Tips for Attracting New Hires to Your Small Business
Small businesses face many challenges, but one of the most difficult is acquiring quality talent while competing with other, larger companies with more resources. If you’re struggling to attract quality candidates for your small business, check out our tips for finding new hires below.
Embrace the Benefits of Smallness
Instead of trying to fight against framing your business’s size as a problem and deterrent to attracting new talent, emphasize the benefits it can offer. Embrace the small business model and show the benefits it can offer when attracting new hires.
Not every person wants to work in a huge, corporate company and prefers an organization where they can make more of a difference. When recruiting and posting on job boards, emphasize the advantages of a small business, such as the greater opportunity for advancement and the tight-knit feel of the company.
Offer Non-Monetary Perks
As a small business, it’s challenging to compete with the big guys regarding salary and pay offerings. So, to help balance the scales, consider sweetening the job offer with more non-monetary perks for candidates, including the following:
- Work-from-home opportunity
- Flexible hours
- Additional paid time off
- Experiential rewards (company retreats and outings)
- Paid time off for volunteering
- Casual dress policy
Some candidates may prefer having the flexibility of working from home or having more vacation days over a higher starting salary. If working from home isn’t possible for your business, consider adding more office perks to make it more enjoyable for everyone to come into work, like an added break room.
Recruit Veterans
Military veterans are considered among the best resources for untapped hiring talent and have a lot to offer small businesses. Hiring and retaining military veterans offers many advantages to businesses of any size, as these candidates are uniquely qualified with leadership training and team-building experience.
Many federal programs offer grants and tax breaks to businesses that hire military veterans with physical disabilities. Either way, a veteran has much to offer your small business!
Solicit Employee Referrals
Often, the best resource for a small business looking for candidates are its current employees. If you’re searching for candidates, let your current employees know about the open position, the qualifications you’re looking for, and if they know anyone who might fit the bill.
Many companies offer employee referral programs that reward the employee if a candidate states they were referred by the employee and they end up getting hired. Plus, it helps to talk to those directly working with the new hire about the qualifications they think would make for a good candidate.
