Recruitment tips for small businesses

Good staff are the backbone of any business, small or large. Getting the right people can be time consuming, frustrating and sometimes fruitless, but if you get it right, your business is better for it.

Know what and who you’re looking for

Finding the right person for a role is not just about finding a specific skill-set. More importantly, it’s about finding someone who fits with your business. Ideally they would have the skills you need, the personality to fit in with the existing team, and they would share the ethos and vision of the business you’ve built. Do they fit your culture and is who they say they are, aligned with how previous employers have found them?

Sound tough, it can be, which brings us to our next point...

Don't rush

Employing the wrong person can be costly and damaging to your business, and sometimes it can be harder to get rid of someone than it was to find them in the first place. Therefore, if you advertise and interview, and no one seems quite right, try again. If that doesn’t work, take a break and try again later. In the meantime...

Have a back-up plan

No one person should be indispensible, and that includes you, the business owner. If a business can’t operate without one person for decent chuck of time, there’s something wrong with your business model. If you’re having trouble hiring, think about ways you could buy time. Maybe one of your existing staff members or even someone you know could step into the role temporarily, maybe you could hire a temp or offer overtime, or maybe you could spread the role over multiple people to share the load.

You're not creating a clone army

When we talk about finding someone who fits with your business, we don’t mean hiring clones. Difference is important in successful teams. This doesn’t just mean gender and ethnic diversity, it also means hiring a variety of different personality types. A whole team of type A personalities isn’t going to work, just like a whole team of big picture thinkers isn’t going to work if there is no one to provide a reality check.

Invest in training

Don't automatically jump to recruiting if you need to fill a skills gap. Finding the personality fit for you business is usually harder than finding the right skills. Take a look around. Maybe you already have someone who would be keen for more responsibility or someone who is a quick learner or who would be keen to try something new. This way, you’ll save on recruitment and on boarding costs and you’ll increase job satisfaction for the valued staff you have.

Find out more about growing a successful business.

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