I don’t want to put you off employing people, because getting the right people will grow your business. But I do want to give you some advice that I know would have saved a lot of people a lot of money, time, and worry.

When thinking about recruiting, spend some time planning what exactly it is that you want this person to do, and how much you can afford to pay them. Write yourself a list of the key tasks that person would need to perform, write down the people they would need to communicate with, and if there are any absolute necessities e.g. drivers licence, accounting qualifications, literacy.

This list will give you the information you then need to write a Job Description and a Person Specification.

The Job Description, obviously enough, describes the job you want the person to do, and the Person Specification lists all the skills, knowledge and attitudes you want the person to have. For example if the person will be interacting with customers you would want them to have a positive attitude to service.

Think about how flexible you can be. People are often attracted by the ability to work flexibly, and this will also give you access to a larger supply of talented and skilled labour

Plan your interviews using your job description and person specification to work out what kind of evidence you are looking for from the interview. If they need to speak to customers on the phone, ask them some questions about how they have handled difficult customers in the past.  Try to get evidence of what they have done rather than just being able to give the right answer about what they should do.