Small business recruitment
With the rising cost of living and a lack of fully qualified applicants, small business recruitment is becoming more competitive across Canada. The good news? There are simple and cost-effective ways to improve hiring and retention efforts. If attracting top talent and keeping them on board is a challenge at your organization, a talent management program can help. Here is what we know:
- Small businesses can have a hard time recruiting and retaining qualified professionals.
- Using HR best practices from the biggest companies can level the game for small businesses.
- Hiring and retaining talent can boost performance for companies, especially smaller ones.
- Leverage surveys and employee feedback to gather intelligence and lay out plans to improve your HR strategies.
Small business recruitment and talent management
Talent management encompasses how an organization attracts, hires, and onboards applicants, motivates employees, and develops staff to grow with the company. This approach can improve business outcomes by enhancing employee performance, boosting engagement, and optimizing retention. Larger organizations may have an entire department dedicated to talent management—but small business owners can also use talent management techniques to make a meaningful impact on their people.
Here are five effective talent management strategies from our experts to help your small business attract the best candidates.
Small business recruitment strategies
1. Attract job candidates by making a big impression
Talent management starts with hiring the right talent. To do so, you must create the best candidate experience possible. Find out how job applicants experience your organization’s recruitment process and where you’re going wrong by creating surveys for applicants after they complete the recruitment process.
This is particularly important if candidates are turning down their job offers. When you receive their responses, you’ll identify areas to improve your hiring approach to make a better impression. This could include improving your response times or the length of the recruitment process. You may also want to review your benefits and compensation and compare them to the market average.
2. Widen your candidate pool by offering an employee referral program
If your small business struggles to recruit and retain talent, look to the employees you already have to provide referrals. Employees will be more likely to partake in the employee referral program if an incentive is offered. Incentives could include cash rewards, but you don’t have to limit them to that.
Added discounts on the products or services you provide, gift cards, or time off are all great incentives. Remember, it’s a best practice to define what the incentives are and how they are achieved. That way, everyone knows how to provide referrals and how everyone benefits from them.
3. Make the best first impression with an engaging onboarding program
The quality of a small business and its recruitment and onboarding program contributes to retention and an employee’s success in their role. To facilitate a positive onboarding experience, keep yourself organized and on track with an onboarding checklist. This checklist should detail what to do before an employee’s first day, on their first day, and during their first week, month, and three months.
Be prepared for your new hires. Supporting them as they acclimate and setting performance expectations sets the tone for the employment relationship. By providing a memorable experience for new hires from the outset, you enhance your reputation in the market for potential employees.
4. Reward and recognize employees in meaningful but cost-effective ways
Small businesses may not have the recruitment and hiring budget to show their appreciation with significant raises and bonuses. But there are other ways to recognize employee efforts. Our experts suggest:
- Fostering peer-to-peer recognition;
- Holding friendly competitions; and
- Providing exposure and development opportunities through stretch assignments and special projects.
Provide timely recognition and build rapport and trust with your team inclusively.
5. When workers leave, find out why and improve your employee experience where applicable
Many small businesses lack a recruitment and retention specialist and may not have a full-time HR person, making the termination process challenging. However, it’s important to gather feedback from departing employees through an exit survey.
This survey should address compensation, training, management, working conditions, workload, and company culture. Analyzing the responses will reveal why employees leave, helping you identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to enhance recruitment and retention.
Recruitment and retention planning is a growing HR trend… and a concern for SMEs.
According to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, there are 1.22 million companies in Canada, of which 1.21 million are small or medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Many of these SMEs are worried about recruitment and retention. A recent report from Equifax shows that 53% of Canadian SME owners are concerned about staffing issues, including attracting and retaining qualified workers.
Experiencing hiring challenges and not sure how to start? Let us help!
With Canadian experts in HR and Health & Safety, helping companies of any size achieve the most from their people is what we do best. Citation Canada can help your small business with recruitment challenges by offering solutions that fit your needs and plans priced for any budget. Or, book a personalized demo with one of our experts at a time that works for you and see our services and live advice support in action.
Effectively managing your people doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. By using our templates and feedback surveys in conjunction with HR best practices and our live health and safety advice, you can leverage the software and tools where you need them. With our team of HR experts on your side, you can create and implement a plan to streamline the recruitment and hiring process and increase employee retention.