Everything You Need Before Your First Hire (The Complete Checklist)
Think about this. Two founders with the same goal — both want to hire in January.
One spent the fall setting up, being methodical about what they wanted, who they wanted to hire, and what role they were filling. The other waited. Come January, one was onboarding a dream hire. The other was absolutely drowning.
This is the complete checklist for being the first founder. Quick note before we start: this is education from my 14+ years in HR, not legal advice, and employment, pay transparency, and leave laws all vary by state — so always check yours.
First, why you can't grow on contractors alone
I hear it all the time: "We don't have any employees," or "I can just use contractors." My challenge to you — you can't grow a business on a team of contractors alone. Beyond the fact that some of your contractors may be misclassified, you genuinely need employees so you can train, mold, and grow people to build your business on your terms, your time, your hours, using your tools and equipment.
The difference matters. With a contractor, you sign a mutual agreement for a defined period and a defined amount of pay, you get a W-9, you provide a 1099 at year end, and you're good. With an employee, there's a lot more prep work — and it starts with figuring out the role.
Decide the role before you find the person
This is true whether it's your first employee or your thousandth: don't hire based on a vibe, on what you vaguely think you need, or out of desperation.
Instead, decide what job actually needs to be filled. Do a brain dump of everything you do in a day — plus everything you'd want done that you don't have time for, don't know how to do, or can't get to. From that list, a picture forms. Are you looking for an admin to own the inbox, scheduling, and client responses? Someone to run your marketing? For a product-based business, maybe a full-time person to help with the product. Maybe a sales role, constantly reaching out and managing relationships. Or maybe you need a specialty — if you're an ideas person building something with tech in it, your first hire might be a developer.
And it doesn't have to be full-time. You can absolutely start with a part-time employee, or even a few. I've seen businesses run beautifully with four part-time employees, everyone classified correctly and compliant. The point is: figure out the role first.
One strong caution: I see people find a person they connect with — they love the energy, love what they have to say — and then build the role around that person. I'd strongly advise against it. Build around what your business needs, not what another person needs.
Build a real job description
Once you've brain-dumped and grouped the tasks into categories, you've got the bones of a job description. When you put it out there, include a bit about your company — your mission, vision, and values — so people know what kind of business you are. Then the roles and responsibilities, and the qualifications.
Separate requirements from nice-to-haves. Does everyone truly need a four-year degree? Probably not — think about what you actually need from someone. And put in what makes your business unique.
Stay compliant, too. If your state has pay transparency laws, you may be required to include a salary range. Honestly, I'd encourage you to include the range whether your state requires it or not — it's upfront, it saves everyone time, and people who apply are already aligned with it. Someone will land within the range based on experience, and it smooths out the interview process.
Interview fairly (and legally)
With the job description live, you start interviewing. Run the same interview with each candidate — same core questions — so you can evaluate people fairly. Go off on a tangent if it's natural, but stay compliant and don't ask questions that could be considered discriminatory.
I've been asked in interviews myself: "Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you plan to?" Even when they come from a friendly place, you can't ask them. Stay away from personal life, ethnicity, sexuality. Many states have "banned the box," so you can't ask about criminal history. Stick to experience, the job, and how someone would handle specific situations. If they're great and you hire them, you'll get to know them in time.
Set up payroll while you interview
As you interview, you should simultaneously be evaluating payroll or HRIS systems so you can actually pay this person when they start. These take some setup — less if you're starting from scratch, more if you're transferring existing payroll data. Give yourself about two months.
And these systems do so much more than run payroll. I love using them as the secure, compliant home for all employee information. You can build onboarding flows, track time, track time off, and accrue sick time right through them. They handle a lot of the laborious manual work for you — so when someone starts, they go through the onboarding flow and sign all the necessary paperwork in one place.
Offer letters, notices, and the handbook
You need an offer letter template — an absolute must-have. Some states require specific things in it; New York, for example, requires a wage notice on top of the offer letter. You also need to provide any mandatory notices required in the state or city where you (or the employee) are located.
And have your employee handbook ready by the time someone comes on, so they understand your policies, procedures, and how the business operates. They get one place to go for questions, and you're not making it up on the fly.
Workers' comp and state programs
Make sure you have workers' comp, and that you're signed up for any mandatory state programs where you or your employees are located.
I'm in New Jersey — so for a New Jersey employee I'd set them up with state disability and paid family leave, which are state-run here. Above a certain number of employees, you also need RetireReady NJ, the state-run retirement savings option. That's New Jersey; other states have their own versions. In New York, for instance, you need a third-party insurer for short-term disability and paid family leave — often through your workers' comp provider or another insurer.
Why all of this matters before you hire
That's a lot to do before hiring someone — and I'm not telling you this to overwhelm you or make you nervous. I'm telling you to educate you, so you can do it right.
Because going from business owner to leader is a huge step. It's a new role for you, and you may never have done it before. It's completely okay not to know all of this. That's my job.
You want to hire right. You want to hire once. You don't want to hire frazzled, buried under admin and paperwork and decisions. So set yourself up for success by getting these things in place in the fall. The most successful businesses I've worked with gave themselves three months before they wanted to hire.
The window: start by mid-to-late September
This is exactly what my 3-month project does. We choose and set up the right payroll system (I project-manage it so everything's correct and your workflows are on point), provide every template you need, build a handbook unique to your business and your locations, and give you the education you need to actually lead an employee.
We're at the end of August now — which means you'd want to start around mid-to-late September to be ready for January. Ready for 2027. So you can actually relax over the holidays and spend time with the people you love, knowing it's handled.
These first-employee startup projects are some of my favorite work — you get to shape someone's culture, their business, and what they stand for from the ground up. If you're looking to hire in 2027, reach out. Let's get you ready. https://www.kdzhrconsulting.com/contact-us-1
