http://recruiterbox.com/blog/5-recruiting-tools-for-setting-up-an-hr-department/ | Creating an HR department is a crucial step for every expanding small business. When the HR department is created, it should develop a plan for overseeing every step of employee management, from an applicant tracking system through the exit process.

1. How to Set Up an
HR Department:
A Step-by-Step Guide
for Small Business
Owners

2. A Growing Company
Your small
business isn't
as small as it
used to be.
The amount of work
coming in has required
you to hire additional
employees. That
means it's time to start
categorizing work and
workers into separate
departments.

3. Human Resources
When a business reaches the
stage where it starts hiring
additional staff, the first and
most important initial
department the company
needs to create is HR, or
Human Resources. Human
Resources is responsible for
managing employees’ personal
data and needs, and is the
foundation on which an
expanding company is built.
How does one go
about creating an HR
department? We’ll
show you how.

4. Step 1: Staffing Plan
Because the HR department will be
responsible for tracking and
managing employees, the first
thing they should do is draw up a
staffing plan for the company.
What positions need to be filled?
How much salary are those
positions worth? How many
employees can the company afford
to hire?
In order for your business to grow
and expand, the HR department
needs to answer all these questions.

5. Step 2: Job Profiles
Before interviewing
applicants, the HR
department should create
profiles for every position in
the company.
These profiles should include
responsibilities, company
hierarchy, and the best
personality types for each job.
By creating these guidelines for
what each position is and who
will be best to fill it, the
company will have a clear vision
to guide it.

6. Step 3: Applicant Tracking System
Once you start interviewing
applicants, you need a way to keep
track of all of them.
While your small business may have
been able to rely on simple Excel
spreadsheets and homemade
documents before, your new HR
department is going to need more
specialized software moving forward.
Effectively managing the interviewing
and hiring processes requires
purchasing applicant tracking
software that will allow HR to
effectively categorize, track, and
compare the flow of applicants.

7. Step 4: Recruiting System
There are many different
ways to recruit employees in
the digital age, including
many different job boards
and online publications.
The HR department needs to
decide what recruitment
tools it is going to use and
build a strategy around them.
What kind of listings should
be created? What's the
recruitment budget? Where
should the job listings be
targeted?

8. Step 5: Employee Management
Once HR has created and
implemented a recruitment
strategy, the real work begins.
Human Resources will need to
create a series of documents for
tracking and managing the
company's new employees,
including:
• Timecards/time tracking
system
• Time off/vacation requests
• Performance reviews
• Employee
requests/communication
forms

9. Step 6: Employee Replacement
Eventually, one of your newly hired
employees will either leave the
company or have to be replaced. It is
HR's job to be prepared for that
eventuality, and to have a system in
place for managing the transition.
Will your company have exit interviews?
How much notice is required? Will
positions be automatically filled, or will
they be evaluated and reshaped before
a new person is brought in?
By having answers to these questions,
HR will have a clear strategy for how to
manage and evaluate employees from
initial interview until their last day on
the job.

10. About Recruiterbox.com
The applicant tracking
system by Recruiterbox.com
is used by thousands of
companies internationally
to sort resumes, record
information, schedule
interviews, and manage the
recruitment process quickly
and efficiently.