Hiring Your First HR Person: What to Look For (And What to Watch Out For)
At some point, most growing businesses reach the stage where the founder or operations lead says: ‘We need someone to own HR.’ It’s the right instinct. The execution is where things can go sideways.
Hiring your first HR person is a meaningful decision, and it’s one that businesses often get wrong not because the candidates are bad, but because the hiring company doesn’t always know what they need.
A few things to think through before you start.
Know what problem you’re actually solving. Are you drowning in administrative work: benefits enrollment, payroll questions, onboarding paperwork? Do you have compliance gaps that keep you up at night? Are you trying to build a hiring function? Are you managing a complex situation that requires real experience? The answer shapes the profile you need.
Generalist vs. specialist matters. An HR generalist can do a little of everything: recruiting, compliance, employee relations, benefits administration. They’re often the right first hire for a small business. A specialist (recruiter, comp analyst, HR business partner) has deep expertise in one area and may not be the right fit if your needs are broad.
Don’t hire a junior when you need strategy. This is the most common mistake. A business with real compliance exposure and no people infrastructure doesn’t need a coordinator, they need someone with experience who can build, not just execute. A junior hire may save you money upfront and cost you significantly more over time.
Be realistic about scope. An HR team of one at a 30-person company will be stretched. Be honest with candidates about the reality of the role. If you want someone to build the function from scratch while also handling all the day-to-day, that’s a demanding task and your compensation and support should reflect it.
Think about culture fit differently than you might for other roles. Your HR person will often be the first person employees come to when something is wrong. You need someone who’s trustworthy, discreet, fair-minded, and comfortable having hard conversations. That’s not always the most impressive resume in the stack.
Alternatively: is a full-time hire actually what you need right now? For many businesses at the 20-50 employee stage, what’s actually needed is strategic HR support on a part-time or project basis, not another full-time headcount. It’s worth being honest about that before you hire.
→ If you’re trying to figure out what kind of HR support your business actually needs right now, that’s a conversation I’m happy to help you think through.