How to hire employees and independent contractors you can trust your business with

Back to Advantages of Outsourcing articles

Here's how to hire employees — the smart way. As someone you hire, an independent contractor is also an employee, although a temporary one who works with you from project to project. Are you at that point where you're going to have to make a hard decision — either scale back your small business growth, or bring in more people?

Finding the right person makes it easier for you to delegate your tasks, and helps you get to that goal of having a balanced life and a business that is easier to run.

Get recommendations

Before you even consider hiring an independent contractor or employee, ask your colleagues for recommendations. A great recommendation will go a long way towards insuring that you're hiring someone who is good at what they do.

Pay the best rate you can

You get what you pay for, and it's true especially when you hire an employee. Hire the best person you can afford, not the cheapest one you can find. You may pay more than you think you can afford, but you'll bank on a fine reputation instead of throwing money down the drain on a bad situation. Paying more can ensure quality. Someone who charges more has a reputation to maintain and needs to back it up with good work. The same is true in reverse. If they're charging less, they don't feel the need to live up to what they're being paid.

Get references

Word of mouth is powerful. Hearing a recommendation means someone else has worked with the person before and is satisfied with their work or has heard good things. Knowing someone has worked with the contractor before helps to lower your defenses. And, actually call those references. If the references all give glowing reviews, you're ready for the next step. If the references are less than glowing, don't dismiss the person yet, find out why. It might have been a personality conflict or case of bad timing.

Check the potential hire's portfolio and website

Check their website which should contain testimonials, portfolio, and give a feel for who the contractor is. If her own work isn't up to your standards, chances are, the work she does for you won't be either.

Consider a trial project

After you've decided you want to hire an employee, make sure you go through a trial or probation period. Sometimes you don't know how well someone will work out until you've actually worked with them. A trial period can also help determine the contractor's work ethic. Contract him to do one small project and see how he handles it. If you ask him to edit a 500-word article that you wrote and he takes 3 weeks, you know he's not going to be a good fit. If he returns 30 minutes later and has truly made the article better, great. Make sure the person you are hiring has a good attitude. They might not have all the skills you need, but if they are willing to learn, that can trump any lack of experience.

Make sure you both sign a contract

A contract is important because it spells out exactly what is expected from both parties. Include how much she will be paid, allowances for increases in rates later on, a point at which the contract will be re-evaluated and specific instructions on what will happen if either one of you wants out of the contract. You'll also need to include specific information on what happens if either one of you breaches the contract. Include a confidentiality clause and make sure you who have a lawyer who specializes in contracts review it for you.

Provide clear instructions

Make sure that your contractor or employee understands what you want. If a mistake does happen or there is a misunderstanding, review the situation so that both of you understand what went wrong.

Always review the work

The only way you'll be able to ensure your company's quality is to review the work yourself. You're hiring someone whose work represents your business. Even when you don't do the work, you can't hand off that responsibility.

Terminate

If an independent contractor or employee doesn't work out, follow the instructions in the contract for termination. Give constructive feedback, as well as concrete reasons, with examples, for why the relationship hasn't worked out. More important for you: don't let one bad experience turn you away from hiring someone else.

A working relationship takes time to build

Even if it's the perfect fit, you need to get to know your employee or contractor and s/he needs to get to know you. You also need to evaluate how your personality works with the candidate's. The chemistry you build with this person will help you both work easier together. Follow these ten steps and you can grow your business from working alone to a business that doesn't take over your life.