This includes clarifying whether they’ll be hired as an employee or independent contractor. And to encourage stellar candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply, use inclusive language to describe the role.
- Desired qualifications: List all the skills, qualifications, education, and experience a new hire would need to succeed in the role. You can split these up into two categories: “must have” and “nice to have.” This makes your hiring process more efficient by encouraging job seekers who meet the desired criteria.
- Duties, expectations, and responsibilities: In order of importance, list the contributions and tasks your new employee will be responsible for. This is especially helpful if you’re hiring globally—different countries have different work-related customs and norms, and your job description is a good opportunity to align expectations.
3. Post the job and read through applications
Once you’ve written an engaging job description for an open position, post it online where job seekers can find it. Put your job listing up in various places to maximize visibility and attract a diverse pool of candidates, making it more likely you’ll recruit the best talent. This means publishing in places like your company website, your social media platforms, and remote job boards. The title of each job post should be slightly different, but still relevant to the role, to prevent your posts from being treated like spam.
When you post the job online, you’ll start receiving applications. Now the real work begins. You’ll have to sift through these applications and carefully review each one to identify the most qualified applicants.
As you review them, make a shortlist of the applicants who seem promising and discard the rest of the applications. This step is important because it prevents you from wasting time interviewing candidates who aren’t well-suited for the role. It also saves you money: One of the challenges of hiring new employees is high turnover due to onboarding people who aren’t a good fit, so it’s best to determine which candidates align with your needs as early as possible.
4. Interview candidates
After you compile a list of promising candidates, reach out to each candidate on your shortlist to schedule an interview. During the interview process, your goal is to identify the best candidate: one who meets the job requirements, fits in with your company culture, and demonstrates the skills and enthusiasm needed to succeed in the role.
When hiring remote workers, you also need to assess whether candidates are well-suited for remote work. If you’re not sure how to hire the best remote candidate, consider asking questions that zero in on three critical skills for remote workers: written communication, proactivity, and autonomy. You may also want to ask candidates about skills like time management and virtual collaboration.
Take notes during your interviews that you can refer back to as you determine who to hire and when to hire them. You’ll know it’s time to hire a candidate when you’re certain they’d excel in the role and contribute to your company’s goals. After you’ve made your decision, be sure to let the other candidates know.
5. Set up payroll for your new hire
Upon hiring your first employee, set up their payroll as soon as possible so you can pay them accurately and on time. You’ll first need to establish whether your new hire is exempt or non-exempt, as this determines how you should calculate their pay. Another factor to consider is whether you need to make payroll deductions to account for benefits like health insurance and retirement plans. This will depend on your compensation plan, as well as laws about mandatory and voluntary benefits.
Your payroll breakdown also must be compliant with local and national tax laws. Different countries have varying laws determining how you should handle pay periods, bonuses, and tax withholding. For example, Germany and the United States both require employers to deduct income taxes from employee paychecks.
6. Start the onboarding process
The final step of the hiring process is onboarding, which takes place over your new team member’s first 90 days (or longer if necessary). At this stage, you’ll set them up with the tools they need to succeed in their new role and start integrating them into your company culture.
To start the process, give your new employee access to any equipment, software, and accounts they may need. This preboarding process is especially important for setting up remote employees. You should also give your new team member all their onboarding paperwork, including tax forms, legal agreements, and an employee handbook.
After you’ve finished the administrative work together, introduce the new hire to their colleagues and supervisors, especially those they’ll be working closely with. If you’re onboarding a remote hire, you can do this virtually during informal team calls or one-on-ones.
Once your new hire has met the rest of their team, provide any training they’ll need to hit the ground running. Over their first few weeks of work, schedule regular check-ins. This gives new employees a chance to address any questions or concerns, setting them up for long-term success at your company.
Start hiring with Oyster
Overwhelmed by the idea of hiring your first employees? Let Oyster support this complex process.
Oyster has a solution for every hiring challenge, ensuring a simple and efficient experience from start to finish. Our employer of record services streamline all aspects of the hiring process, from paperwork to payroll compliance and beyond, no matter where your team members live.
Start building your dream team by booking a demo with Oyster today.
About Oyster
Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, engage, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. Oyster lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches and expense.
Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world—with reliable, compliant payroll, and great local benefits and perks.
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