In April of last year, we posted a blog called “Right Person, Right Time.” This blog by Lorna Kibbey, owner of Lorna Kibbey Leadership Solutions was part of our CARES Program and has been one of our most popular blogs. In a post-pandemic world, where it is difficult to find the right person and hiring shortages are common, we get asked this question often:
What is the best way to find good employees?
Read the blog highlighted above; it will give you some great information on how to plan, interview and hire the right person for your small business.
In this blog, we’ll talk about finding good employees that will be dedicated to improving your business.
How to hire employees:
The first thing you should do is discover your own small business attributes. If you were an employee, looking for work, what would you look for in a job? Here are some ideas that make your small business an attractive place to work:
- Team-based environment: People like to be part of a team, not a hierarchy. Companies who have a team-based environment are fun places to work and can attract more like-minded employees.
- Open culture: Is your business open to new ideas, new ways of doing things and overall innovation?
- Sense of community: Similar to a team-based environment, yet expanded to include the people you serve. Perhaps your business helps the less fortunate, or rewards employees for helping customers and each other.
- Competitive salary: Money talks! Do you offer benefits, wages above your competitors, or maybe bonus options?
- Job Description: What about the job you are offering makes it interesting or attractive?
Quality employees – Where to look:
The “old way” of looking for new, quality employees was fairly straight forward: write a job description, run an ad, take applications, interview, and hire. Today’s business, with “Help Wanted” signs everywhere would make it appear that the old way isn’t working.
I’m sure you already know: it isn’t working! Not only is the old way not garnering quality employees, but Census data will also tell you that the majority of people who took a new job, weren’t searching for one: someone came and found them, offering them a better job.
So how do you find quality employees for your small business, especially when you aren’t big enough to outsource the job, like bigger companies. Here are some ideas:
- Advertise on social media: The big companies hire other big companies to mine social media for good candidates. You can do the same thing, on your own. Use platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to advertise the job(s) you have available. It is also a good way to approach individuals that have the skill set for the position you have available.
- Use a staffing agency: Maybe you like a “Try before you buy” approach. Staffing agencies are perfect for this type of hiring.
- Use a recruiter: Recruiters are often great to use for your upper management positions. Recruiters took a hit during the pandemic, so there are several out there, willing to work for less commission and able to offer possible candidates.
- Ask your friends, employees, and customers: Talk about the type of person you would like to hire, then ask if anyone knew of someone who would fit your employee preference.
- Keep your eyes open: Perhaps the barista that never forgets your Monday two pump, no-fat and no-whip blonde late’ would be perfect for remembering your order catalog in your specialty clothing store.
Once you’ve found those “unicorn” employees, have done the interview and have hired them; there are a few tips and tricks to keeping quality employees.
In my next blog, we’ll talk about how to keep quality employees by creating a “best place to work” environment.
For additional resources on how to find quality employees in this tight hiring environment, and for ideas on how to make your small business an attractive place to work, please contact our experts at the Small Business Development Center – SBDC – serving Collin and Rockwall Counties, Texas.
Blog post by: Steve Shalosky
