Hiring employees

Advertising for, shortlisting and selecting the right recruit is not always easy. Our overview explains how to get your recruitment processes right.

A job description will help you write your job advert, provides pointers when interviewing and makes it clear to candidates what you are looking for.

If you are taking on a new employee, you cannot afford to make mistakes. Save time and money with these readymade employment contracts and templates.

Every employee is entitled to a written Statement of Employment Particulars after one month outlining the terms of employment. Download a range of full and part-time contracts, self employed and contractor and sub contractor statements of employment.

The SME hiring checklist: how to find the candidate that will fit in with the rest of your team and help deliver your business goals

Download customisable job offer letter templates, which you can tailor to your needs when recruiting a new member of staff.

Before taking on employees, you will need to gather certain personal information. This template will help you collect the correct information.

Taking on your first employee? Find out how to approach the recruitment process to ensure you recruit the right person and comply with the law.

When you take on a new member of staff, there are seven key tasks you need to carry out to ensure you comply with the law. Find out what they are here:

How to recruit effectively - our guide to understanding what you need, attracting candidates and assessing their skills, experience and attitude.

Advertise a vacancy on the GOV.UK website. Advertise jobs and search for jobseekers whose CVs match your needs. You will need to open an account.

Skilled interviewing is important to make sure you recruit the right person. How to interview candidates, and common mistakes to avoid.

Every business needs a variety of skills to be run effectively - use our checklist to find out how to make this happen.

Recruiting new staff will usually mean interviewing applicants. This checklist covers the basics of holding interviews.

You must check that every employee has the right to work in the UK. Penalties are up to £20,000 for each illegal worker and up to five years in prison.

Recruiting a graduate can give your business an influx of talent, enthusiasm and fresh ideas - our guide to attracting suitable candidates.

It's vitally important to make sure you hire the right person with the right skills to fill company needs. Read how to recruit successfully.

Our step-by step guide to inducting new employees into your business, providing everything they need and helping them feel settled.

In this video employers discuss the benefits of hiring an apprentice.

Find out how easy it is to hire an apprentice in this video with National Apprenticeship Service Director, Sue Husband.

Hiring an apprentice can be good for your business. This guide explains how to hire an apprentice and outlines the responsibilities for employers.

All employees are entitled to a written statement of employment setting out the main terms and conditions. Read these FAQs covering the essentials.

CVs play a key role in the recruitment process, by helping employers to assess someone's experience, key achievements and knowledge. Stacey Mead, HR Director at The HR Dept, explains what you should look out for.

Many small businesses do not have an in-house HR expert, but that's no reason to ignore the steps that will help you recruit a star performer.

Despite 300,000 people graduating each year, historically relatively few end up one of the nation's 4.8m small firms. But things are changing.

Successful SMEs are only as good as their people. But finding great staff is not always easy. We explain what you should look for.

Many small business owners are doing their own recruitment to save money. But wait! Could you be about to recruit the wrong person?

Employing a relative is quite different to recruiting someone else. There are some important tax and legal considerations which we explore here:

Getting the right person is not easy. No one likes being interviewed and sometimes it can go very wrong. Here are some tales from the interview room.