Hiring employees

In a business’ early developmental stages, the time will come to hire the first round of employees. There are a lot of elements to consider during the hiring process. In Canada, it is important to know the labour laws of your province since they vary from place to place. 

You should be aware of the laws around minimum wage, which is $15 in Ontario. It’s crucial to know the laws around shift length (eight hours) and maximum hours worked per week (48 hours) as well. It’s also important to know about vacation time, breaks and benefits. 

Minimum wage is the lowest possible hourly wage to pay employees. The rules around weekly and daily hours worked can only be exceeded if the employee has signed a written agreement. The Ontario government has posted a guide online that contains all the labour laws within the province. 

After sorting through logistics, a business owner is ready to open a payroll account with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). A payroll program account is an account number assigned to an employer or business owner. It serves to identify their business when dealing with the CRA. This 15-character payroll program account number contains the nine-digit business number (BN). The BN is a one-of-a-kind federal government number system that identifies your business and the accounts maintained under the business. 

Setting up a payroll account allows the employer to post a job listing for the position they’re trying to fill. A job listing should state your business’ mission statement clearly and concisely. This is so that the prospective applicant knows what your business does and what it stands for. This way, they can determine whether they are a fitting applicant for the position.

It is also important to state the competencies and duties of the position. Additionally, state the essential skills and required level of education or certification. It is also helpful to include any special considerations. These can include physical requirements (being able to lift up to 50 pounds, for example). Specific licensing, such as a driver’s license or firearm license required to fill the position should also be listed.

Many job listings will also list that the applicant must be able to legally work in Canada. Typically, they’ll also list that they should be above the minimum age of employment for the specific job. Getting specific will weed out applicants who are ineligible or unqualified for the position. It also ensures that you only receive applications from people who will be a good fit. 

After the job listing has been finalized, it’s time to post it so applicants can submit their resumes and applications. There are a few websites people look to when searching for a new job. Some of these websites are LinkedIn, Indeed and ZipRecruiter. You could also use your business’ social media accounts to post the listing. 

Additionally, you can ask applicants to send their resumes and cover letters to your business email. There are also ways to contact post-secondary institutions to post your job listing on their student jobs board. That is in the case that you are interested in hiring students or alumni from specific schools.

Following the posting of the job listing, you can sit back and watch the applications roll in! You will be one step closer to finding a qualified and reliable employee to fill your open position.