The job market has become increasingly competitive. Employees are entering the workforce with higher expectations and are much quicker to transition, not only in jobs within their industry, but careers all together. This can be both scary and overwhelming as an employer, especially when you’re trying to hire for your growing business.

So how do you keep on top of finding and keeping the best talent for your small business?

Here are some key strategies to consider:

1. Be Specific With Recruitment Objectives

When planning to hire, be as clear and detailed as possible with your overall objectives. How many employees do you need to hire? Who are you looking for and when will you need them to start? Set target timelines and be sure to include a contingency plan for unforeseen issues that may arise during the hiring process.

Orientation and onboarding are often forgotten in these timelines, which can lead to a new employees early departure if they are feeling lost and not welcomed during the preliminary phase. So be sure to include it in your plan.

2. Design an Authentic Recruiting Message and Brand

Similar to selling a product, your employment brand should stand out to potential talent. It’s important that your vision and values come through in your message and that it’s authentic. Establishing your message and brand will not only attract top talent specific to your organization but also help align internal teams with overall business goals and objectives.

3. Identify Who You Want

Think about what constitutes your ideal employee. How do they align with the vision and values of your business? What skills, knowledge and abilities do they have and how does that show up in business? Put yourself in a potential candidates shoes – what are they looking for from an employer? How do you need to adjust to attract this type of talent?

4. Reach Top Talent

With a clear vision of your ideal employee, the next step is to find them. In the current job market you have to be proactive. With so many avenues to market your business, it provides an excellent opportunity to get creative and stand out from other employers. Be bold. Think outside the box.

BusinessInsider.com and Forbes provide great examples around creative recruiting that are worth considering.

5. Technology

Job boards and career pages have been around for almost two decades, however technology is ever-changing. One current web trend, which is affecting recruitment, is mobile optimization. With 63 per cent of web browsing now done through a mobile device, having an optimized career page lends well to your employment brand. Take it one-step further, and create a mobile friendly application process that is fast and easy to use to attract potential candidates from a technology perspective.

6. Manage the Entire HR Cycle

It is important to have a clear, concise plan, for your entire employee life cycle, right through to termination. Investing the time to not only find but keep the right people for your business will help avoid increased turnover and in turn yield a higher return on investment (ROI). In addition to the recruitment component, here are three important factors within the HR cycle that will support building a quality long term workforce:

• Comprehensive on-boarding and orientation processes – both should provide clear expectations and support systems to ensure a smooth transition from new employee to engaged employee.
• Solid performance management system – to provide probationary support and maintain ongoing top performance levels of your employees.
• Exit interviews – to provide insight for improvement from the hiring prospective and for the overall business. Even with an ideal employee, one who is committed and engaged there is always potential for an unexpected exit. Involving a third party in this process often helps to alleviate tension, allowing employees to be more open to discuss their concerns and provide honest feedback.

Developing an effective system for hiring and retaining key employees is imperative for your bottom line. Understanding value of your people will give your business a competitive edge and in the long term a significant effect on profitability and longevity.

Retain Top Talent With Our Help

Small Business BC regularly hosts seminars on HR and how it can help your small business. Click Here to see our upcoming educational opportunities in this area.