Small businesses often struggle to find the right talent for suitable open positions. Large corporations have a monetary benefit to get the right role for their open positions. They can offer significant wages and can pay more for job advertisements, reaching a wider job-seeking audience. How can small businesses or startups compete with them to get the right talent?
Believe it or not, small businesses do have a benefit over large companies. They just need to use the right tactics to draw in top talent from the market. To start, your company must have a solid identity that differentiates it from the competition. Here’s how you can begin engaging and hiring qualified candidates.
How Small Businesses Can Compete Big Companies – Top Ways
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Here are the ways that a small business can compete with large enterprises for a top talent hunt.
Offer Unique Perks
Of course, you need to offer your employees benefits like health insurance, paid time off, and retirement benefits to acquire top talent. However, you should also look into unique perks to attract top talent, and perks aren’t just extras or afterthoughts. They are crucial to drawing in candidates and are often considered more important than a slightly higher wage.
There is a very real competition for qualified employees, and perks may be the decision tipping point for many candidates. You can offer unique perks — the more original, the better. However, don’t go outside what your employees want or require because they won’t notice that. Take a poll or use HR analytics to determine the types of perks your family of employees would enjoy.
Remember, a perk is not a perk if it only benefits the organization. For example, a free uniform is not a perk, and access to parking and the use of the elevator or lift are not perks; they are just basics. What are some unique perks that other companies have used to their benefit? Having a bring-your-dog-to-work day is a fun way to relieve your employees’ work stress.
Access to free lunches often goes over well. On-site childcare, where parents have access to their children during the day is a great perk for them. Some companies offer sleep pods for quick naps during lunch breaks to boost employees’ energy levels. Others have playground equipment and fun games like ping pong or pool to help workers stay relaxed during the day.
Provide Flexibility
A hybrid work schedule is significant for all employees because it offers them the opportunity to work from home for some days or over one month. This technique assists them in building a work-life balance for a better lifestyle. So, offering flexible schedules and remote work opportunities is a great way to attract top talent, even if your business is small.
Following COVID-19, workers left the workforce in huge numbers and decided that they would not return to a traditional nine-to-five job routine. They are seeking work that allows them to have access to their life, their way. Flexibility at work is one way to offer team members the freedom they desire with the job they need. Moreover, flexible work hours can often boost productivity, so you should recruit remote talent for enhanced growth.
They may work in the morning or show up in the afternoon, according to your requirement and their flexibility. Or they may not show up at all and work from home instead. However, they work efficiently, completing projects earlier and in less time. You’ll see an increase in workplace morale. Employees aren’t forced to sit at their desks even when work for the day is caught up.
While employees may clock out early, their work is done. Absenteeism and turnover rates may decrease as workers are able to genuinely manage their personal responsibilities and workload effectively. Further, flexible schedules create a sense of ownership and accountability in employees. Knowing they have control over their work hours fosters a feeling of trust between staff and management.
They’re more likely to take pride in their work, ensuring that deadlines are met and projects are completed to the highest standard. With flexible work, you show that you trust your staff. They will work when necessary and keep up on all important tasks. You may find that their relationship with their supervisor improves.
Since workers have more control over their schedule, so that way they feel respected, honoured, and valued. They’re more likely to openly communicate issues and successes with their seniors to have the best outcomes in terms of mental well being. Overall job satisfaction may rise, leading to a more relaxed company culture, which, in turn, attracts top talent from the market.
Cultivate an Exceptional Company Culture
Would you want to work in a place where the employees are relaxed and laugh a lot? Or somewhere where everyone seems stressed out and on edge? Most people would choose the more relaxed environment, even if it offered a lower salary. Company culture plays a huge role in job satisfaction. It is for that reason that many candidates consider it when choosing a new job.
Managing your company culture is important because it affects your recruiting efforts. By encouraging a culture that employees love (and candidates want), you can ensure that top talent will seek your company out. You’ll not only recruit the best, but you’ll retain them as well with extra power and energy.
You may think, “We’re too small of a business to have a company culture.” But that simply isn’t true. However, you may not have actively set out to develop one, but culture creates itself. Perhaps you’re not aware of your culture because it’s not as strong as in major corporations, but it still exists there.
Look for signs like how employees communicate, how they handle inner conflicts and the level of collaboration and support they offer one another. If there’s frequent laughter and teamwork, you’re likely cultivating a positive, and collaborative culture. However, if employees are disengaged or tense, it might point to a more toxic or stressful environment.
Competing for Top Talent Hunt
It’s important to find the right people for the job, so develop a comprehensive recruitment strategy to hunt the top talent. Make sure candidates know your perks, flexibility, and culture through the job description, your career web page, or social media platforms.
When you are a small business, you are competing with the sharks for top talent from the local market. However, success is not out of reach with effective recruiting strategies. Candidates should know what makes your small company unique from others. Your ability to respond with creativity, adapt to new innovations, and provide for the needs of your employees can give you a competitive edge against larger companies.
These factors may make you a good fit, even if the pay is not as high as the corporations across the street. Emphasize your close-knit environment, growth potential, and personalized attention to employees’ career development. In this way, you will be able to have the right fit for your company’s position and have a higher growth rate.
