Running an e-commerce business gets more complicated with every new sales channel, product launch, and increase in order volume.
What starts as a manageable operation can quickly turn into a constant cycle of inventory updates, fulfillment delays, customer requests, and marketplace coordination. At some point, growth depends on having the right people managing everything behind the scenes.
Building an e-commerce operations team in LATAM gives U.S. companies access to skilled professionals who can manage daily operations, collaborate in real time, and keep processes running smoothly. From inventory management to logistics coordination, the right team structure can help your business handle growing demand while maintaining a consistent customer experience.
So, which roles should you hire first, and how should they work together? Let's break down how to structure a LATAM e-commerce team, prioritize key hires, and organize responsibilities as your business scales.
What Does an E-Commerce Operations Team Do?
A customer clicks “Buy Now,” and a chain of tasks begins behind the scenes. Someone needs to confirm inventory availability, process the order, coordinate fulfillment, update tracking information, and handle any issues along the way.
An e-commerce operations team keeps these moving parts connected. Its main responsibility is making sure orders move efficiently from purchase to delivery while keeping the business organized as demand grows.
Depending on the size and complexity of the business, an e-commerce operations team typically handles:
- Order management: Processing orders, monitoring transactions, resolving discrepancies, and keeping order statuses accurate.
- Inventory coordination: Tracking stock levels, updating inventory records, and communicating replenishment needs.
- Fulfillment and logistics: Coordinating with warehouses, shipping carriers, and third-party logistics (3PL) providers to keep deliveries on schedule.
- Marketplace operations: Maintaining product listings, updating catalogs, and coordinating orders across Shopify, Amazon, and other sales channels.
- Customer operations: Managing order-related inquiries, returns, refunds, and delivery issues.
- Operational reporting: Monitoring performance metrics, identifying recurring problems, and improving workflows.
Which E-Commerce Operations Can Be Managed Remotely From LATAM?
Many of these responsibilities can be handled by remote professionals in Latin America because the work happens through e-commerce platforms, inventory systems, and communication tools.
For example, a LATAM inventory coordinator can monitor stock levels and communicate replenishment needs, while a U.S. warehouse handles physical inventory. Similarly, a remote fulfillment specialist can track shipments, resolve delivery exceptions, and coordinate with logistics partners.
This approach lets companies build a centralized operations team with clear ownership across different locations. LATAM professionals can manage day-to-day coordination, U.S. leadership can oversee strategic decisions, and fulfillment partners can focus on physical operations.
For businesses already using inventory management services or outsourced logistics, adding dedicated remote employees can also improve communication, accountability, and visibility across the entire order lifecycle.
The key is defining who owns each process, how responsibilities connect, and where additional hires will have the greatest impact.
Key Roles in an E-Commerce Operations Team
As an e-commerce business grows, the workload starts spreading across more people, platforms, and processes. Orders need attention, inventory needs monitoring, and fulfillment partners need regular updates. Assigning each critical function a clear owner helps prevent small operational issues from becoming expensive problems.
The right e-commerce team structure depends on your order volume, sales channels, and operational complexity. Some businesses can start with a couple of versatile professionals, while others benefit from dedicated specialists.
Here are the key roles to consider when building your LATAM operations team.
1. E-Commerce Operations Manager
The e-commerce operations manager oversees how the different parts of the operation work together. They coordinate daily activities, set processes, monitor performance, and ensure teams work toward the same priorities.
This person typically reports to the founder, COO, or head of e-commerce and manages the specialists responsible for orders, inventory, fulfillment, and customer operations.
The biggest value of this role is creating accountability across the entire operation, especially when the business has multiple sales channels, fulfillment partners, or employees handling different workflows.
2. Order Management Specialist
Every order needs to move through the system accurately, and an order management specialist makes sure that happens.
They monitor incoming orders, verify information, resolve processing errors, coordinate backorders, and update order statuses across platforms such as Shopify and Amazon.
This role becomes especially valuable when order volumes increase, and manual exceptions start taking several hours each day. Having someone responsible for order accuracy helps reduce fulfillment mistakes and unnecessary customer escalations.
3. Inventory and Purchasing Coordinator
An inventory and purchasing coordinator helps ensure products are available when customers need them.
Their responsibilities include monitoring stock levels, tracking purchase orders, following up with suppliers, investigating inventory discrepancies, and coordinating replenishment activities.
They work closely with warehouses, purchasing managers, and fulfillment providers to keep inventory records accurate.
For companies managing hundreds or thousands of SKUs, dedicated inventory ownership can improve purchasing decisions and reduce disruptions caused by stock discrepancies.
Businesses with more complex inventory requirements can also explore inventory management services to understand how specialized roles support stock planning and control.
4. Fulfillment and Logistics Coordinator
Once an order is processed, someone needs to make sure it reaches the customer.
A fulfillment and logistics coordinator communicates with warehouses, third-party logistics providers (3PLs), and shipping carriers to monitor deliveries and resolve fulfillment exceptions.
They might investigate delayed shipments, follow up on missing tracking information, or coordinate stock transfers between fulfillment centers.
This role creates a reliable connection between your internal operations team and external logistics partners, helping everyone stay informed when shipping issues arise.
For businesses managing more complex shipping arrangements, outsourced logistics operations can complement an internal coordinator.
5. Marketplace Operations Specialist
Selling through Shopify, Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, and other channels creates additional operational work.
A marketplace operations specialist manages product catalogs, listing updates, marketplace requirements, inventory synchronization, and channel-specific order issues.
They also coordinate with marketing, inventory, and fulfillment teams to ensure promotions, product availability, and operational information stay consistent.
This position becomes especially useful when managing several storefronts starts creating errors or slowing down daily operations.
6. Customer Operations Specialist
Customer operations connects the post-purchase experience with behind-the-scenes processes.
These professionals handle order-related inquiries, returns, refunds, delivery complaints, and escalations that require coordination with inventory or fulfillment teams.
They also identify recurring issues that may point to larger operational problems.
For example, frequent complaints about missing items could indicate an inventory synchronization issue or a fulfillment process that needs attention.
A strong customer operations specialist helps turn customer feedback into operational improvements.
As ticket volumes increase, businesses may also need dedicated customer support representatives to maintain consistent coverage.
7. E-Commerce Operations Analyst
An e-commerce operations analyst helps the team understand what's working and where processes need improvement.
They consolidate information from sales platforms, inventory systems, fulfillment providers, and customer service tools to monitor operational performance.
Their work might include analyzing order processing times, fulfillment accuracy, inventory discrepancies, return rates, and recurring delivery problems.
This role helps operations managers make decisions based on measurable performance, particularly as the business expands into additional markets or sales channels.
When Does Your E-Commerce Business Need Each Role?
You probably won't need all seven positions immediately. The right hiring priorities depend on which responsibilities are creating the most pressure on your existing team.
For a smaller business, one experienced professional may be able to manage several related responsibilities. As order volume and operational complexity increase, separating those functions gives each employee more room to specialize.
The next step is deciding how these roles fit together into a team structure that matches your company's current stage of growth.
How to Structure Your LATAM E-Commerce Operations Team
An e-commerce business processing a few hundred orders a month will have different staffing needs than one managing thousands of orders across Shopify, Amazon, and multiple fulfillment centers.
The best team structure depends on how much work needs coordinating, how specialized that work has become, and how many decisions still depend on the founder or U.S. leadership.
Here's how you can organize your LATAM e-commerce operations team at three different stages of growth.
1. Lean E-Commerce Team: 1–2 LATAM Employees
For smaller e-commerce businesses, a lean team works best when employees can manage several related responsibilities.
At this stage, the founder or U.S.-based operations manager typically oversees the business while one or two LATAM professionals handle recurring operational tasks.
Example team structure:
- U.S. Founder or Head of E-Commerce: Oversees strategy, supplier relationships, and major operational decisions.
- LATAM E-Commerce Operations Coordinator: Handles order processing, inventory updates, store administration, and fulfillment follow-ups.
- LATAM Customer Operations Specialist (optional): Manages post-purchase inquiries, returns, refunds, and delivery issues.
Both LATAM employees can report directly to the U.S. operations lead, keeping communication simple.
For businesses just beginning to delegate operational tasks, an e-commerce virtual assistant may also be a practical starting point.
At this stage, the priority is reducing the founder's involvement in routine operations while establishing clear processes that future employees can follow.
2. Growing E-Commerce Team: 3–5 LATAM Employees
As order volumes increase, combining too many responsibilities into one position can create delays.
An employee responsible for processing orders, updating inventory, handling returns, and coordinating shipments will eventually struggle to give every function the attention it needs.
This is when introducing dedicated ownership across operational functions becomes valuable.
Example team structure:
- LATAM E-Commerce Operations Manager: Oversees daily operations, manages priorities, and reports to U.S. leadership.
- Order and Customer Operations Specialist: Manages order exceptions, post-purchase inquiries, and returns.
- Inventory and Fulfillment Coordinator: Tracks stock availability, coordinates replenishment, and communicates with warehouses and 3PL providers.
- Marketplace Operations Specialist (optional): Manages listings, catalog accuracy, and operational coordination across sales channels.
- Operations Analyst (optional): Tracks performance and prepares reports to help identify recurring issues.
In this structure, the LATAM operations manager becomes the main point of contact for U.S. leadership, while specialists own individual workflows.
For example, an inventory discrepancy might require the inventory coordinator to investigate warehouse records, the order specialist to identify affected purchases, and the operations manager to decide which issues require escalation.
The goal is to create a team that can resolve routine problems independently, with clear accountability for each function.
3. Multi-Channel E-Commerce Team: 6+ LATAM Employees
Companies selling across multiple marketplaces, managing large product catalogs, or working with several fulfillment partners often need a more specialized operations structure.
At this stage, employees may cover different channels, regions, or stages of the order lifecycle.
Example team structure:
- LATAM Operations Manager (1): Leads the team, manages performance, and coordinates with U.S. leadership.
- Order and Customer Operations Specialists (2): Split responsibilities across order management, exceptions, returns, and customer operations.
- Inventory and Fulfillment Specialists (2): Manage stock coordination, replenishment follow-ups, warehouse communication, and shipment issues.
- Marketplace Operations Specialist (1): Oversees catalog accuracy and operational activities across sales channels.
Add an operations analyst as reporting requirements become more complex.
The reporting structure can also evolve. The operations manager remains accountable for overall performance, while experienced specialists may coordinate specific workflows or small groups of employees.
For instance, a business selling through Amazon, Shopify, and Walmart Marketplace might organize its team around shared inventory and fulfillment functions while assigning dedicated marketplace support where needed.
This structure creates room for specialization while keeping operational decisions connected.
E-Commerce Operations Team Structures at a Glance
These structures are starting points, not fixed staffing formulas. A business selling high-value, low-volume products may need a different mix of employees than one processing thousands of smaller orders.
When Should You Change Your Team Structure?
Employee count alone shouldn't determine when your operations team needs to evolve.
Pay attention to signs that your current structure is becoming difficult to manage:
- Operational decisions keep reaching the founder: It may be time for a dedicated operations manager.
- Order issues take longer to resolve: Order management may need its own specialist.
- Inventory discrepancies affect fulfillment: Consider separating inventory coordination from general administration.
- Multiple marketplaces create conflicting priorities: Dedicated channel ownership can improve consistency.
- Employees spend too much time switching between tasks: Splitting responsibilities may improve efficiency.
The most effective approach is to build around the work your business actually needs, then add specialized roles as responsibilities grow.
Once you've identified the right structure, the next decision is determining which positions will make the biggest difference when hired first.
Which E-Commerce Operations Roles Should You Hire First?
You could have the perfect e-commerce team structure on paper, but hiring everyone at once rarely makes sense. A smarter approach is to identify which operational problems cost your business the most time, money, or customer trust, then prioritize the roles that can solve them.
For example, if orders are consistently delayed because inventory records are inaccurate, hiring another customer support representative might help manage complaints. An inventory coordinator, however, could address the issue earlier in the process.
Here's how to determine your e-commerce operations hiring priorities.
Start With Your Biggest Operational Bottleneck
Look at where your existing team spends the most time resolving problems.
Are employees constantly correcting order information? Are inventory discrepancies delaying shipments? Is your founder spending several hours every week following up with fulfillment providers?
These patterns reveal which responsibilities need dedicated ownership.
The best first hire is usually the person who can remove the most significant recurring bottleneck. That may be an experienced coordinator, a specialist, or someone who can own several connected processes.
Decide Between an Operations Generalist and a Specialist
For smaller e-commerce businesses, an operations generalist can be a valuable first hire.
They might process orders in the morning, update inventory records throughout the day, and coordinate with fulfillment partners when shipments require attention.
This arrangement works particularly well when the business has manageable order volumes and relatively straightforward workflows.
As operations become more complex, specialization becomes increasingly valuable.
Consider three factors when deciding:
- Workload: Does a particular function consistently require most of an employee's working hours?
- Complexity: Does the work require specialized knowledge of inventory systems, marketplaces, or fulfillment processes?
- Business impact: Would assigning one person to the function meaningfully improve accuracy, speed, or customer experience?
For example, an experienced e-commerce virtual assistant may initially manage store administration and order updates. As the company expands, a dedicated marketplace specialist or order management professional can take responsibility for more complex workflows.
A good hiring strategy allows responsibilities to become more specialized as the business grows.
Know When to Hire an E-Commerce Operations Manager
Many companies assume an operations manager should be their first hire. In practice, the right timing depends on how much coordination the business already requires.
If you're hiring your first LATAM employee and your processes are relatively simple, an experienced operations coordinator may provide more immediate value.
An operations manager becomes especially useful when:
- Several employees need someone to coordinate their priorities.
- Operational problems frequently involve multiple departments.
- U.S. leadership spends significant time supervising routine activities.
- Different sales channels or fulfillment partners require consistent oversight.
- The business needs someone accountable for operational performance.
For instance, imagine a company with separate employees managing orders, inventory, and fulfillment. Each person understands their responsibilities, but delivery problems still require the founder to coordinate a solution.
An operations manager can connect those functions, establish escalation procedures, and give leadership a clearer view of what's happening across the business.
Prioritize Hiring Based on Operational Impact
Before opening a new position, evaluate the responsibilities you want to delegate and the results you expect from the hire.
A simple way to prioritize is to consider:
- Frequency: How often does this operational problem occur?
- Impact: How much does it affect order accuracy, delivery performance, costs, or customers?
- Capacity: How many employee hours does the work currently require?
- Ownership: Who will be responsible for resolving the issue once the new employee joins?
For example, if your team handles dozens of shipment exceptions every week, adding a fulfillment coordinator could free up substantial time for other employees. If shipment problems are occasional but inventory inaccuracies are widespread, an inventory specialist may be more valuable.
This also helps you define measurable expectations for each position before recruiting.
When hiring remote talent in Latin America, start with a clearly defined operational outcome for every role. You'll have a stronger foundation for evaluating candidates and determining whether the new hire is improving performance.
Once you've established your hiring priorities, you'll also need to decide how your LATAM employees will collaborate with U.S. leadership and external fulfillment partners.
How to Divide Responsibilities Between U.S. and LATAM Teams
Hiring talented professionals in Latin America is only part of building an effective e-commerce operations team. The next step is figuring out who handles each task, who makes decisions, and how information moves between teams.
For example, your LATAM employees might oversee order processing, monitor inventory, and coordinate shipments while U.S. leadership manages supplier negotiations, budgets, and major business decisions.
The goal is to create a workflow where everyone understands their responsibilities and can resolve routine problems quickly.
Assign Ownership Across the Order-to-Delivery Process
Every order passes through several operational stages, and each one needs a clear owner.
Consider what happens when a customer places an order for a product that appears available online but is actually out of stock at the warehouse.
Your LATAM order management specialist might identify the discrepancy, contact the inventory coordinator, and determine which orders are affected. The inventory coordinator can then confirm availability with the warehouse, while the customer operations specialist communicates any changes to the buyer.
If the issue requires an expensive replacement shipment or a supplier decision, the team can escalate it to U.S. leadership.
A clear division of responsibilities keeps everyday decisions moving while ensuring larger business decisions receive the right oversight.
Here's one way to organize responsibilities across a distributed e-commerce operations team:
These responsibilities can vary based on your internal structure, fulfillment arrangements, and the level of autonomy you assign to your LATAM employees.
Define Decision-Making and Escalation Rules
One of the biggest advantages of having a LATAM operations team is the ability to collaborate with U.S. colleagues during overlapping business hours.
However, real-time communication works best when employees also have the authority to make clearly defined decisions.
For example, your operations team could be authorized to:
- Process refunds that meet established company policies.
- Contact shipping carriers to resolve delivery exceptions.
- Update inventory records after verifying discrepancies.
- Correct marketplace listings within approved guidelines.
- Coordinate replacement shipments under predefined conditions.
U.S. leadership can retain more significant decisions, such as changing supplier agreements, approving major purchases, or modifying refund policies.
Create simple escalation guidelines that explain which situations require approval, who should receive the request, and how quickly urgent issues should be addressed.
This allows employees to manage routine operations independently while maintaining appropriate oversight.
Coordinate With Warehouses and Third-Party Logistics Providers
Your remote e-commerce team will often depend on information from warehouses, shipping companies, and third-party logistics providers (3PLs).
The more clearly these relationships are organized, the easier it becomes to identify and resolve fulfillment problems.
Start by assigning a primary LATAM contact for each external partner. This employee should be responsible for tracking open issues, requesting updates, and communicating relevant information internally.
Establish a consistent process for:
- Receiving inventory and shipment updates from warehouses.
- Reporting missing, damaged, or incorrectly fulfilled orders.
- Following up on delayed shipments.
- Coordinating returns and stock adjustments.
- Escalating recurring fulfillment problems.
For example, if a 3PL regularly misses shipping deadlines, your LATAM fulfillment coordinator can document incidents, identify patterns, and present findings to the U.S. operations lead.
Leadership can then use that information when reviewing the provider's performance.
Companies already using outsourced logistics services can benefit from having a dedicated employee responsible for maintaining communication and following up on operational issues.
Ultimately, a well-structured LATAM operations team should give your business greater visibility and control over daily activities, even when employees, warehouses, and fulfillment partners work from different locations.
With responsibilities established, the next priority is measuring how effectively the team performs and identifying opportunities to improve its workflows.
How to Manage and Measure Your LATAM Operations Team
Once your e-commerce operations team is in place, the next challenge is making sure everyone works efficiently together.
With employees managing orders, inventory, fulfillment, and customer requests across different systems, clear performance expectations and consistent communication are essential to keep operations organized.
The good news is that managing a LATAM e-commerce team can be relatively straightforward when you establish measurable goals, create predictable communication routines, and give employees the tools they need to do their jobs.
Set Clear KPIs for Every Operations Function
Every role should have a few measurable indicators that show how effectively it handles its responsibilities.
For example, an order management specialist might be evaluated on processing accuracy and the time it takes to resolve exceptions. An inventory coordinator, meanwhile, could be responsible for tracking stock discrepancies and keeping replenishment information updated.
The most useful e-commerce operations KPIs connect individual responsibilities to business outcomes, such as faster order processing, fewer fulfillment errors, and a better post-purchase customer experience.
Start by establishing a baseline for each metric, then set realistic improvement targets based on your current performance.
For example, if shipment exceptions regularly take several days to resolve, your fulfillment coordinator can track the causes, identify recurring delays, and work with external partners to improve response times.
Remember to distinguish between metrics your LATAM employees directly control and outcomes that depend on external partners. A fulfillment coordinator can own timely escalations and follow-ups, while the warehouse or carrier may ultimately control the shipping timeline.
Establish Daily and Weekly Communication Routines
One advantage of hiring remote employees in Latin America is the opportunity to collaborate during overlapping U.S. business hours.
Make that overlap useful by creating a communication rhythm that helps employees resolve issues, coordinate priorities, and share operational updates.
A practical approach includes:
- Daily exception reviews: Identify delayed orders, inventory discrepancies, urgent customer issues, and fulfillment problems requiring attention.
- Shared operational dashboards: Give team members visibility into pending orders, stock alerts, shipment exceptions, and unresolved tasks.
- Weekly performance meetings: Review KPIs, discuss recurring issues, and agree on process improvements.
- Clear escalation channels: Establish where employees should report urgent problems and who can approve specific decisions.
- Monthly workflow reviews: Identify responsibilities that need additional resources, automation, or clearer ownership.
For instance, a brief daily review might reveal that several orders are delayed because a warehouse hasn't confirmed inventory availability.
Your inventory coordinator can follow up with the warehouse, the order specialist can identify affected purchases, and customer operations can prepare customer updates.
A consistent communication routine helps the team address issues while they're still manageable.
Standardize Workflows Across E-Commerce Platforms
Your LATAM operations team may use several systems throughout the day, especially if your business sells across multiple marketplaces.
Common tools include:
- Shopify: Managing online store orders, product information, and customer transactions.
- Amazon Seller Central: Monitoring marketplace orders, listings, and account operations.
- Inventory management systems: Tracking stock availability, purchase orders, and inventory movements.
- Gorgias or similar help desk platforms: Managing customer inquiries, returns, and order-related communication.
- Asana, ClickUp, or other project management tools: Tracking operational tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines.
The important part is making sure employees understand how these systems connect.
For example, if a customer requests a replacement product, your team should have a standardized process for checking inventory availability, authorizing the replacement, updating the order, and coordinating shipment.
Document recurring workflows so employees know which steps to follow, which systems to update, and when to escalate an issue.
It's also useful to establish a single source of truth for each operational function. You might manage order statuses through your order management system, while inventory availability comes from your designated inventory platform.
This reduces confusion when information appears differently across sales channels or fulfillment systems.
As your business grows, review these workflows regularly. Processes that work well with a small team may need more automation, additional approvals, or dedicated specialists as order volumes increase.
Ultimately, managing a LATAM e-commerce operations team comes down to giving people clear ownership, reliable information, and measurable goals. With those elements in place, your company can expand its operational capacity while maintaining visibility across the entire order lifecycle.
Build Your LATAM E-Commerce Operations Team With South
As your e-commerce business grows, every new order, sales channel, and fulfillment partner adds another layer of coordination. Having the right people managing those moving parts can make the difference between constantly solving problems and building an operation that scales smoothly.
At South, we help U.S. companies hire skilled, full-time remote professionals from Latin America. Whether you need an e-commerce operations manager, inventory coordinator, marketplace specialist, or an entire operations team, we connect you with pre-vetted candidates who bring relevant experience, strong English skills, and U.S. time-zone alignment.
You can start with one key hire and expand your team as your operational needs evolve. We'll help you identify qualified professionals who fit your requirements and budget.
Want to build an e-commerce operations team that can keep up with your growth? Schedule a free call with South to find the LATAM talent your business needs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is the Ideal Structure for an E-Commerce Operations Team?
The ideal structure depends on your order volume, sales channels, and fulfillment complexity. Smaller businesses can start with an operations coordinator who handles several responsibilities, while growing companies may need dedicated specialists for order management, inventory, fulfillment, and customer operations.
The goal is to assign a clear owner to every critical workflow and add specialized roles as operational demands increase.
How Many Operations Employees Does an E-Commerce Company Need?
A smaller e-commerce business may start with one or two operations employees, while a growing company could benefit from a team of three to five professionals. Businesses managing multiple marketplaces, warehouses, and high order volumes may need six or more.
Order complexity, workload, and the number of operational exceptions are better hiring indicators than revenue alone.
Which E-Commerce Operations Roles Can Be Outsourced to LATAM?
U.S. e-commerce companies can hire LATAM professionals for order processing, inventory coordination, marketplace management, fulfillment coordination, customer support, and operational reporting.
These responsibilities can be handled remotely through e-commerce platforms and shared management systems. LATAM employees can work directly with U.S. leadership and fulfillment partners, making it easier to coordinate daily operations across locations.
Should I Hire an E-Commerce Operations Manager or Coordinator First?
If you're building your first operations team and need help managing recurring tasks, an e-commerce operations coordinator is often a practical starting point.
An operations manager becomes more valuable when several employees, sales channels, or fulfillment partners require centralized oversight.
Choose a coordinator when execution is the main challenge and a manager when coordination and accountability need improvement.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire an E-Commerce Operations Team in LATAM?
A three-person e-commerce operations team in Latin America can cost approximately 6,750-12,000 per month in combined salaries, depending on the roles and experience required.
Based on South's LATAM operations salary benchmarks, an operations coordinator typically earns 1,500-2,500 per month, an operations manager earns 3,250-6,000, and a customer operations specialist earns 2,000-3,500.
These are estimated salary ranges for general operations roles, rather than e-commerce-specific hiring quotes. Actual costs depend on seniority, platform experience, country, and hiring model. Staffing fees and other employment expenses may increase the total.
South helps U.S. e-commerce companies hire pre-vetted LATAM operations professionals with transparent, all-in monthly rates agreed upon before hiring.
