hired

Hired is the past tense and past participle of the verb hire. The primary meanings of hire include engaging someone to perform work or provide services in exchange for payment, and leasing or renting equipment, vehicles, or space. In employment, to hire a person means to offer and accept a job, resulting in an employment or contractual relationship once the work begins.

The verb hire derives from Old English hyran, related to procuring or obtaining, with the sense of enabling labor or services developing over time into modern usage. The form hired is regular: hire, hired, hired. The past participle is used in perfect tenses and the passive voice, as in "she has been hired" or "they were hired last month."

In addition to direct employment, the term is used for temporary arrangements, such as car hire or equipment hire. Phrases like "hired help" or "hired gun" are common idioms indicating paid labor, sometimes with a nuance of informality or temporary status. In professional contexts, the outcome is a hire, and organizations typically manage the process through recruitment, onboarding, probation periods, and terms of hire or employment contracts. The concept encompasses full-time employees, part-time staff, temporary workers, and independent contractors, each with distinct legal and practical implications for responsibilities, benefits, and duration of engagement.

See also: hire, hiring, employment, contractor, employee, recruitment, employment contract.