How can I make my small business attractive to candidates

How can I make my small business attractive to candidates

Recruiting as a small business can be difficult

Job-seekers have a few considerations when choosing which company to work for — one of them is size. As a business considering recruiting its first employee, you have a series of obstacles to tackle. First, consider the people you’re trying to hire. Many of them will be after these 5 things:

1. Opportunity

Being part of a big organisation can seem to be the route to opportunity. Career progression and a fairly linear path are both apparent with bigger companies. There will be different departments and fields they might be able to have a taste of. A smaller company like yours cannot offer this level of opportunity.

2. A brand

As uncomfortable as it may seem, staff are more willing to work for a company with a well-known brand than one without. They are more willing to put up with longer hours, harsher work conditions, and less say for the chance to say they work somewhere with prestige.

3. A greater network

For the purpose of both a social life and a network of professionals, a bigger organisation is the natural choice. You will be competing against businesses that spend lavishly on their Christmas parties; that have office space for hundreds.

4. Job security

This is somewhat of an illusion, but job security is another field that job seekers look for. A bigger organisation will be perceived to have more stability. We will come back to this point later on.

5. A structured induction and recruitment

Any new starter wants a smooth entry, and a bigger organisation will have hired enough people to have this process relatively snag-free. Especially if you are hiring people who may need a level of training, this structure may well be lacking from your business. There is also the matter of your busyness — the fact you are hiring indicates that you have too much work to do. You may not be able to dedicate the time to this starter that a bigger organisation would.

But it’s not all bad. Far from it. Being a small business, you have other offerings for candidates. And many of the points raised above are actually assumptions that don’t always hold true.

You know when it’s time to hire. You know that the person you’re going to employ will bring value to the business and that the business will be able to give value to them. Take that confidence, along with the following points, and your interviews will be a success.

Make sure to target candidates with the following:

1. Access to leadership

The core thing missing from joining a big business is access to the decision makers. Highlight to the candidates — even if their entry level is not high — that they will have access to those who decide many of the aspects of their job. Their hours, flexibility, work output and everything else can be up for discussion — there will be very little official structure to climb over before issues or potential improvements can be approved.

2. Their opinions will be heard

Little’s worse than ignoring the thoughts of 100% of your workforce. Your first employee — and those that follow — will have a monopoly on opinion. If they think something about the business strategy ought to be considered, their opinion is not easily overlooked. From your perspective, it will be very useful — working alone can mean that you get little input from others on areas of your business. Employees can offer that.

3. Their work will be seen

It can be too easy for staff to fall into a routine at big businesses where they get the job done, but nobody really notices until it goes wrong. In a small business, most of the work will be seen by the boss, or at least by people that really matter. This could be good or bad, depending on the type of employee they are — needless to say, small businesses tend to have a more efficient workforce!

4. Their training will be addressed

Perhaps as an extension to their work being seen, the employee’s training can be addressed early as the communication will be there — even if the employee doesn’t realise it. In a bigger business, the employee may have to make a fairly serious error before their lack of training becomes apparent. In your small business, it will be a challenge not to notice it. The employee will be able to make personal progress a lot quicker by joining your business — as long as you make their progress part of your plan.

5. Issues can be brought up

Some people dread work in the morning. That’s partly because they know it’ll be the same tomorrow. In a small business, it needn’t be. Whatever bothers the employee about their job can be addressed quickly so that they start enjoying work. As an employer, you should encourage them to come forward with these issues, if not for their happiness, for their productivity. Let the candidates know that they will have opportunities to raise issues and have them clearly addressed.

6. More stand-out contributions for a CV

In a big business that deals with big clients, they can claim to have been a part of projects that have brand names attached to them, or have an air of grandeur. That’s all great, but in a small business, they can claim major responsibility rather than having just played a part. The growth of a small business, or the success of a certain client can be attributed solely or majorly to one person — and the effects on a CV will be significant.

7. More access to decisions

We have already covered the benefits of being close to the decision-makers, but there is also an element of being close to the decisions. In a small business, there are far fewer layers of approval that have to be tackled before an employee can make progress with an idea.

8. Less meetings!

A big part of businesses with lots of people inevitably becomes meeting. The communication and transference of ideas becomes quite important — and valuable. But it also takes up time, and there’s not much value for the individual which can come from that. Your employees will benefit from having more time for work; more time to achieve their goals.

9. Job security

We mentioned earlier that job security was a lure for candidates looking to join a big business. If job security is an issue at interview, do not let it pass unchallenged. At a big business, the decision makers are unlikely to know them personally. That means when the business is looking to ‘restructure’ that they are more likely to go. Everyone knows everyone in a small business, and it’s much harder to remove someone like that. Big businesses are more likely to be looking at their bottom line — and obeying the wishes of shareholders — than a small business, meaning nothing — and no-one — is safe. And in a small business, they are more likely to be able to earn their keep — and visibly defend their position with it — than in a larger one.

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