Why Your Small Company Should Hire A HR Consultant Before Hiring Its First Employees

Posted on: 28 January 2015

If your new business is unexpectedly booming, you are probably looking into hiring a few employees to help you out. However, before you place a classified advertisement seeking help, it's important that you understand and learn about the interviewing and hiring process. In today's business environment, you cannot afford to hire the wrong person. An employee who doesn't have the correct skill sets for a position could, for example, cost your business customers or even ruin your reputation.

And firing an employee in this overly litigious world could open you up to possible lawsuits. That is why it's important to hire a human resources (HR) consultant:

Hire an HR Consultant

In the old days, you might have winged the hiring process. Perhaps, you might have looked over some resumes and then interviewed a few candidates, asking them the basic questions about why they want the position and about their experience. Then, perhaps, you might have picked the one you felt the most comfortable with.

While this might still work in some cases, it is better to be safe. However, if you are like many small companies, you probably can't afford to hire a full-time HR person. So what should you do? You should consider hiring an experienced HR consultant, who can:

  • Help you prepare questions and interview for candidates who will best match with your company's mission and values.
  • Teach you or the person you will be tasking with the interviewing process the questions you can and cannot ask legally. For example, did you know that it is illegal to ask a candidate whether they have small children? While you may not want to hire an employee with small children for fear they may need to take off a lot of time from work, an HR consultant will advise you that asking about this could get you into hot water. 
  • Help you create job descriptions for the open positions you have in your company so that you can attract the right candidates. 

After You Find the Right Candidate

If you have never hired an employee before, you may not know what documents you need to collect. An HR consultant 

  • List the documentation you will need to gather once you hire an employee.
  • Help you set up a company's policies and procedures manual so that your employees will know what is expected of them while they are working for your business.

In the end, an HR consultant offers a small start-up company the best solution for their personnel needs. To learn more, contact a company like Dynamic Dialog with any questions you have.

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