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Join for freePosted: Tue 13th Oct 2026
Your first hire is the biggest people decision you'll make.
Get it right, and it can take your business to the next level. Get it wrong, and it costs you money, momentum and months you won't get back.
In this Lunch and Learn, Carla Read takes you through how to make your first hire with confidence. From working out what you actually need, to picking the right person, to the legal basics you must have in place before they start.
Carla also covers the first 90 days, and how to spot early if someone isn't right, before it becomes an expensive problem.
How to work out what you really need from your first hire
How to assess candidates properly, so you're not relying on gut feel
What to have in place before day one, and how to use the first 90 days to protect your business
Carla spent 16 years as a senior HR professional for investor-backed businesses.
She has grown teams from 10 to 500, hiring and managing teams in 13 countries, on tight budgets and tighter timelines. Now Carla works as a Fractional Chief People Officer, helping business owners to avoid the people mistakes that quietly cost them money and value.
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Lightly edited for clarity.
Beth Galloway: Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's lunch and learn. My name is Beth, and I'll be your host today. For those of you attending for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses.
I'm very pleased to introduce Carla Read, chief people officer at Northern People Consulting. In this session, Carla will take you through how to make your first hire with confidence. If you have any questions, please post them in the chat or the Q&A, and we'll do our best to answer them at the end.
Today's session is being recorded, so you'll receive the recording and a few follow-up resources by email later today. Over to you, Carla.
Carla: Thanks, Beth. Hello, everyone, and thanks for spending your lunch with me today. I work with small and growing businesses, from first-time employers to teams of a few hundred.
I've spent 16 years in HR, mainly as HR director and chief people officer, and I've grown teams from 10 people to 500. I've hired in 13 countries, and I had to recap this week to count them up. I've seen first hires make a business, and I've seen them nearly break one too.
Most of you won't have an HR department, a big budget or time to spare. Everything I'm going to share today is practical, and most of it costs little or nothing. We'll cover what you need before you advertise, how to pick the right person, the legal must-haves, and how to spot early if it's not working.
Most founders I speak to start in the same place: "I'm drowning in work, and I need to hire someone." They then write a job advert for a person who does everything. That's how you end up paying a salary for a role that isn't delivering what you really need.
So before we talk about who, we're going to work out what. For lots of you, the answer may actually be a freelancer or a contractor first, not an employee. That's not a cop-out; in most cases it's simply the smartest first move.
Most of you will have a role in mind, whether it's a software developer, a marketing assistant or a salesperson. You should test it before you start the hiring process. My top tip is to write down every task you'd expect this person to do, and then put each one in one of four boxes.
Box one is "I do this": your vision, your key customers and the final call on things. Box two is something you'd normally buy by the job, such as one-off specialist work with a clear finish. That's where you'd engage a freelancer or an agency, not normally an employee.
Box three is your employee. This is a regular pair of hands for work that comes around every week and is holding your business back. Box four is "not yet", so be really honest here, because most of us put far too much in the urgent pile. I know I do, but many things can wait.
Here's the point of all this: only box three is the job of an employee. If box three is small, you don't need a full-time employee yet, and you might need a part-timer or a freelancer. If it's huge, you'll know exactly what you're hiring for, because you've done the work to break it down. Either way, you'll get a much better advert.
The cost of an employee is always more than their basic salary. On a salary of around £30,000 a year, you're looking at around £34,500 once you add employer's National Insurance and pension. You've also got employer's liability insurance, payroll costs, software, a laptop or other tech, and paying someone to cover when they're on holiday.
If you're a limited company and you're currently the only employee on the payroll, ask your accountant about the employment allowance, as it could cover your National Insurance completely.
The biggest mistake I see is hiring off the back of one great month, then sales dip and you're stuck with a wage bill. So decide on your hiring triggers while you're calm, not in panic mode about workload. It could be that the money is there for three months, as steady income rather than a one-off peak.
Another trigger is that you're booking the same freelancer most weeks, which tells you the work is regular. A third is that you're turning work away or letting customers down. When those are true, you're ready.
Keep checking your sums every quarter. Look at what you've actually sold and where you're turning customers or work away, not what you're hoping to sell.
Now for some options before you think about employing anyone. Freelancers are great for regular work and are paid by the job or the day. The catch is that if you tell them when to work and how to do it, and they can't send a substitute, the law may say they're an employee, whatever you call them, and you might end up with a tax bill.
Contractors and agencies also suit one-off projects, with a fixed price and a clear deadline. Just make sure any contract says you own what they make, so look at things like intellectual property.
Fractional specialists are a growing option. I work as a fractional HR director, so I fall into this gap. You get senior experience for a day or two a month, which saves the cost of a full-time senior salary, and it's usually used for roles like HR directors and chief financial officers.
Agency temps are good for busy periods, such as the run-up to Christmas if you work in retail. The agency pays them, but after 12 weeks in the same role, they're entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as your own employees. You can't pay them or treat them differently.
The last option here is internships. An unpaid internship is only legal in very narrow cases, so it's not free labour. Think of a placement that's a required part of a course, or pure work shadowing. If they're doing real work for you, you should pay them at least the minimum wage.
Be mindful, too, that an intern is likely to take up more of your time than an experienced freelancer or contractor. If you haven't got the time to spend with someone, you may need to pay slightly more for someone with more experience.
When you do employ someone, you have more choice than full-time or nothing. Full-time is the most common option but the biggest commitment, so make sure the work and the money are both regularly there. Part-time is often the smartest first hire for a growing business, perhaps two or three days a week. Part-timers have the same rights as full-time employees, just pro rata.
Fixed-term contracts suit a defined project, seasonal work or maternity cover. These people get the same rights as permanent staff, so use them only for work with a clear end date, and remember they're still employees. As you've probably heard, from January unfair dismissal rights apply after six months, and that's the same for fixed-term contracts. If you're looking at one, get some advice when it comes to the end date.
Term-time contracts are overlooked quite a lot, but they open up a brilliant talent pool. These are parents, and perhaps grandparents, who want to work but not in the school holidays. Holiday pay needs calculating in a different way, and it's easy to get wrong, but Amazon is a great example of a company that has used these contracts to tap into an untapped market.
Another option is zero-hours contracts, for work that is generally unpredictable. The law is changing here, though. Under the Employment Rights Act, expect that sometime in 2027 people on zero or low hours will have to be offered guaranteed hours based on the pattern they've actually worked.
They'll also have to be given reasonable notice of shifts and be paid if you cancel at short notice. The details are still being finalised, but if you think zero hours might keep things flexible, that flexibility is about to get a lot smaller.
The last option is apprenticeships. These are underrated for small businesses, and the government pays most or all of the training costs for small employers. The minimum wage is roughly £8 an hour for under-19s and anyone in their first year.
Apprentices need to spend 20% of their working time on training, so factor in about one day a week at college, and you'll work with a training provider. As with work experience and internships, you'll spend a fair bit of time with an apprentice, but it can be a really rewarding thing to have in your business.
Now, write an advert that attracts the right people. Your job advert is a sales pitch, not a job description. The best people have options, so give them a reason to pick you and your business.
Start with what they will achieve, and use outcomes. "You'll ensure every customer gets a reply within a day" tells a good candidate far more than "answer emails". Where you can, put the pay on your adverts, because adverts without a salary get fewer applications and you'll waste time on people you can't afford.
Be honest about what's hard. In a small team, you'll turn your hand to most things. The right person will read that and think, "Yes, that's great", while the wrong person will screen themselves out, which saves you the admin of screening.
Small businesses are for certain people, and large corporates are for certain people, so be clear about the challenges of working in a small business. Also explain what's in it for the candidate. I often see adverts that are only about what the company wants, and they miss out on great candidates because they aren't compelling enough.
Finally, watch your words. Phrases like "young and energetic" or "recent graduate" can put you on the wrong side of discrimination law even if you don't mean it. Always describe the skills you need, not the person.
This is why it's important to plan and be clear about what you actually need. Imagine you're head coach for the British Olympic swimming team and you advertise for swimmers who "can swim and are confident in water". You can't be shocked when you get applications from all sorts of people who are nowhere near Olympic standard.
If you want to attract top talent, be specific in both your advert and your interviews. You'd ask for a butterfly specialist who has competed in at least two other Olympic-level events and has won at least six Olympic silver or gold medals. In real life, if you were hiring someone to do PR for a high-end retailer, you'd look for a marketing degree and at least five published articles in each of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. You're looking for real-life experience, and you're being specific.
On finding and filtering, you don't need a recruitment budget to find good people. Start with your own network. Message five or six people you trust, such as customers, suppliers, your accountant and other business owners, and ask if they know anyone.
Then put a post on your own LinkedIn saying you're hiring. For a small business, a personal post gets better applicants than a paid advert, because people are applying to work with you and not a faceless company. If you use Instagram or Facebook, those are good places too.
Then there are free job boards, which will get lower volumes than paid boards such as Totaljobs, because job boards are trying to make money. LinkedIn and Indeed are free too, but there are limits and things are changing. On LinkedIn, you get one free advert at a time, and it only runs for 14 days.
Paid adverts always get shown first, so yours can quickly disappear down the list. It can also pause once a handful of people have applied, and LinkedIn will ask you to pay to keep it going. This is really common with high-volume roles: if you're advertising for customer service or admin, your advert will probably be paused within four to six hours.
Indeed lets you post up to three free adverts a month, and each stays live for 30 days. Again, free adverts sit below the paid ones, so few people see them. A word of warning: I've had adverts paused recently for no obvious reason, because their checks are automated and they don't always tell you why. If it happens, check your dashboard and emails, and contact their support if need be.
After the job boards, it's really good to look locally. Local Facebook groups are brilliant, especially parent groups if you're offering part-time or term-time hours. Tap into local business networks too, and ask if they know anyone suitable.
If you're hiring for a specific skill, think about where those people already spend time. Software developers might be in tech meet-ups and online communities, and creatives are on Instagram, where you can see their work before you've even spoken to them.
Let's talk about shortlisting. Most job boards will let you add screening questions to your advert, and you should use them. They're great for the yes-or-no basics, such as whether the candidate has the right to work in the UK, holds a qualification or licence the job needs, or can get to your location for 9 am.
Two things to watch here. People don't always answer truthfully, and some will say yes just to get through, so treat the answers as a first filter, not proof. You can still check properly later, especially right to work, which you must check yourself before they start.
If you're unsure, you can always message the candidate. For example: "You've said you have the right to work in the UK, but I can see you're currently in Dubai, so I just wanted to check that answer." The second thing is to ask everyone the same questions.
When applications come in, don't be dazzled by big company names or fancy job titles on a CV. Go back to the outcomes you wrote down and ask whether this person has done something close to what you need. That's your shortlist.
Before anyone gets a full interview, it's really useful to have a 10-minute phone call. It doesn't even have to be you; if you've got someone you trust in the business, ask them to do a quick screening call. Ask what made the person apply, and you'll quickly hear who's interested in your business and who's applying for any job in the area.
Something like "Tell me about something you've done that's closest to what we need" will get real evidence of what they've done before. Then run through the practicalities, such as salary, hours and location, and ask whether it works for them. I've had candidates apply for on-site roles who then say later in the process that they want hybrid, so it's worth double-checking throughout.
It's much harder to bluff out loud than with a tick box. Ten minutes each will save you hours in the long run and stop you wasting your time and the candidate's.
If someone has taken the time to apply, send them a short email. Most job boards can do this automatically, saying thanks for applying, that unfortunately they haven't been shortlisted at this time, and wishing them the best in their search. You don't need to give reasons at this stage, but an acknowledgement really does make a difference.
Now, interviews that go beyond gut feel. Most first hires are made on a CV and a nice chat, especially in small businesses. The trouble is that gut feel picks people we like, and people we like tend to be people like us, which isn't the same as someone who can do the job.
Taking out the guesswork costs nothing; it just needs a little planning. Go back to your ideal outcomes, decide what good looks like, and write your questions based on that. Ask what candidates have actually done, not what they would do. Anyone can answer "How would you handle a difficult customer?", but few can tell you about a real one they handled and what happened next.
In the interview, ask everyone the same questions in the same order. It's the only fair way to compare, and it protects you if anyone ever challenges your decision. Then give them a short task that looks like a real job, such as drafting a few days of posts for a marketing assistant or fixing a small hypothetical bug for a developer.
Keep the task under an hour, or you get into territory where you need to pay them. Some companies make it part of a second interview, once they've made a shortlist, because it takes that bit more time.
After the interview, score each answer from one to five against your outcomes, and do it straight away. Score before you compare candidates or talk to anyone else, including anyone who interviewed alongside you, so you aren't influenced by the other person.
There are some things you should never ask. Don't ask about a candidate's age, whether they have children or plan to expand their family, or about their health or religion. None of it is relevant to whether someone can do the job, and it could land you in a discrimination claim, even if you're only making conversation.
Also give candidates time to ask you questions. Good candidates are interviewing you too, and what they ask tells you a lot about them. Someone who goes straight in asking about salary and benefits is a very different candidate from someone who asks about future progression.
Once you've interviewed and found the amazing person, move fast. Good people have other options, and a few days' silence can be enough to lose them. Know your top salary figure before you pick up the phone so you're not negotiating against yourself, and ring them first.
It's personal, and you'll hear straight away whether they're excited. Then follow up with an email and offer letter setting out the role, pay, hours, ideal start date and probation period. The start date may change if they're currently in a role.
Make the offer conditional on the right-to-work check and references, so that if they can't provide those, or it turns out to be false, you can withdraw the offer. Always ask before you contact their current employer. One legal point: do not ask about their health before you've made the offer. Once they've accepted, you can ask whether they need any adjustments to do the job.
Then there are the people who didn't get the job. If you're on the fence between two people, don't turn down your second choice until your first choice has actually said yes, because people do change their minds. Once the offer is accepted, tell everyone you interviewed within a few days.
If they took the time to meet you, pick up the phone and give them short, honest feedback. It takes a few minutes, and people will remember how you made them feel. In an online world, word gets around if someone has a bad experience, and your next great hire might be someone who applied this time.
Now, before day one. You've found your superstar, but here's what the law says you must have in place. It looks like a lot, but it's a one-off job. Before they start, there are four things.
First, a right-to-work check before day one every time, even if they live down the road. Keep a dated copy, because if you get this wrong, the fine is up to £60,000 per worker. Second, register as an employer with HMRC so you can run payroll, if you haven't already. It's instant, so do it as soon as they accept the offer.
Third, employer's liability insurance. You need it from your very first employee, and going without can cost you £2,500 every day you're not covered. Fourth, pick a workplace pension scheme. Your duty to enrol staff starts the day your first employee begins work, so get ahead of that and get it set up.
On day one, they'll need a written statement of terms, which is their contract or at least the main part of it. It's easier to issue a full contract, which covers both. It needs to be in their hands on day one, not sorted next month.
There have been a lot of law changes this year, and more are coming in January, so if your contract template is more than a year old, get it checked. From January, for example, you'll also need to tell staff they have the right to join a trade union.
Then there are the health and safety basics. Have a health and safety poster, or show them where it is if you have a remote workforce, and walk them through fire exits, first aid and any risks in the job. You also need a privacy notice telling them what personal information you hold about them and why. It's a data protection requirement, and a simple template will do.
In the first few weeks, enrol them in the pension within six weeks and tell the Pensions Regulator you've done it. Give them a proper payslip from their first payday too, although if you use a payroll provider or your accountant, they'll do that for you.
Most first hires go wrong because nobody has told the person what good looks like; the business owner gets frustrated, and the new starter has no idea why. So start before they arrive. Have they got their laptop, their logins and a planned first week? Nothing says "we weren't ready for you" like spending day one waiting for a password or a laptop.
In week one, sit down and go through the outcomes you wrote at the start. Tell them how you like to work, what you need to know about and what they can just get on with. Take time to get to know them too, including how they like to work best, because that goes a long way.
Then hold a 20-minute check-in every week at the same time. Ask what's going well, what isn't and what they need from you, and jot down what you agreed, which will save you a lot of trouble later. At 30, 60 and 90 days, do a proper review against the outcomes.
If something's not right, say so early and be specific. Not "you need to try harder", but specific examples, such as "two invoices had the wrong PO number this week" in a finance role. Most people will improve once they know exactly what's wrong, and the ones who don't are better found out in week six than month six.
You don't need to wait until the end of a probation period to act. Probation is just a word in a contract unless you actually use it, and I see this all the time: six months go by, no one has had a review, and now you want to let the person go. Failing someone's probation should not come as a surprise to them, because they should have had feedback, known the potential outcome of not improving, and you should have documented it.
From January, employees can claim unfair dismissal after six months' service. So set a three-month probation, review it properly, and extend it once if you genuinely need more time and think the person can improve. If it's not working, make the call.
Notice periods can push someone over the six-month line without you realising, so if you get to month five, be very careful. Remember that probation doesn't switch off every right: discrimination and whistleblower protections apply from day one. Whatever you decide, do it fairly and for a genuine reason.
That's an absolute whirlwind tour. I know we've got two minutes left. I'm happy to take questions, or I can reach out by message if you have any, and I'm happy to answer questions on Enterprise Nation.
Beth: Perfect. Thank you, Carla. That was full of really interesting things. I love what you said about focusing on what someone will achieve rather than the task. Do you put the tasks anywhere on the job advert, or just leave it with the achievements?
Carla: I'd leave it with what they'll achieve and the outcomes. It always goes down better because people can see how they're contributing. "You will monitor an email box every day" is a bit vague, and it's not exciting. You want people to see how they can contribute to the business and put that fire in their belly.
Beth: How do you know when your business is genuinely ready for its first hire, rather than simply feeling overwhelmed?
Carla: Monitoring your finances is huge. If you're regularly receiving an income that you can pay someone from, that's always a good sign, because you don't want to hire someone and then not have the funds to pay them. It also helps if your work is coming in consistently and you can see a pattern.
As I mentioned, if you're turning down work on a regular basis, and not just as a one-off, that's another sign. Employing someone is a long-term commitment, and it's getting more difficult to let someone go. You've got to be really confident that you can pay someone long term.
Beth: Absolutely. I know we're out of time, but if I could keep you for another minute, Gracie asked whether hiring a virtual assistant follows slightly different rules.
Carla: It depends on how you hire them. I'm looking at this myself right now, which is really exciting. You can hire a freelance VA who works for other clients, does a couple of hours a week for you and sends you an invoice.
If you're hiring a VA from outside the UK, you can use an employer of record such as Deel or Remote. They'll invoice you, but the VA is employed by them. If you're looking at regular full-time work with the same rights as other employees, you're getting into a grey area, and they could be categorised as an employee.
Beth: Okay, sure. This question comes up a lot for members of Enterprise Nation. With so many candidates now using AI to write CVs and cover letters, how can small businesses with no HR support tell who's genuinely a good fit rather than who's best at prompting ChatGPT or Claude?
Carla: This comes up a lot, and I've even seen crazy things like text hidden behind other text, or hidden in documents, to get past AI screening. A lot of larger companies use AI to screen CVs, but I still massively believe in the human element. Screening questions and examples that are specific to the person filter out a lot of the keywords.
Someone can still paste an example in, but on your phone call they have to answer on the spot. If you take 10 minutes to ask, "Can you tell me how what you've done in your previous role aligns with this?", it's really handy, and it's a human way to do it.
Beth: Absolutely. I liked what you said about picking up the phone for a 10-minute chat with candidates who've taken the time to apply or meet you. I think that's kind of lost now, isn't it? Well, we are at time. Thank you so much, Carla.
For anyone who has more questions, I've put Carla's Enterprise Nation profile and LinkedIn in the chat, so please do reach out. That was a really good presentation, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today.
Carla: Thank you.
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