Recruiting Staff – Getting the Job Right from the Start

Minimum Wage

Salary is subject to a minimum wage in many places. Currently, the minimum wage in the UK is £5.35 per hour for an adult aged 22 and over, in the US it varies between states, but the federal minimum wage is $5.15 -for more information on minimum wage laws in each US state, http://www.dol.gov. In Australia, the minimum wage is now $12.75 per hour.

It’s likely that, if you are going to employ, you will have to pay at least the minimum wage, and should calculate this before setting a salary against the job you are recruiting for (and remember, you’ll also have the relevant taxes and insurances to pay on top of salary).

Check out the links included here to find out more on minimum wages in your own country.
http://www.rightsatwork.com.au (Australia)
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk (UK)
http://www.dol.gov (USA)

It’s also a good idea to check out what other employers are paying for the same type of work, or what the industry is currently doing in general:
http://it.seek.com.au/career-resources/salary-centre/
http://www.jobmagic.net/

So – in summary, a checklist of what you have to do before you go even one step further with recruiting a member of staff.

• Work out what you want them to do – use this to create a job description
• Work out what sort of person you are looking to employ – use this to create a person specification
• Then work out if you can afford it!

If all of the above goes well, amigos, check back next week for the next step on the journey to global geek domination, where we’ll cover placing an ad and conducting an interview (and you thought we’d gone completely straight laced now!). Laters!