The inability to recruit suitable staff poses a significant challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This difficulty stems from several factors including attracting the right candidates, competition with larger businesses and retention challenges.
While the recruitment and retention of suitable staff remain a challenge for SMEs, understanding these issues and implementing creative solutions can help overcome them and ensure the growth and sustainability of the business.
We interviewed Team Manager, Liam Hickey, and asked for his top tips for overcoming the challenges of recruiting suitable staff.
What strategies can be implemented to attract qualified candidates?
Strong Employer Branding: Develop a strong employer brand that resonates with potential candidates. This involves creating a positive image and reputation as an employer.
Define Your Brand: Clearly define what your brand stands for. This includes your company’s vision, mission, and the values you uphold. It’s essential to communicate what sets your company apart from competitors.
Articulate Your Mission, Values, and Culture: Prospective employees are attracted to organisations where they can align with the mission and values. Clearly articulating these elements can draw candidates who are a good cultural fit.
Showcase Your Uniqueness: Highlight the unique aspects of working at your company. This could be innovative projects, career growth opportunities, or a supportive work environment.
Employee Testimonials: Use real stories from current employees to showcase their experiences. This provides authentic insights into the company culture and work life.
Consistent Messaging: Ensure that your employer brand message is consistent across all platforms, including your website, social media, and job postings. Consistency helps in building trust and recognition.
Research Recruitment Channels: Identify the most effective channels for reaching your target candidates. This could include professional networks, industry-specific job boards, or social media platforms. Use your networks and contacts to spread the word about open positions.
By implementing these strategies, SMEs can enhance their visibility in the job market and attract candidates who are not just qualified, but also a great fit for the company culture.
What are your top tips for writing job descriptions and advertisements to appeal to the right candidates?
Understand Your Ideal Candidate: Dive deep into the professional aspirations, values, and motivations of your ideal candidate. Learn what drives their satisfaction and career choices to create a connection.
Craft a Candidate Persona: Use the insights gathered to develop a detailed candidate persona. This will guide the tone and content of your job description to resonate with the right applicants.
Clear Job Titles: Opt for job titles that are straightforward and align with common industry terminology. This ensures clarity and helps candidates find your listing easily.
Company Culture Showcase: Go beyond the basics in describing your company. Offer a vivid picture of your organisation’s culture, values, and goals to attract candidates who share similar ideals.
Mission and Vision Statement: Clearly articulate your company’s mission and vision. This gives potential candidates a glimpse of the bigger picture and their role within it.
Highlight Role Benefits: Emphasise the advantages of the role, including opportunities for growth, work-life balance, and any unique perks that set your company apart.
Detail Compensation and Benefits: Be transparent about the salary range, health benefits, retirement plans, and other incentives offered by your company.
Qualifications and Skills: Specify the necessary qualifications, skills, and experience required for the role to ensure applicants understand the expectations.
Realistic Expectations: Set achievable expectations to avoid deterring well-qualified candidates who might be a perfect fit for the role.
Action-Oriented Language: Use dynamic verbs to describe the job responsibilities, making the role sound proactive and important.
Engaging Role Description: Make the job sound exciting and engaging, highlighting how the role contributes to the company’s success.
Inclusive Language: Use language that is inclusive and non-gender-specific to welcome a diverse range of applicants.
Jargon-Free: Avoid industry jargon that could alienate candidates with transferable skills who may not be familiar with specific terms.
Day-to-Day Responsibilities: Provide a clear outline of the daily tasks and responsibilities to give candidates a realistic understanding of the role.
What are some effective ways to leverage social media and online platforms for recruitment?
Identify Key Platforms: Determine which social media platforms are most effective for your company’s engagement. Consider where your potential candidates are likely to spend their time and whether those platforms are conducive to job searching.
LinkedIn Utilisation: While LinkedIn is a primary resource for professional networking and job searching, expand your reach by integrating your company’s broader social profile. Direct potential candidates to interact with diverse content that showcases your business, such as informative and engaging videos on YouTube.
Multi-Channel Approach: To ensure the widest reach, utilise all available social media channels. This includes not only LinkedIn and YouTube but also platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and industry-specific forums or networks.
Employee Advocacy: Encourage your employees to become brand ambassadors on their personal social media accounts. Their advocacy can significantly amplify your brand’s visibility and credibility, making it more attractive to potential candidates.
What are your top tips to improve a company’s brand to make it more attractive to potential employees?
Transparent Website: Ensure your website clearly communicates your business activities and core values. Include sections like “Day in the Life” featuring staff feedback and experiences to give candidates a real insight into working at your company.
Employee Spotlight: Celebrate the individuals who contribute to your company’s success. Use profiles, interviews, or feature stories to spotlight their achievements and the role they play in building the company and its products.
Culture Promotion: Use online content to showcase your company culture. Highlight events, team-building activities, and community involvement to demonstrate the vibrant life within the company.
Clear Mission Statement: Articulate your mission statement in a way that is easy to understand and resonates with the values and goals of potential employees.
Supportive Environment: Foster a supportive work environment that encourages growth, learning, and collaboration. Share stories and testimonials that reflect this supportive atmosphere.
What are the current trends in compensation and benefits to be aware of?
Value-Aligned Benefits: Today’s job seekers are looking for benefits that go beyond salary. Non-cash benefits such as professional development opportunities, wellness programmes, and community involvement initiatives can set your company apart. These benefits should reflect your company’s values and culture.
Transparency: Be upfront about the salary range and benefits package. This includes healthcare options, pension plans, and any other financial incentives. Transparency builds trust and helps candidates make informed decisions.
Flexibility and Work-Life Balance: Emphasise the importance of flexibility in your roles. Whether it’s through remote work options, flexible hours, or generous leave policies, showing that you value work-life balance can be a significant draw for potential employees.
What are your top tips to streamline interview and selection processes to identify suitable candidates more effectively?
Prioritise Requirements: Clearly define what you’re looking for in a candidate. Determine the relative importance of qualifications, experience, and team fit. While all are ideal, prioritise them based on the role’s needs.
Careful Candidate Profiling: Develop a detailed candidate profile to ensure that only those who truly fit the job description and company culture are invited to interview.
Leverage Internal Talent: Don’t overlook the potential of your current employees. They understand the company culture and processes and could be the best fit for new roles.
Employee Referrals: Encourage your staff to refer candidates. They’re likely to recommend people who understand the job’s demands and who they believe will fit well within the team.
Selective Interviewing: Trust your screening process and be selective about who you invite to interview. If a candidate doesn’t seem right on paper, they likely won’t be the right fit in person.
What are some common mistakes businesses make during the recruitment process and how can businesses avoid them?
Focusing primarily on candidate qualifications rather than considering a holistic view of their attributes can be a short-sighted approach in the recruitment process.
While qualifications are important, they don’t always equate to success in a role. A candidate with impressive credentials may lack other essential attributes such as adaptability, cultural fit, or soft skills that contribute significantly to their performance and integration into a team.
Candidates with fewer qualifications might possess a high potential for growth, innovation, and the ability to quickly learn new skills. By overlooking these candidates, businesses may miss out on dynamic individuals who could bring fresh perspectives and drive future success.
The ability of a candidate to mesh well with the existing team and company culture is often as important as their qualifications. A highly qualified individual who cannot work collaboratively or align with the company’s values may disrupt team harmony and productivity.
A diverse workforce brings a range of experiences, viewpoints, and problem-solving skills. Over-focusing on qualifications can inadvertently lead to a homogenous workforce, stifling creativity and innovation.
It is important to interview as many people as possible, give everyone a chance – unless their application is truly awful – and if their personality is right try and build the job around them.
About Newable
For over 4 decades, Newable has been supporting thousands of businesses every year through the provision of Money, Advice and Workspace. An employee-owned business with a commitment to creating positive impact in all that we do, our team are on hand to help your business today.
Find out more about how Newable can help you and your business.