A LinkedIn study conducted on over 515 small businesses shows that most small businesses self-source their talents, with 75% of companies hiring their own employees, through personal contacts and networks. As a recruiter, there is a lot that you can do to provide added value to small businesses - but becoming an invaluable asset to a small company isn’t always straightforward. In this guide, you’ll find some key strategies to provide irreplaceable value to local small businesses.
First Impressions Count: Learning To Craft Compelling Job Listings
According to the survey above, online channels are the preferred method of sourcing new hires among small businesses, used by 65% of them - and cited as successful by 50% of the surveyed companies.
However, as a recruitment specialist, there is a lot that you can do to add value and increase the rate of success of online and social media recruitment campaigns - starting with crafting compelling job listings. Here are some key skills to develop:
- Highlight unique company perks: Showcase what sets your company apart, like flexible work hours or professional development opportunities.
- Use clear, concise language: Avoid jargon and opt for straightforward descriptions that candidates can easily understand.
- Use effective communication: Describe how the role contributes to the company's goals and mission, giving candidates a sense of purpose. Be sure to clearly outline required skills and qualifications.
- Incorporate SEO best practices: Use relevant keywords to ensure your job listing is discoverable by the right candidates online.
Cultivating A Stellar Employer Brand
One aspect small businesses often fail to focus on is their employer brand. That’s where a specialist can help. Through your experience and network, you can work with the employer to create a brand talents can reflect themselves in. Focus on aspects such as mission, vision, and values.
Nailing The Interview Process
Over the past years, the interview process has evolved significantly, adapting to new dynamics in the job market. Today, it is more of a tailored experience that reveals insights into candidate compatibility rather than a formality. Some strategies to nail the interview process you should hone include:
- Behavioural Interviews that focus on past performance as a predictor of future success
- Panel interviews to access varied perspectives on the candidate's fit
- Video and virtual interviews are convenient, efficient, and increasingly popular as the job market shift towards remote working
- Task-based interviews that involve the candidate engaging in real-world tasks
- Informal interviews: a relaxed setting can help you gauge the personality and cultural fit of a candidate
Data-Driven Decisions: Harnessing Software and Analytics In Hiring
In today's recruitment landscape, leveraging software to access relevant, accurate data is non-negotiable - and, as a recruiter, it is crucial to become familiar with these essential tools! Ad hoc software solutions not only streamline the hiring process but also enrich decisions with insights that human intuition may not be able to match.
The benefits?
- Improved candidate sourcing
- Enhanced applicant tracking
- More accurate matching based on skills and company culture
- Predictive analysis for future hiring needs
- Improved automation to save time (and money!)
By harnessing data analytics, recruiters can identify trends, anticipate challenges, and ultimately, make strategic hires that contribute to long-term company success.
Looking Beyond The Resume: Identifying Soft Skills That Matter
Of course, the skills and experience of a candidate matter when looking for the perfect new hire to join your team. But soft skills and personality match is just as important! By ditching the script, creating personalised interview processes, and looking beyond what’s written in the resume, you can make sure to find and retain candidates that more closely reflect the values and vision of your business.
Using social platforms revolutionises talent sourcing - and it allows you to transform every connection or online interaction into a potential recruitment opportunity. Platforms like LinkedIn are pivotal for discovering candidates, but it is also important not to overlook Twitter and Facebook for insights on personality and culture fit. The platform you choose to use as part of your recruitment strategy will also depend on your targeted talent pool.
What’s more, actively engaging in industry forums and virtual networking events can also help you discover hidden gems! By leveraging these digital arenas, recruiters not only broaden their talent pool but also gain real-time feedback on the evolving job market landscape, ensuring a dynamic recruitment strategy. This is a benefit that small businesses tackling recruitment with a DIY approach may not be able to access.
Enhancing The Candidate Experience: Making Every Interaction Count
Having a strategy in place to deliver the right candidate experience is essential. Considering this: according to the LinkedIn study seen above, while 80% of small businesses hire graduates, a mere 12% have formal graduate recruiting programs. This means that those graduates may not have the best of experiences when getting hired or they may lack the necessary onboarding and training needed to nurture their talent. This may cause them to leave the company after gaining some experience, which may affect your retention rate and drain the company’s budget.
Oppositely, using strategies like streamlined application processes, personalised communication, and transparent timelines - alongside structured onboarding and professional development courses - can help you retain the talents you’ve nurtured and lower your employee turnover rate.
Keeping A Growth Mindset: Investing In Self And Professional Development
According to a survey conducted by Gallup, one of the top priorities for top talents today is development and growth opportunities, as well as greater job security, flexibility, and compensation. Be sure to address all of these unmet needs when crafting a recruitment strategy for a small business.
With more competition for top talent, it pays for companies to consider all their advantages and the use of tools to assist in the quest to find talent. HireHive helps busy people hire great people. You can post jobs, streamline your online application process, improve the candidate experience, and tap into vast global networks by having your entire recruitment process in one place.
Set up a free trial account today. Contact HireHive to learn more.
