Texas First Hire

How to Hire Employees for a Small Business: Finding Good People

By Jeremy Kenerson, Founder and CEO at DeskTeam360

Last updated . Every number on this page was checked October 2, 2026.

How to hire employees for a small business: work through four stages. Define the job, find people, choose one, and make a clear offer. Write the job down first, because every later stage checks people against it.

For the offer, the Texas Workforce Commission's employer guide says a written offer should point out that employment is "at will". It also says to state pay by the week or every two weeks.

This page is a plain reading of the rules. It isn't legal or tax advice.

How do you hire employees for a small business?

You hire employees for a small business in four stages: define the job, find people, choose one, and make the offer. The table shows what you do at each one.

Table: The four stages of a hire, and what the owner does at each.
Stage What you do What you have when it's done
1. Define the job List the tasks, the hours, the skills and the pay you can offer A one-page job description
2. Find people Post the job and ask for referrals A short list of people to talk to
3. Choose Interview, look at real work and check references One person you want to hire
4. Offer Put the pay, the start date and the terms in writing An offer the person accepts

Two things sit on either side of those stages.

Before stage 1, decide if the job is for an employee at all. The IRS and the Texas Workforce Commission each have a test for who counts as a contractor. For employee or contractor, see independent contractor vs employee.

Around those four stages sits the paperwork, and in Texas some of it has a clock on it.

Table: What a Texas employer has to have, send or know once it hires. Sources: IRS, E-Verify, the Texas Attorney General, the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Constitution, read October 2, 2026.
What The rule The clock
A federal tax ID (EIN) You generally need one to hire employees. The IRS gives it online and charges no fee Have it before you hire
Forms from the new employee The new employee fills out Form W-4, which lets you withhold the right amount of federal income tax. Form I-9 is required too See step 4 of the first-hire steps
New hire report It goes to the Texas Attorney General's office No later than 20 calendar days after the person starts earning wages
Texas unemployment tax You owe it once the wages you pay reach $1,500 in a calendar quarter, or once you've had an employee in 20 different weeks of a calendar year Register with the Texas Workforce Commission within ten days of owing the tax
State income tax None to withhold. Texas has no state income tax on people No date
Minimum wage $7.25 an hour. Texas uses the federal rate No date

Each row is covered on the first-hire steps page, which lists the steps in order with the source for each. Workers' comp, payroll and the required workplace notices are steps 6, 7 and 8 there. Not legal or tax advice. Ask your accountant.

The stages are the same when the job is part time or remote, with a few changes. For a part-time hire, see how to hire part time employees. For a remote employee, see how to hire remote employees.

Where do you find employees for a small business?

Common ways owners find people include job boards, referrals, their own website and social media pages, and local schools. This page doesn't rank them. Start where people with the skills you need already are.

  • Job boards. You post the job, and people apply.
  • Referrals. Ask your staff, other owners and your customers who they'd hire.
  • Your own pages. A short post on your website and your social media pages reaches people who already know the business.
  • Local schools. Ask colleges and trade schools near you if they post jobs for students and graduates.

This page doesn't name a job board, and it gives no prices for one.

How do you recruit employees for a small business?

A small business recruits employees with a clear job post, a short way to apply and honest replies. Recruiting is the work of getting the right people to apply.

What to put in the job post:

  1. The work. Say what the person will do in a normal week.
  2. The pay and the hours. It saves time on both sides.
  3. Who they'll work with. If that's you, say so.
  4. How to apply. A resume and two questions is enough to start.

Then reply to everyone you talk to. A short, honest answer is enough.

What the pay you post costs you

Before you state the pay, know what it turns into on your side. The wage isn't the whole cost, because employer taxes sit on top of it. Here's one job worked out for Texas.

Table: A full-time administrative assistant in Texas, hired as an employee at the middle (median) wage. One year of wages plus employer taxes, before benefits. BLS May 2025 wages, 2026 tax rates.
Line A year
The middle (median) wage for the job $45,140.00
Employer Social Security, 6.2% $2,798.68
Employer Medicare, 1.45% $654.53
Federal unemployment tax, with the full state credit $42.00
Texas unemployment tax, at the 2.70% entry rate $243.00
Total $48,878.21, which is $4,073.18 a month

BLS lists this job as Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive. The figure is the middle wage for that one job, so it isn't a quote, and your hire can cost less or more. Not in that total: benefits, paid time off, equipment, software, the cost of hiring itself, and any workers' comp you choose to carry. Other jobs, part-time figures and US figures are on the four first-hire options by the month.

A written task list makes stage 1 easier. The next step this site offers is the Ultimate Task Delegation Template from DeskTeam360. A video walkthrough comes with it.

Get the Task Delegation Template

The button opens DeskTeam360's Task Delegation Template page.

How do you hire good employees, not only fast ones?

To hire good employees, not only fast ones, slow down at the choosing stage. Check each person against the job you wrote, with the same questions and a look at real work.

  1. Ask everyone the same questions. You can't compare people who got different interviews.
  2. Ask about past work. Ask for real examples, not plans. The five questions below are a start.
  3. Look at real work. Ask for a sample, a portfolio, or a short task tied to the job.
  4. Check references. Ask what the person did, and how they handled a hard week.
  5. Decide against the written job. Go back to your stage 1 list, and see who covers the most of it.

Steps 3 and 4 are the easy ones to skip when you're in a hurry. Don't skip them. Step 3 shows you the work itself. Step 4 tells you how the person has worked with others.

Five questions to ask every person, each tied to the job you wrote:

  1. "Which tasks on this list have you done before, and where?"
  2. "Walk me through how you did one of them."
  3. "Tell me about a task that went wrong. What did you do?"
  4. "Which task on this list would be new to you?"
  5. "What hours and start date work for you?"

What should the job offer say?

A written job offer in Texas should say the job is at will, say hiring depends on the new hire paperwork, and state the pay by the pay period, the Texas Workforce Commission's employer guide says.

  1. At will. The Texas Workforce Commission's employer guide says any written job offer should point out that employment is "at will".
  2. Paperwork. The guide says a good offer letter should note that hiring depends on the new hire finishing all the new hire paperwork. Form W-4 and Form I-9 are two of the forms for a new hire.
  3. Pay by the pay period. The guide says to state pay by the week or every two weeks. It says offers of a yearly salary have, in certain cases, been held to promise at least one year of work.

These three points come from the state guide. They aren't legal advice. Have an employment lawyer read your letter.

More on hiring an employee

Before you post the job, sort the tasks you'd hand to the new person. This site's next step is the Ultimate Task Delegation Template from DeskTeam360, with a video walkthrough included.

Get the Task Delegation Template

The button opens DeskTeam360's Task Delegation Template page.

Sources

All checked October 2, 2026.

This site isn't connected to the State of Texas or any government agency.

What changed

  • October 2, 2026: First version of this page.