Let’s face it, when it comes to hiring new staff for your small or medium business it can be a little daunting. If you make the wrong choice it can have major ramifications for your business and your back pocket. It’s important that you focus on attracting the right talent for your business.
Hiring right is not just about choosing the person with the best skills or experience. The person needs to be able to fit in and work well with your current team members.
You might also think that you start on the back foot trying to compete for the best staff against larger organisations. But small businesses have many other things to offer to potential employees.
The first real difference is that positions usually have a larger job scope. People at smaller businesses usually wear more hats, providing more variety than roles at large corporates.
As the owner and boss you can easily decide what flexibility you can offer – work from home, earlier or later start times to name a few. In large organisations there are policy and procedures to follow to get anything out of the ordinary approved and it can be difficult and take time. You skip all that with a simple yes or no.
If your business is growing fast you can also offer advancement opportunities for key staff roles that can take longer to become available in slower growing larger firms.
The other big attraction is you can offer a share in the profits. While this is not something you would want to offer right off the bat, it is something you can throw on the table for future consideration if things are going well. Giving key staff some skin in the game can also make them work harder and increase loyalty ensuring your staff stay for the long term.
Probably the best tip for any business, not matter what size, is never to stop recruiting. One of the biggest issues for growing businesses is finding talent. If you are continually looking for the right talent you can have potentials ready to call when the time is right to employ new staff. So start a potential hire list today.
Don’t forget to use your existing team to help promote working for you. After all who knows your business better than your own team? You can reward successful referrals with cash bonus, gift cards or even an extra day off.
And remember don’t settle. It will take time to find the right person.