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When it's time to start adding employees to the staff of your small business, it's time to stop and celebrate the fact that your company has grown. It's also time to make sure that you understand the right way to screen applicants for the positions available in your organization. You'll have to make several decisions about your company's hiring process, being careful to treat applicants consistently, fairly, and within the boundaries of the law.

Job Application Form

One of the first things you'll need to do is create or select an application form. To verify that your company's job application paperwork is legal, it's probably in your best interest to adopt an existing form that has been developed or screened by attorneys or professional human resources consultants. Many of the available small business form software packages include employment application forms and other important human resources documentation that can easily be customized for your organization.

Hiring Process

In addition to being certain that the paperwork you are using to allow people to apply for positions with your company is appropriate, you're also going to have to make steps about how the hiring process will work in your company. As a business owner, you have a good bit of leeway in setting up your hiring procedures, but you do need to make sure that you apply them consistently.

Questions you'll have to answer in establishing your hiring procedures include?
Will I conduct interviews by telephone, in person, or a combination of the two?How many interviews are necessary prior to extending a job offer?Will candidates be required to pass a drug test?Will background checks be required for applicants? If so, what will be checked?(criminal, credit, national, state, county, etc.)Should I administer a pre-employment aptitude test? If so, which test should I use?
Job Description

In addition to coming up with answers to the above questions before you start recruiting prospective employees, it's also important to come up with a job description for the positions you will be staffing. Without a written job description, how will you know what questions to ask the people you are interviewing.

Job Interviewing Skills

It's also important to make sure you know how to interview potential job applicants. Many small business owners make the mistake of trying to sell prospective employees on coming to work for them. During a job interview, it is the applicant's job to sell him or herself to the employer, not the other way around. Make sure that you spend more time listening than talking when screening applicants. Ask job related, nondiscriminatory questions, and then really listen to what each applicant has to say. This will help you choose the best person for each job.

Learn more about this author, JQ Adams.
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