First Hire Guide Before and after your first employee

First hire · Sequence

You build this one course at a time.

First Hire Guide walks through what a small business needs in place before and after it hires its first employee.

See the courses What this covers

Courses

Five courses, laid bottom to top

  1. C-01

    Before you offer the job

    Employer registration, an EIN, and deciding whether the role is genuinely an employee rather than a contractor.

  2. C-02

    The paperwork on day one

    Offer letter, I-9 and W-4, state new-hire reporting, and the notices some states require you to hand over.

  3. C-03

    Getting them paid

    Pay frequency, withholding, and the deposit schedule the size of your liability puts you on.

  4. C-04

    Cover and obligations

    Workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, and the policies that change once someone reports to you.

  5. C-05

    Keeping it running

    Quarterly and annual filings, record retention, and what changes when a second person joins.

On the bed joint

What this site is

Scope

Small US employers hiring for the first time — the sequence of work, start to finish.

No scoring

Courses are order of work. Nothing here is a level, a tier or a rating.

Status

Newly published. Articles are in preparation and will appear as they are written.