4 Recruitment Challenges and Solutions for Small Business Owners

Regardless of the size, duration of the business, or the industry, every small business faces countless challenges on a daily basis. Access to capital is arguably the biggest barrier to every business owner’s ability to deal with these difficulties and problems.

This 5-part series, How Smart Finance Can Solve Big Problems for Small Businesses, outlines some of the most common stumbling blocks on the path of small business owners, as well as smart solutions. intelligently and effectively to overcome these challenges. Learn how to deal with hiring frustrations, cash flow woes, business owner burnout, customer retention issues, and time management struggles, and how to be proactive instead of react when accessing capital that you need to face these problems confront.

4 Recruitment Challenges and Solutions for Small Business Owners

Small businesses can face any challenge from the size of the company to a lack of resources, and few of them are as inevitable and insurmountable as finding the right employees. . According to The Megaphone of Main Street Small Business Jobs report, half of small businesses said hiring new employees was the top challenge they faced in 2017.

Key highlights from the report that show many problems among small businesses when it comes to hiring:

• 51.3% did not find qualified candidates (when it comes to skills and expertise)
• 26.2% need a raise or raise to compete
• 12.9% need to offer other benefits to attract employees

Hiring the right staff can be overwhelming, but understanding the challenges you’re facing can help your small businesses move forward strategically. Here are four of the most common hiring frustrations for business owners and how to fix them:

1. Find qualified candidates

It’s not uncommon for small business owners to have a limited number of qualified candidates to choose from compared to larger companies with more recruiting sources. If you want to hire new talent without spending a lot of money, often the best way is to actively search for candidates using social networks like LinkedIn or Facebook, and encourage your friends and employees to do the same thing — word of mouth is powerful and costs you nothing.

You may also need to shift your approach from hiring the cheapest labor you can find — say, recent college grads — to looking for more experienced candidates. . You’ll find that by hiring more experienced employees who are mature, self-starters, and don’t need constant supervision, you’ll free up your time for more important things.

Casting a wider net is worthwhile to find the right candidate. Since recruiting is a long-term investment in your company and can be dramatically accelerated, it can be well worth it. Actively seek funding to invest in this process. Once you’ve carefully calculated your return on investment, you can create a smart borrowing strategy to help you bring in the right talent that will help your business grow.

2. Offer competitive salary

One of the biggest recruiting challenges for small business owners is offering competitive salaries. While you might be tempted to introduce a minimum wage for new hires in the first place, start by conducting thorough research in your industry to determine the average salary for the position. . You don’t have to pay the highest salary, but treating new employees fairly will help you hire quality employees and ensure they want to stay.

In addition to competitive compensation, consider Invest in your employees through other benefits such as a generous vacation policy, flexible summer hours, a dog-friendly environment, happy hours, the opportunity to work remotely, or a well-stocked kitchen. While salary is important, remember that there are creative ways to level the salary playing field to attract and retain top talent.

3. Lack of training

Training is crucial in any business size, both to get new employees up to speed and to help your existing employees build new skills. While larger businesses tend to have the means and resources for larger-scale training programs or initiatives, small business owners must be more innovative when it comes to getting employees ready. work.

Treat training as an important investment in your business. While it will cost you, providing courses and educational opportunities to help your employees advance professionally will also have immediate benefits for your business. And advertising these types of benefits will help you attract the qualified candidates you’re looking for.

At the very least, you should invest in resources like welcome packs, employee handbooks, and training time for new employees to attract more senior staff. You can also organize learning sessions for the entire team so employees can learn from each other while promoting teamwork.

4. Wearing too many hats

Small business is just that: small. As a business owner, you wear many different hats, and so do your employees. When you don’t have the means to hire dedicated staff for every department, your small staff will need to be willing to engage and work as a team to make the business successful. It helps you pay upfront on what the job entails in the first place.

Consider investing in an employer that can help you find potential employees with diverse backgrounds and comprehensive experience that will fit your needs. While it may cost you more to recruit and test the best candidates, finding the best fit is beneficial in the long run.

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Check back next month for part 2 of our series, How Financial Intelligence Can Solve Big Problems for Small Business, where you’ll learn helpful strategies for managing cash flow. money.

This post was written by Sara Amato of Lendio, for Fundbox.