So you've been thinking about it for months and it is finally time- you've got to hire someone!  Hiring your first employee is an important step but one that must be done with care.  How do you find the right person?  What do you look for?  How do you interview?  Successful consultants Pat Galasso and Carolyn Frakes of Galasso & Frakes will share their common sense approach to interviewing, hiring and motivating your first employees.  They will help take the mystery out of the hiring process.  

Pat Galasso of Clear Lake has been in the restaurant business for 25 years and is currently co-owner and operator of Ge-Jo’s by the Lake in Clear Lake.  She is a certified business planning trainer and is self-employed as a project manager/facilitator/trainer and keynote speaker.  Pat develops and implements training programs for corporate and non-profit organizations as well as facilitates business start-ups and operations management. She received the Iowa Small Business Development Center’s Deb Dalziel Women Entrepreneur Achievement Award designating her as the 2000 Iowa Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.  She is also a recipient of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center Youth Entrepreneurship Academy Internship Recognition award.  Pat currently serves on the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center Advisory Board, the Cerro Gordo County Board of Health, and the North Iowa Area Community College Foundation.

Carolyn Spath Frakes’ background includes both business experience and teaching experience.  With respect to business, she has 10 years experience in corporate business but her true passion lies in helping entrepreneurs get into business for themselves, through teaching fundamental business concepts and relating real-world experiences.  Carolyn put her passion to use and opened and ran an independent bookstore and coffee bar for more than five years before selling it to a good customer.  For Carolyn, the best part of selling the store was the opportunity to train the new owners on all aspects of running the business. 

Carolyn’s recent occupation in project management allowed her to educate community citizens on business concepts such as the importance of brand awareness and marketing with respect to community economic development and tourism.  Project management also allowed her the opportunity to work daily with small business owners and entrepreneurs on all-things business related.  In the ever-changing global business environment, she feels strongly that it is important for anyone involved in business to learn solid business survival skills which need to be obtained first and foremost through the education process. 

Carolyn’s teaching experience is well-rounded, having worked as a K-12 substitute teacher and high school business teacher, as well as a classroom and online instructor at the college level on a part-time basis for more than ten years.  She believes in life-long learning; to complement her undergraduate degree she has to-date added thirty hours of master’s level courses. 

 Below are two forms and a free hiring guide that you can use!

Employee File Checklist

Discriminatory Questions 

Intuit's Hiring Guide