Your first hire is an experiment. Your second one should not be. A written hiring and onboarding process is what turns the thing you figured out the hard way into something you can repeat in a week instead of a month.

It also protects you. When every candidate is asked the same questions and scored the same way, you make better decisions and you have a record that shows you were fair. And when a new person’s first week is planned rather than improvised, they stay. Most early turnover is not about pay. It is about showing up on day one and finding that nobody was ready for you.

• The job description and wage range from the previous step
• Where you intend to find candidates, including anywhere you have had luck before
• Who in your business will screen, interview, and decide
• What a new person genuinely needs in week one. Keys, login, uniform, tools, training, a person to shadow
• The notices and pamphlets you have to hand out at hire. Your payroll provider and your workers’ compensation carrier supply most of them