Launching a new recruitment drive can be challenging, especially if your small business doesn’t have a dedicated HR team. There are so many factors to consider:
● Budgets for recruitment advertising.
● Choosing between hiring employees and contracting freelancers.
● Allocating sufficient time for interviews and short-listing.
● Establishing a policy for reference checking.
Without a foundation of knowledge, it’s easy to miss out on the latest recruitment tools or spend more than you need to re-advertise if your previous hire didn’t work out.
Here we’ll talk about the best hiring practices for small businesses, from drafting your recruitment advert to retaining staff long-term.
Tips for Successful Small Business Recruitment
One key element for recruitment success is that a brand’s reputation is pivotal in the quality of applicants it receives. Your organization doesn’t have to be a market leader to recruit great employees, but having an ethos, values, and an engaging digital presence are all factors potential applicants are likely to be incentivized by.
There are essentially 3 types of startup firms. Which type you identify as should be stated in your advert, expressing the nature of your business and the opportunities it offers.
Now let’s look at some of the practical steps you can incorporate before publishing your next recruitment posting.
Focus on the Skill, Not the Title
It’s all too easy to post an ad in a mad panic when you’re desperate for another set of hands. However, taking a considered approach is far more effective in fulfilling the business need.
Let’s say you need to hire a content writer for your website.
● Do you need an experienced copywriter as a full-time hire?
● Could you complete the work much faster with a contracted freelancer, without the ongoing cost?
● What skills are essential to fulfilling the demands of this role?
A person’s old employee title is an arbitrary indicator of a candidate’s experience and can be misleading. Therefore, it’s not something to base an important decision on. Spend your time analyzing your requirements and matching them to the qualities and skills of your candidate. You’ll end up with a more suitable hire than someone who happens to have been employed with the same job title you’ve used in your recruitment correspondence.
Establish the Scope of a Vacancy From Day One
Scope creep is a well-known problem in the freelance world. In essence, it means a business has recruited without really defining the duties and responsibilities of the role. It starts to pile on new demands after a smooth initial phase.
Your scope will dictate everything, from the experience level necessary to the salary you offer, so you must be clear about the job requirements before conducting a single interview.
Get the scope right, and you’ll never run into issues like having to re-train existing staff to meet your needs or recruit a second time if your hire cannot fulfill all the requirements.
Work on Retention Alongside Recruitment
There are no two ways about it – hiring people costs money. Retention is a vital component of the best cost-effective recruitment strategies and saves a considerable expense over time.
Nobody wants to feel demotivated in their role, so consider your expectations from your new hire and what you’re offering in return:
● Fair pay for the responsibility level
● Comprehensive benefits
● Work/life balance
● A supportive work environment
● Good employee communications
Happy staff work harder, so it’s well worth evaluating the role’s salary to ensure it aligns with the commitment you expect.
Future-Proofing Small Business Hiring Practices
Finally, before you take on a new hire, it’s wise to refresh your employment policies and contractual terms to ensure they’re all relevant and up to date. An employee handbook detailing your business policies is helpful, although not a legal requirement. Otherwise, you’ll need to set up personnel files for each new staff member and ensure employee benefits are detailed in your contracts, including things like health insurance and 401(k) plans.
You’ll save on headaches further down the line if you get your documentation right, so it’s a crucial step in the recruitment process.
