Finding employees is important and rewarding, but it can be tricky, especially in a rocky economy or tight labor market. Out of all the job seekers applying to your open positions – how do you find the best and brightest people? And just as importantly, how do you convince them that they should choose your business over another one?
Best practices for attracting new hires to your small business
There are a few tried and true ways to attract new hires to your company. Let’s look at some of them here:
Clearly outline job responsibilities
Clear job descriptions can help ensure small business owners don’t lose out on great applicants. After all, most candidates are applying to multiple companies, meaning they’re weighing your job posting against others. Giving them a clear view of the role can help prospects see why your company is the right fit for them.
Offer great salaries and benefits
Because candidates are looking at multiple jobs during their search, offering a salary that meets or exceeds typical market rates is often key to attracting top talent. Providing top-notch employee benefits can also encourage job seekers to choose your business over any others and foster loyalty, too. Benefits you could consider offering include:
- Paid time off (PTO) and sick days. With paid time off, employees may take better care of their mental and physical health without worrying about their financial security.
- Health, dental, and vision insurance. Providing health insurance for your employees (and their families) may substantially lower their healthcare costs.
- Life insurance. A life insurance policy ensures that an employee’s family is financially taken care of if the employee dies.
- Retirement plans. Comprehensive retirement plans allow employees to build up long-term wealth to take care of themselves once they reach retirement age.
- Childcare benefits. With childcare benefits, like a stipend to cover some or all of the cost, employees can worry less about daycare expenses.
- Gym and fitness reimbursements. Reimbursing employees after they join a fitness program can encourage them to look after their physical health. Bonus! They’ll be more alert at work!
- Commuter benefits. When you cover an employee's commute to and from work, the employee may be able to keep more of their paycheck for other expenses.
Put company culture front and center
You should recruit people who fit with your company’s values. These employees are more likely to thrive in their positions. This process starts with figuring out your company culture. Ask yourself: Are you focused on excellent customer service, company-wide integrity, or something else? Your job listings should reflect the answer so that you find people who fit the mold.
What recruiting challenges do small businesses face?
There are several obstacles that small businesses may need to overcome during the recruitment process.
Competition from large businesses
Large businesses within the same industry are, unfortunately, often drawing from the same candidate pool. They’re often in better financial positions too, meaning they can offer better salaries and benefits.
Lack of recruitment resources
Small businesses might lack the capital to use every possible recruitment resource, potentially leading to a smaller candidate pool. Outsourcing the process to organizations or programs specialized in recruiting high-quality candidates may help.
Not enough time to recruit
As a busy and often-stretched business owner, you might not have a lot of time to focus on recruitment. Finding an applicant tracking system to handle the lion’s share of the recruitment process may help keep your efforts going while you focus on other tasks.
Needing to fill vital roles
When a team member leaves their position, you might be tempted to find someone new as quickly as possible. It makes sense – your team might be small, so one person departing can lead to much more work for everyone else. However, a quick hiring process can lead to you finding the wrong person for the job. It’s best to take recruitment slow while finding ways to lessen your other employees’ burdens.
Training new hires
Getting new candidates familiar with their new day-to-day responsibilities is an important – and lengthy – task. With a small team, it can be challenging for a business to find the time to train new hires. A robust onboarding program that automates teaching new hires the ropes may help streamline the process.
Not enough room for a hiring budget
Small businesses often operate on smaller budgets and that may limit your recruitment. Many businesses wait until the demand for their products or services increases to hire more employees.
Recruiting the best with SmartBiz®
Labor is often the highest cost when running a small business, and finding extra money for expanding your payroll may be challenging. SmartBiz may be able to connect you with SBA loans, bank term loans, and custom financing options you can use to grow your team. Check now to see whether you pre-qualify*.
