As a small business owner, you may find yourself in need of an employee if your business has grown. Human resource management is often handled by its own department in larger companies, but as a small business owner, you've got to wear many hats. You'll need to recruit, train, and manage your employees so that they give their best for your business. This 4-part series will introduce you to some of the major human resource functions so you better understand your role as a small business owner who needs to hire and manage employees.

Recruiting is the process of developing a pool of qualified applicants from which to select employees. Recruiting involves advertising open positions and screening resumes and applications from a number of sources. One of the first steps to recruiting is developing a description of the available job position. A successful job description will include the following information, at a minimum:

• Job title
• Pay grade
• Description of essential functions
• Required education
• Required training
• Required experience

Once you have advertised an open position, you will start to receive resumes or applications in response to your advertisement. You will need to screen these resumes to find the most qualified candidates. Screening can be done manually or with special software. For a small business with few or no employees, software is probably an unnecessary expense. Once you have selected a number of qualified candidates, it is time to begin the interview process. Schedule interviews at times that are convenient for you so you can give your full attention to the candidate you're interviewing.

A successful interview is one that is behavioral-based. A behavioral interview does not consist of yes or no questions that can be answered by candidates with one word. Instead, a behavioral interview uses questions designed to use past performance to predict future success. Some examples of behavioral interview questions are as follows:

• Tell me about a time when you handled a difficult customer
• Describe how you would handle a stressful work situation
• Tell me how you would prioritize a list of tasks given to you by a manager

As you can see from these questions, a behavioral interview makes it necessary for candidates to give thoughtful responses to each question that show how they would handle a number of situations. You may want to keep a rating sheet for each candidate that scores the candidate in a number of areas. These areas can include:

• Communication skills
• Professional appearance
• Education
• Work experience
• Answers to interview questions

If you keep a rating sheet, you'll have an easier time remembering each candidate when it comes time to reviewing all of the interviews and choosing the best person for the job. Remember to follow all appropriate guidelines for hiring, especially laws that prohibit discriminatory hiring practices. For example, you cannot refuse to hire someone simply because they are a different race or gender. You need to ensure that your hiring decisions are well-documented so that if any candidate claims that they were discriminated against, you can back up your decision and prove that you made the right choice.