All small businesses struggle with hiring new employees. The job market is very competitive and many small businesses cannot offer the same package of benefits that large employers can like expensive health insurance etc.
However, small employers can offer other unique benefits by virtue of their ability to tailor the job to the employees’ needs which large employers cannot easily do.
Here are 7 recruitment strategies to help small businesses attract talent that is a good fit for them.
Table of Contents
Use social media
Most young people now use social media extensively for day-to-day tasks. Gone are the days when social media was mostly used for entertainment. Small companies can use sites like LinkedIn to post job openings, and Instagram to showcase the company culture like fun events, employee recognition awards etc.
Social media provides a unique platform to directly connect with the prospective employee instead of only relying on the traditional methods of searching for resumes on job sites to screen candidates for interviews.
Highlight unique benefits in job descriptions
While most job descriptions focus on the skills and experience needed for the job, equal attention must be paid to highlight the unique employee health benefits that a small business can provide to a prospective employee. For example, single parents may appreciate flexibility in work hours so they can take care of unexpected needs related to child care.
Young entrants to the job market may appreciate opportunities to learn new skills and get faster promotions to responsible positions. Large businesses cannot easily offer these benefits.
Encourage employees to recruit their friends and family
Many small businesses are family-owned and have a very family-oriented culture. Owners can encourage their employees to hire their friends or family members to fill open positions. Hiring known people reduces risks for small businesses from employee theft or hidden behaviour issues that are not always evident in the job interview.
While there are many benefits to hiring known people, it is important to be mindful of potential conflicts that can arise such as favouritism, lax supervision or issues from outside the workplace impacting work productivity.
Consider past employees
Sometimes employees of small companies leave their jobs to join bigger companies because they feel the new job may be more secure or there will be more opportunities for advancement. Many realize later that large companies have inflexible processes and bureaucracy that stifle innovation.
They also realize that it is harder to get noticed in a large company compared to a smaller outfit where their work immediately stands out. Such employees may be willing to reconsider coming back to their old jobs.
Attend industry-related events
Industry-related events are great places to meet like-minded prospective employees without pressure. It is easy to identify motivated candidates who are passionate about their work by observing their behaviour at the event.
Create and maintain a company website
While not all small companies need a large, complex website to conduct business, a company website now is almost a necessity to operate. Potential employees use the website to research the company before considering applying for a job there or to accept one if offered to them. A website that showcases the company’s product and services with a brief background of the owner and key employees gives new employees confidence in the stability of the company and if it is a fit for them.
Use technology effectively to speed the recruitment process
Technology now plays a bigger role in the workplace than at any time in the past. Due to the recent pandemic employee expectations have changed. They now expect workplace tools that allow them to communicate easily and even work remote if the job allows it.
During recruiting, a tool that can be used for emailing prospective candidates, discussing their resumes with other employees in the company, setting up interviews for face-to-face meetings and managing the complex recruiting process with many prospects is much needed.
Today this is accomplished by using an assortment of email programs, chatting tools, and to-do/event calendars. Using different tools creates information silos and slows the recruiting process. One tool that can be used to effectively speed the recruitment process is Clariti.
Clariti is a free, web-based tool that can be used for emailing, chatting, calling, monitoring social feeds, working with cloud documents, and managing a to-do/events calendar, all in one app. Clariti includes a unique feature called TopicFolder. A TopicFolder automatically stores all related communications on a topic.
TopicFolder is a hub for all your work and eliminates the need to search for information. You can create a TopicFolder for each open position and all resumes and internal discussions about the interviewed candidates will be automatically stored in that TopicFolder.
You can also use Clariti to interview candidates even if they don’t have a Clariti account using a Clariti feature called OrbitChat. With OrbitChat you can chat or have a voice call with a candidate using only their email address.
Clariti significantly speeds the recruiting process and prospective employees are also impressed by the perceived technological savvy of the company desiring to hire them.
