# Hire your first team member

Define the outcome the role owns, settle the working relationship with your own counsel, interview with the same questions and prepare the first week.

Canonical URL: https://worldenterprise.org/playbooks/hire-your-first-team-member/
Last updated: 2026-10-10
Publisher: World Enterprise, run by World Enterprise Group Incorporated

## The steps

1. **Write the outcome the role owns.** Describe what will be true when this person does the job well, in plain terms and without a list of tools. If you cannot name the outcome, you are not ready to write the job description.
2. **Settle the working relationship with your advisers.** Decide with your counsel and accountant whether the person will be an employee, a contractor or something else. Bring the facts about how the work will be directed and paid, because the answer depends on them.
3. **Write a job description a candidate can answer.** State the outcome, the first tasks, who the person works with and how you will judge the result. Remove requirements that are habits of the last company you worked for.
4. **Interview every candidate the same way.** Use the same questions and the same scoring notes for everyone, and add a small piece of real work. Decide before the interviews what a strong answer sounds like.
5. **Put the offer in writing and have counsel review it.** Write what the person is being offered, what the person is expected to do and what happens if either side ends the arrangement. Have your counsel review the terms before you send them.
6. **Prepare the first week before the first day.** Arrange access to tools, one page that explains how the team works, a first piece of work with a clear result, and a person to ask. Ask your counsel and accountant what paperwork the first day requires.

## What you will have at the end

- A one-page description of the outcome the role owns
- A job description with first tasks and how the result will be judged
- An interview scorecard
- An offer reviewed by your counsel
- A first-week plan