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Family Business Hiring Screening Applicants Fairness

	For the past year and a half, I have been building a successful business, and we're doing a lot of hiring right now. The problem is that I have been getting calls, letters, and e-mail from distant family members, all looking for jobs. Is there a way to reject them without creating a family crisis?
	You never really know how large your family is until you create a successful business. When it comes to hiring family members, you need to be a businessperson first, and a cousin second...as well as a second cousin. The idea is to treat family members just as you would treat other applicants. Look carefully at their skills, training, and experience, match them with the specifications for the position, and then make your decision. When you reject an unqualified family member, you are actually preventing him or her from facing a failure. In actuality, not only is it unfair to your business to hire an unqualified family member, it is unfair to that family member as well. All applicants who are not being hired should be informed in a businesslike and professional way. At the same time, in this large family of yours, surely there must be a few cousins who have the right experience, drive, and skills to work for you. Be sure that you do not remove applicants just because they are cousins once removed.

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