When it comes to a small or medium-sized business, an employee is either an asset or a liability. There are no two ways about it. And most employees will fall into one of these buckets when it sooner or later. So, small and medium sized companies need to be wise when hiring employees.
But as a small business how do you project yourself, so you get the best talent? Because your brand would be relatively new, how do you ensure that your presence is felt, and that people would love to work with you? We will suggest 10 tips in this article that will have you spoilt for choice when it comes to hiring great employees.
10 Tips for Hiring Employees for your Small Business
1. Have a great hiring plan
Remember that post the first 10 days of a job post, the most suitable candidates no longer apply for the job. Take time and put in careful thought into the quantum of work you have, the number of heads you would need on board and the skills they must possess, and the process you will follow to hire candidates. Let us now elaborate the last step in this.
What would be the various steps in your recruitment process? How many rounds of screening or interviews would be there? Who will be the custodians conducting these interviews as you continue hiring employees? Do you have an in-house team capable of handling the recruitment process or would you need to outsource it? These are some of the questions you would need to ask.
2. Do more in employer branding
Employer branding is crucial for any business when it comes to hiring employees and even more for a small business as the candidates applying may have a negative disposition to them regarding branding. Small businesses can build on their employer branding by following few simple strategies.
The first, focus on your social media and the content you put out there. Make it showcase a great work culture built on great onboardings, employee testimonials and achievements, and other celebratory content. This is a great way to show that your business is trying to build a great place to work.
The second, focus on CSR activities that you could possibly do on a limited budget. It could be visiting your local animal shelter or planting saplings in the neighbourhood park. Get employees to volunteer for them too.
The third, videos are the missing piece of the employer branding puzzle. Post videos of employee achievements and key business problems that you solved. Having a corporate video that is clearly aligned with your mission and vision also could help you a lot in hiring great employees.
3. Write a compelling job description and promote it well
An employee-employer relationship is built as much on how much the employer can offer the employee as much as it is vice versa. If the employer is forthcoming, an employee will persist, no matter the odds the company is up against. Before you post a job description, also take time to research the experience levels and skill sets of the people who are most likely to apply for the job.
Then you will have a better idea of the minimum remuneration and benefits that you must offer to retain the candidates for the long haul. Write a stellar job description and then promote it on job boards to build as much talk around it as possible. People who apply for a job also tend to follow you, so make sure you tap into that rich candidate base you already have on social media. Looking for even better results? You may need to talk to an HR consulting company.
4. Use referrals
Employees will be connected with others who share similar views and probably even work ethics, which could make them a great cultural fit for your organisation. As a small or medium-sized business, consisting of 20-30 employees or less, the room for experimentation is less, especially when you are hiring employees to satisfy immediate requirements.
The work must get done. Using referrals helps spread the word quickly especially if the role is a related one and if you trust the person who has made the referral. You can further incentivize the referral process if employees within the company are referring their contacts. You could also ask for referrals from your connections on LinkedIn.
5. Offer a streamlined and friendly experience to every candidate
When hiring a candidate, be friendly and optimistic. Set the expectations right in the interview itself. Do not overburden the candidates with countless screening tests and multiple interviews.
The proof is in the pudding. Develop a more streamlined and smart strategy to assess them and wait till they are on board and complete a few months before you arrive at an immovable judgement.
6. Use the right tools
Several tools are available which greatly improve employee recruitment. Some of these must have hiring tools and how to use them are mentioned below.
- Evernote. Keep track of job ads and take down notes during candidate interviews.
- Google Forms. Create job application forms and distribute them easily.
- Gmail. You could use Gmail to keep track of the applications received and you could create a mail ID especially for the hiring process.
- Google Calendar. You can schedule interviews in Google Calendar easily and add alerts at specific times too.
- Google Sheets. Create separate sheets for hiring in each month. Create a separate tab for each job role in the hiring process in a specific month and add in the details of each candidate who has cleared the pre-screening rounds there, probably around 20 to 30 for each role with a unique alphanumeric or numeric Candidate ID.
- Dropbox. Create a unique folder with “_Candidate ID” in the name for each employee and manage the materials required for the onboarding process here.
7. Set a Test-Drive Period for the New Employee
Not yet sure that this is the person you want on your team even when you are hiring candidates after a number of steps.
A lot of small and medium-sized businesses feel this way, but a great HR consulting company can get you the right candidates from the get-go.
And what is our valuable tip here if you are in it by yourself? Onboard the employee while mentioning a 3-month or 6-month probation in the employment contract and confirm the employee only after they complete the tasks that qualify them for full-time work in the specific role.
8. Try to Retain
Your business would have had its share of challenges and might continue to have for a while. Who better than an employee who has been there with you since the beginning or joined you soon after to sound an alarm when you take a wrong step? Sometimes you need such people too.
We are not saying there is anything wrong with hiring new employees, but as per the Pareto principle, your long serving employees might actually be responsible for 80% of the profits you earn too. That’s another great reason to have them on board and continue to support you.
Also, a new hire will always inject an element of vitality into your organization, but you need strong pillars (your old hires) if you need to continue to build your house and keep your reputation strong.
9. Offer remote or flexible work opportunities
As a small business, offering remote or a contract-based role may be a trick up your sleeve when it comes to cost-effectiveness and reducing the cost of a hire and the time to hire. The best part is that you can offer these benefits as hiring incentives.
Flexible working hours could also be a great deal, especially if you a recruiting a fresher and they are just getting their career sorted out or are struggling to make ends meet even with the good pay you are offering. If they have the talent, hold on to them by offering flexible shift timings.
10. Partner with a staffing or recruitment agency
Is recruitment the way ahead or is staffing? Do you want candidates in a full-time permanent role, or would you rather have them in temporary contract-based roles? Are you worried about how long they will stay on in your company and do you need help with the recruitment process itself but don’t have the money to spend? The good news is that you can avail the services of a subscription-based RPO (recruitment process outsourcing)!
How to hire employees quickly with a subscription based RPO?
In RPO or recruitment process outsourcing, a few steps or the entire recruitment process is outsourced to an HR consulting company, which then handles them for you by charging you a fee. It’s an accepted fact that recruitment process outsourcing can cost a lot especially with a great HR consulting company. Is there a way out?
Looking for a recruitment & staffing services?
The HR professionals over at Alp Consulting, one of the top HR consulting services companies in the world realised that there could be a more elegant solution to the problem, that also considers the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. The solution to the high costs and the lock-in for a longer period is a subscription-based RPO.
Rekpro is a cost-effective, guaranteed, short-term, and easy to implement subscription-based RPO and pay-as-you-go solution that helps small and medium-sized businesses hiring employees have a good control over the recruitment process steps as well. Small and medium-sized businesses can now pay for each candidate they hire or many at a time. They can pay per resume or per interview. This means that there are no contracts and no minimum hiring conditions. If you, like us, believe that this is just what your small business needs, then talk to us at Alp Consulting to know more.