If your small business is hiring, you know that recruitment is tough at the moment. The market for labour—especially workers in the skilled trades—is ultra-competitive right now.
With the ongoing labour shortage causing the battle for talent to escalate, leaders are looking for ideas that will give them an edge over the competition.
What are the unique hiring challenges for small businesses?
As a small business, it can often feel like you’re at a disadvantage compared to other companies. And nowhere is this truer than in recruitment. Not only might you not be able to offer all the same perks as big companies, but you also don’t have the same hiring resources at your disposal. Rather than an entire HR team, you might have just one hiring manager—or the owner themselves—taking care of the whole process.
Knowing this, it’s more important than ever that you adopt leading hiring strategies to ensure that you’re recruiting strong employees for your small business.
8 top tips for hiring as a small business
Here’s our advice for hiring the best possible candidates, given the current labour market conditions.
1. Know the job market
Do some research on the current job market. Know the median wage for the role and what candidates are expecting from companies so you can ensure that your expectations are realistic. Once you’ve looked at the market, you may need to adjust your hiring strategy, including the wage, job description, or hiring period.
2. Plan ahead
Don’t just think about your company’s needs right now. While hiring, it’s critical to imagine the future needs of the business and how you expect it to grow. This is particularly important when you’re making early hiring decisions because the people you bring in now will likely be considered for future leadership roles. As you look ahead to the next three to five years, keep your outlook reasonable, but don’t be afraid to think big.
3. Try new things
If your company is having trouble finding the right candidates, consider switching up your hiring strategy. Punch up the job description. Use different job boards. Consider trying out a staffing agency or recruitment software. Use social media to reach a new audience. You might even want to rethink some of the qualifications for the role.
4. Ask for referrals
Ask your top employees if they have any former coworkers they can refer. If you already have a few great staff, it’s likely they know other strong candidates in their network. To add an incentive, you can even offer a referral bonus to current workers, to be paid out if you end up hiring their contact.
5. Track your candidates
It’s vital to keep track of your candidates, including their qualifications, certifications, resume, and background checks. A software solution can help. Not only can the right app help you store information, but it helps you avoid paying job boards for candidates who you’ve already onboarded to your system.
Look for a platform specifically designed for staffing, with options for automatically uploading resume information and built-in background check functionality. To learn more about shopping for staffing software, read our blog post on the key features you should be looking to find.
6. Pay attention to attitude and values
The right values and attitude are critical to a good hire. Keep an eye out for candidates who come with a great work ethic, an interest in the field, and other important values such as respect, discipline, and integrity. While skills can be taught, these qualities can’t.
Of course, you’ll still have to evaluate their qualifications for the role. However, don’t underrate the importance of this factor.
7. Communicate effectively with candidates
To make sure you don’t lose great candidates, you should stay in touch with them continually throughout the process. Keep them informed about what information and documentation they must provide and let them know about the expected timeline for each stage. Don’t leave candidates hanging. Make sure they know when they can expect to hear from you about the job.
8. Move quickly
The best way to ensure you get the best talent is to work quickly rather than forcing candidates to endure a drawn-out hiring process. Gather information about your options and make a decision as swiftly as possible to ensure that you respect their time and avoid losing good workers to other opportunities.
The bottom line
Although hiring is challenging for small businesses right now, adopting the right strategies can help. Start by understanding of the current market conditions, planning ahead for the future of the business, and trying new hiring methods. Then, make sure you get the right people by asking current employees for referrals, keeping track of candidate qualifications using hiring software, and making sure the hire has the right values and attitude. Finally, seal the deal by communicating effectively and working quickly to get your new hire through the door.
With any luck these strategies will help you edge out other companies and hire the people you need to help your business prosper.
Is your small business searching for a software solution to improve your hiring processes? Specially designed to meet the needs of small businesses, Labourly is a simple, intuitive solution for managing your skilled workforce. Book a demo call with our team today to discuss options for you company.
