Setting SMEs up for Recruitment Success
For a small business it can be a bit daunting trying to compete with the bigger organisations for great talent. Larger corporates seem to have all the competitive advantages and funding to assist their search process. But there are ways for small businesses to compete and improve their recruitment processes to ensure they appeal to great candidates and more importantly find candidates that align with their business.
We have put together some tips on how to improve your recruitment process as a small business and to set your business up for success.
Use your size to your advantage
Being a smaller business has advantages that you may not realise, and it can be attractive to many employees. Being small makes you adaptable to an employee’s needs and allows you to tailor the role to them. You might be able to offer flexibility around work hours, or changes in workflow processes that might be more appealing to a candidate. This option to be flexible and agile is much more challenging for larger organisations.
Another advantage is your business culture. Often big companies don’t have the intimate, more tight knit culture you can find in a smaller business. So, promote this during your hiring process. The candidate may well be interested in a workplace where everyone knows each other well and is a supportive, well connected culture.
Descriptive personality reports
Larger organisations often use psychometric assessment in their selection process. But there is a misconception that this is expensive and only for larger companies. Many of our clients are SMEs that utilise psychometric assessment as a powerful, affordable tool to screen their candidates in the hiring process. There are reliable personality assessments such as the Myers-Briggs or the DiSC questionnaire that are affordable and invaluable in selecting candidates. These assessments highlight personality, strengths, working style and development areas, plus give the benefit of providing insights into whether the candidate will align with your businesses culture. For a small investment you can make your hiring process significantly more informed and effective. We can’t express enough how important cultural and skill fit is important for small and medium enterprises. A new recruit has a profound impact on the culture and performance in smaller teams, so it is vital to pick the right person and also importantly ensure the role is also right for them.
Accurate job descriptions
Out of many applications, an accurate and comprehensive job description will act as a screening tool and help narrow down the job candidates. This gives the applicant the confidence of knowing exactly what the role is and turns away those who don’t feel suited to the role. This lets the employer save time on screening and interviewing. A good description should be clear about what the responsibilities of the job are and who the employer is looking for. We also suggest asking other employees to explain the job and the organisation if they are involved in the interview process. Their explanation creates a more thorough description from an employee’s perspective.
An accurate job description should also include a description of your business culture and express what type of personality is likely to thrive in it. When a potential candidate reads your job description, they should have a clear picture of what is like to be a part of your business and whether they would fit into the culture.
Added Benefits
It can be difficult to match remuneration packages with some bigger organisations that have national or international scale. However, when offering the job you should think about perks that make the role more attractive. Added benefits can help a small business compete against the bigger organisations in ways that you might not have originally considered. List everything you can, they might feel small to you but are important to others. This could be onsite parking, good work-life balance, optional home-based working, tea and coffee, local lunch discounts or local day care options. It is valuable to think about who you are trying to attract for the role and what added benefits might be relevant to them.
Have a Probationary Period
When a small business is hiring a new candidate, like mist organisations, they should always consider utilising a probation period. This time period doesn’t need to be long, but enough time to give you a good sense of the new employee’s skills and working style. This period helps the onboarding process, by giving the employee time to understand the workflow with less pressure. And if you are happy with the results, you can extend their role to a permanent basis.
Fair Work states this period can be between a few weeks and a few months and suggests a performance system checklist which can be found on their probation page. We also suggest looking at their additional resources to help manage probation. This tool not only gives you more confidence in your hiring process but gives the new employee a chance to get a feel for the role as well.
Use your size to your advantage Have a trial period Accurate job descriptions Perks Descriptive personality reports Makes the short list faster
If you want to audit or improve your recruitment process contact us today or visit our website to learn more www.incorporatepsychology.com.au or contact us at info@incorporatepsychology.com.au (07) 3852 2441.
