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.

1. 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.

Recruiters in small businesses have to actually pick one person from a thousand candidates, sometimes even a million, if ATS or applicant tracking systems are involved. Though it can sound pretty scary to find the right person, HR consulting companies can take all that additional effort away and make it a lot less cumbersome for you. Let us now define candidate sourcing.

What Is Candidate Sourcing?

The proactive search for candidates to fill current and future job openings is called candidate sourcing. Recruiters typically use AI-powered sourcing tools or an ATS throughout the recruitment process, though the human element is what sets it above the par in professional HR consulting companies. In candidate sourcing, HR executives contact and prepare a list of potential candidates who can then be recruited by the organization.

Difference Between Sourcing and Recruiting

It’s like the difference between night and day. Just as night follows day beyond the sunset, recruiting comprises of next steps after candidate sourcing. But make note that you must get your employer branding and messaging right if you want to be great at candidate sourcing. That’s a lot of tactical and strategic thinking involved, which AI or other automated systems can help with, but cannot manage by themselves. In the next section, we will look at how we can source candidates for a job role in your company.

Challenges in Candidate Sourcing

Sourcing is not without its fair share of challenges. Some of these are attributed to causes within the company, some to the candidates, and others to the process itself. Some of the challenges are:

1. Candidates uninformed of what the job entails
2. Not enough time to procure the right candidates
3. Number of applicants is low or they are of low quality
4. Candidate unreachable most of the time
5. Competitors want the same candidate, especially for executive roles
6. Lack of visibility into how recruiters will make use of the opportunity
7. Bias towards a particular group of candidates
8. Unavailability of the right metrics

How to Prepare for Candidate Sourcing

1. Create an attractive employee value proposition (EVP)

How is your company different from the competition? What does your brand do to attract and retain talent? how great are your training programs and how is the work culture? How are your rewards and recognition programs? How great is the CSR and DEI initiatives of the company? Emphasise this in your brand communication across channels. Of course, there are elements of EVP that may be beyond your control such as the stability of your company in the market and the benefits and compensations which you offer, that may or may not be easy to control and are also dependent on the profits you make.

2. Make sure any development/promotion opportunities are advertised

When you’re promoting your vacancies, it’s important you highlight what progression the role can offer. Job searchers who know their skills are in demand can afford to be more selective in who they work for and if they’re thinking about their career path in the long run, they’ll be more attracted to a role that allows them to develop their skills and progress.

3. Your employees are your best brand ambassadors, make sure they’re selling you

Build a strong work culture that balances life and work. As Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. That is the importance of a great work culture, and it can transform your employees to become brand ambassadors, selling your company as a great place to work wherever they are. On the other hand, if the company culture is not that great or the salary and benefits dissatisfactory, they would not be motivated to spread a good word about you.

4. Promote your organisation’s values

Do you use social media to engage with clients and customers? Then it might be a good idea to promote your values on those channels where you engage most with the customers. For any one-way communication that emphasises how you are contributing to the world, through sustainability, ethical sourcing etc., use a website to post articles, blogs and press releases. If you want those top performers, then you must not only offer a great job but keep a great company ready and waiting for them.

How to Source Candidates

The candidate sourcing process follows initial planning and strategizing that was described in the previous section. After this begins the process of candidate sourcing, which has several steps. Let us now look at the steps in the candidate sourcing process.

1. Creating a candidate persona

This is how an ideal candidate for the job would look like. This includes the skills, interests, experience levels, and educational background of the ideal candidate. Human resources experts will create a persona document will all these features as a reference to begin the sourcing process.

2. Running the search

Once the candidate persona document is ready, you can start running searches based on the features that you have identified as being suitable for the position. If you are using an ATS, then you may need to identify keywords for each feature that you have listed. An instance of this could be: If you are hiring a programmer and one of the skills is debugging, then you can use keywords for tools that are used in debugging, in addition to the keyword ‘debugging’ itself.

3. Classifying leads

Sometimes the ATS or your team of candidate sourcing experts can come up with leads that may or may not be classified. You may need to classify the leads as being good, bad or even great. Sometimes the built-in AI in the ATS takes care of classification by analysing the received leads, retaining the top ones and rejecting the others. Such classification allows you to move to the next phase of establishing contact with the leads.

4. Connecting with leads

Once you have decided on the candidates that you will be contacting, you can then decide on the channels that you will be contacting them and the medium of communication. These methods would also depend on the contact information specified in the application, where the advertisement was posted, and the job role for which the candidate sourcing process was introduced.

5. Following up with personalized emails

If you do not receive a response when you send a message to a candidate, you must then send a personalized email inviting the candidate’s willingness to continue the job application. If the candidate is not willing to proceed further or if there is still no response from the candidate, you can mark the candidate(s) non-responsive and proceed with other candidates.   

6. Reconnecting with passive leads

If active candidate sourcing is not working for you, then you could try reconnecting with passive candidates. These are those candidates you had considered for a role earlier but then had dropped before moving ahead with other candidates. The good thing about connecting with passive leads is that they would already be familiar with the needs of the job, your company profile, and the way you conduct interviews, making everything so much more streamlined.

7. Offline networking

This step may come a lot earlier than now and in conjunction probably with the digital search that you ran in Step 2. In this step, sourcing experts rely on offline networking to add more potentials to the talent pool. They might connect with friends who have expertise in this area asking for referrals or suggestion on what to look for in the ideal candidate and if needed begin the process at Step 1.

While these steps are to be followed for a sourcing endeavour, what matters most is the spirit to experiment. You must go back to the drawing board and decide if you must re-examine the skills necessary, see if you can include a bit of diversity in the role, and so on.

8 Strategies to Improve Candidate Sourcing

Candidate sourcing techniques are a dime a dozen you can find if you search the Internet. We have got you the best, so you benefit from our experience. Here are some candidate sourcing strategies or techniques you could use.

1. A recruitment database is your friend, or maybe not

A recruitment database can help you a lot when you are trying to source candidates. But be wary, if you contact candidates without their permission, you could be in a spot of bother. Better to ensure that they have opted in for communication from recruiters before you go ahead and mail them.

There’s another problem too. If the database is not accurate, you may be mailing or calling the wrong person too. Be ready to face such challenges.

2. Trust Trusty old social media to initiate your first contact

Social media is great as a conversation starter, but may not be for further follow-ups. How and when to transition from social media to emails is quite a skill by itself and something only a top sourcing expert would know.

3. Employee referrals could help you pick the best

A candidate referred by an existing employee could be the titan you need. They could be a lasting resource you could trust as much as your employee and turn to for the most challenging of tasks. And don’t forget to reward your employees well for their referrals.

4. Make your job posting stand out

Before you can attract the right candidates, you must have a great job description. Here are some tips that work:

Keep it short and simple. Do not write a very lengthy job description. Just keep it between 300 and 500 words.

Rely on a great opener but don’t get too creative. Sometimes a job description is too enticing. Pick your words carefully and keep it formal. A great hook is worth the thinking but then on rely on keywords.

Explain what is required on the job well. Your work is to make the task of recruitment easier so the candidate knows everything they are supposed to know. There should be no new information regarding the job that is provided by the recruiter, especially after the screening is over.

Explain the benefits well. What are the benefits of the role and that of working with your company? How great is the work culture and how friendly and forthcoming the people?

Put your jobs on the right boards. Make sure the job visibility is good by running searches on every job board with the keywords that your prospect is likely to use.

5. Diversify communication channels

You could always go back to the communication channels you prefer or pick a fresh one, that might yield some more information regarding the candidate and even offer a more personalized way of communication. Diversifying communication channels calls for quite a bit of an effort and here is where a recruitment firm shines, in picking one that is most apt for the role, the industry and the persona you are looking for. Talk to one today, and gain the benefits of expertise.

6. Assess internal talent

How good or great is the talent you already have on board? If you are recruiting a fresh person, how well would they complement those already on the team? What are the skills that are missing or in demand from your team? These are some crucial questions to ask before you hire a new person.

7. Build an effective candidate sourcing pipeline

Use AI if you have to or if you are convinced that it will bring business gains you cannot achieve otherwise. Source candidates not just for the present roles but also for strategic roles in the future. Plan ahead for any attrition by securing the right candidates to deal with it. In other words, always have a Plan B ready.

8. Network with the domain experts

There is no replacement for a domain expert. He/she can give insights into the job role that you would not have otherwise. This is especially true when you are hiring for a small business and this is a senior position. Keep your prospects close, but keep your experts closer.

Get The Right Sourcing Partner Today

Sourcing is the second step in the recruitment cycle and perhaps the most important of them all. You need a good sourcing partner for the planning phase which precedes sourcing, and then for sourcing itself and possibly a great recruitment firm to help you through the entire recruitment process.

The right sourcing partner can vastly improve the recruitment capability you possess, getting you talent that skyrocket your profits. A business is all about people and no one knows people as well as Alp Consulting, be it a small business or a bigger company it is providing HR consulting services for.

And it is with this intent that a subscription-based RPO has been started under the name of Rekpro. Want to know more about how a subscription-based RPO works? Talk to us today.

FAQs

What does sourcing candidates mean?

Sourcing refers to the process of searching for candidates to fill current and future job needs of the organization. 

What is candidate sourcing software?

Candidate sourcing software simplifies the process of sourcing by automating several tasks for sourcing experts and using AI to shortlist great candidates from prospects, based on parameters provided.

What is a Subscription based Recruitment?

Subscription based recruitment is a process where employers pay a monthly/yearly fee to the recruitment agency to get a certain number of candidates placed in your organization or other on-demand services. You can avail all has the same features as other subscription models and works in a similar way. It allows you to outsource all your hiring needs to an expert third party provider, giving you time to focus on core business operations as well as fetching you the best candidates for the open roles in your organization.

How exactly does the subscription model make a difference?

When employers commit to our services for a specific amount of time, not only do we get to fully concentrate and fulfil short term objectives but also build your employer brand and value proposition as an employer and communicate it in the best interests of the organization.

What is the process of subscription-based recruitment?

Subscription recruitment involves several stages. The process may vary a little depending on the package you have subscribed with the provider. But here is a general outline of the process.

Initial Consultation:

It starts with a detailed discussion with the recruitment service provider about your company’s hiring needs, goals, and preferences.

As the hiring company, you need to make sure that you provide all the necessary information. The types of roles you are hiring for, desired skills and qualifications and other preferences.

Customized/ tailor made recruitment Strategy:

Your third-party provider will collaborate with you to develop a customized recruitment strategy that aligns well with your company’s objectives to deliver the best outcomes. Factors that are involved in a strategic recruitment are- frequency of hiring, specific job roles, target candidate profiles, and any unique requirements.

Access to Tools and Resources:

Once the right strategy is set and is agreed upon by both parties, the recruitment service provider gives you access to recruitment platform, tools, and resources. This could include an access to their talent database, candidate tracking system, interview scheduling tools, and more.

Candidate Sourcing:

By using the best resources and tools like AI-driven algorithms, candidate databases job postings, and other methods, your service provider will source candidates that meet the described skills, qualifications, and job profile expectations.

Candidate Screening and Matching:

Initial screenings of candidates are conducted to assess their qualifications, skills, and alignment with your job roles. Matching algorithms may be used to pair candidates with relevant job openings.

Candidate Presentation:

A curated list of qualified candidates is presented after the screening process, for your review.

You can review candidate profiles, resumes, and other relevant information.

Interview Coordination:

As per your request or need, your service provider will assist you in scheduling and coordinating interviews between your hiring team and selected candidates.

Feedback and Selection:

After conducting interviews with the candidates, you can provide feedback to the service provider about the candidate interviews.

Based on your feedback, they may refine their search and continue to present candidates until suitable hires are identified.

Offer and Onboarding:

Once you select your preferred candidates you can extend job offers to the chosen candidates. Your recruitment partner will help you with negotiations and facilitate the onboarding process, ensuring a smooth transition for the new hires.

Ongoing Support:

Throughout the subscription period, the provider continues to offer support for any additional hiring needs that arise.

They may provide ongoing access to their recruitment tools, assist with candidate sourcing, and offer guidance as needed.

Metrics and Reporting:

Some of the top notch, reputed, experienced service providers like RekPro may provide regular reports and analytics on key recruitment metrics, such as the number of candidates sourced, interviews conducted, and hires made.

Renewal and Review:

At the end of the subscription period, you have the option to renew your subscription or adjust your plan based on your evolving needs.

It is important to note that the subscription-based recruitment process is designed to offer ongoing support and assistance throughout the entire hiring cycle. The specific steps and services may vary based on the provider and the level of subscription you choose.

Subscription-based Recruitment vs. Traditional Model of Working with an Agency?

Both the subscription-based recruitment model and the traditional recruitment model have their own advantages.

Depending on the company’s needs, either can be chosen.

When you work with a typical traditional recruitment agency you are charged an average of 20% fee on each hire. A traditional model majorly focusses on selecting candidates for specific positions or provide an outsourcing team.

The deciding factors could be-

Focus on hire– Unlike traditional recruitment, a subscription-based model allows systematic hiring where Recruiters work an extension of your existing team. The client company is given complete control over the process.

Cost efficiency– The subscription-based recruitment model reduces hiring costs in half due to monthly fees and predictability.

Features of Subscription RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)

The objectives of subscription-based recruitment services are to provide companies with flexibility, cost-effective recruitment, and a streamlined approach to hiring talent. The aim is to meet the evolving needs of businesses by offering ongoing recruitment services through a subscription arrangement.

Some of the key benefits of subscription-based recruitment models:

Unlimited Hiring: you can make multiple hires within the subscription-based model during the period defined, without incurring additional fees for each hire. Companies with high-volume or ongoing hiring needs, this is hugely beneficial for you!

Access to quality candidates Pool: A reputed agency like RekPro that demonstrates high efficiencies in providing subscription recruitment services provide you access to a database of pre-screened and qualified candidates. This expedites the hiring process by giving you access to potential candidates more quickly. 

Candidate Sourcing and Screening: Your third-party service provider will actively source and screen candidates, that can include resume reviews and initial screenings- for your job openings, helping you identify qualified candidates.

Customized Recruitment Strategy: The service provider works with you to develop a recruitment strategy that aligns with your company’s goals and needs.

Job Posting Assistance: We help organizations create effective job postings that attract the right candidates.

Interview Coordination: Some models assist in scheduling and coordinating interviews between candidates and your hiring team.

Employer Branding Support: As your third-party recruitment service provider we will help enhance your company’s employer brand to attract top talent and improve your reputation in the job market.

Analytics and Reporting: Many subscription-based models offer data and analytics to track the effectiveness of your recruitment efforts, such as the number of candidates sourced, interviews conducted, and hires made.

Cost Predictability: Subscription based models provide an affordable and predictable budget for recruitment expenses, which can help in deciding future finances.

Scalability: Subscription based recruitment accommodate fluctuations in hiring needs, allowing you to scale up or down as required.

Saves time: By outsourcing various recruitment tasks, you can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on candidate sourcing and screening.

Long-Term Relationship: Subscription-based models often foster a closer partnership between your company and the recruitment service provider, leading to a better understanding of your company’s culture and hiring preferences over time.

Additional Services: Depending on the provider, you might have access to additional services such as background checks, skills assessments, and onboarding support.

Are you Planning to Hire Employees?

If you are looking for a subscription RPO agency, Rekpro is your ideal partner. With an industry wide experience in the recruitment and staffing industry for the past 26 years, Alp’s capabilities to recruit and hire some of the topmost candidates across various fields far exceeds the clients’ expectations. Contact us and we will help you choose a recruitment model that works best for your unique business needs.