Being an emerging manager is tough. You have a lot on your plate; regulations, compliance, legal, accounting, marketing, risk management, operations, trading and juggling all those areas with the addedneed to fund them. So let's add one more to the mix: Staffing, commonly referred to as human resources.

Besides alpha, prospective investors are looking forprofessionalism and trust. That means having a real business including someone to answer phones, run errands and do the things that take time away from your trading. Investors don't want to see you as the chief cook, bottle washer, coffee maker and everything else. They want depth. So you grudgingly agree to outsource certain functions and hire "someone" -a nephew, a friend's daughter or son who desperately needs a job and who will work internally for practically nothing. Good choice?

Nahhhhhhhh.....

As with anything, if you don't know what you don't knowyou probably won't be happy with the outcome, let aloneif or when you're in violation of employment rules.And usually, it's a disgruntled employee that blows the whistle. The result can be expensive for any sized firm- both reputationally as well as financially.

If your company is considering hiring, then you shouldbe aware of what type of personto look for as well as a basic understanding of employment law. What Type of Person Do I Want/Need?

The ideal first in-house personfor your startup is probably "T-shaped:"this means they're broad in many different areas (the horizontal part of the "T") and deep in a particular one (the vertical part of the "T").The concept of T-shaped skills was first described by David Guest in 1991, but was popularized by Tim Brown, CEO of design firm IDEO. The idea is especially relevant to the emerging manager population that is searching for their first hire.

You don't want your first in-house hire to be someone whose specialization ("I-shaped") might quickly be obsolete to your busines......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.