Hiring and Keeping Staff

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Having a terrible assistant can cost you a world of headache.

Not having one can cause you to miss out on revenue in clients that you otherwise wouldn't be able to reach.

Employees can not live with them! Can not live without them!

Here are somethings you should ask on an interview:

1. Issues and concerns they have had with past employers and how they have dealt with such issues.
2. Their learning style because this dictates as to how you can train them and how they will adapt to the work area.
3. Do they have options as far as: Child Car, Transportation. This will dictate whether they can make it to work on time, have to leave early frequently, or come to work at all.
4. Ask an off the wall critical thinking question to test their problem solving skills.

Here are some things I have learned as a fairly new employer for new hires:

1. Definitely have an employee handbook with procedures and policies for attendance, pay, employee's actions, etc. This way if something happens your actions in reprimanding this employee are not a shock the employee. It is also provides consistency.  
2. Setup your payroll through a reputable company. The last thing you want is for your employees to be paid late.
3. Develop a training manual. Believe it or not employment is voluntary on both sides. So if an employee quits and someone needs to be rehired/retrained you want something in place that will help the new hire with their position.
4. Be patient! A new hire has to learn to do things according to the way you want them to, even if they have experience.
5. Provide employee with periodic reviews of their work.
6. Make sure your door is open so that your employee can voice to your their concerns and issues. This helps to facilitate a less hostile work place.

Finally, you can find a great pool of candidates from the community college or university career posting website. Other classified ad sites maybe helpful if you what a very large pool of applicants.