You're Busy. You Need Help. Now What?

Q:My business is growing rapidly, and it's more than I can handle by myself. What kind of employee should I hire?

A: The obvious answer is that you want to hire somebody who is competent, able to work for whatever you can pay and truly interested in helping you grow your company. But to find an employee who can help your business, the question you really need to ask is, "What type of boss do I need to be?"

That's because the best way to hire and keep an ideal employee is to be an ideal employer. If you can't offer a health plan, for instance, you should provide other perks, whether it's flextime or permission to bring a pet to the office. If you're the type of boss who people want to work for, and your company offers its staff opportunities that they feel they can't get somewhere else, good employees will gravitate toward you.

There are some important guidelines to consider when hiring your first employee. You need somebody who has skills or talents you don't have. Look at all your shortcomings, and if your prospective employee seems to have qualities you wish you did, that's somebody worth considering. Even a slightly different mind-set about the business world might prove helpful. Certainly, you need to be able to work together, but if you hire a clone of yourself, your business won't have the varied skills and opinions that a successful company needs to move forward.

More Solutions

• Hiring Your First Employee
• Hiring Your First Salesperson
• How to Write a Job Description