Recently, we published a nuts n bolts, structured article on how to hire a new worker for your business. Consider this a part two – where we’ll dance with some ideas and tips on identifying and recruiting the perfect new hire for your SME. We’ll get a little more invasive with methods to find a good pool of prospects, as well as how to go about wielding a job advert that gets just the right number of suited responses.
- Don’t forget to look internally to find the right candidates. Depending on the size of your SME, if there’s a chance for someone from within to step up to the new role, consider an internal hire. There are many wins to be had here – internal hires are already at one with the company ethos and familiar with expectations and operational procedures. Not only will there be less chance of nasty surprises from an internal hire, but it can help promote goodwill and motivation among the troops – when everyone knows that internal promotion is a possibility, staff may all work that little bit harder.
- When searching externally, cast your net long and wide. Fishermen with the largest nets catch the most fish. There are several places outside your organization that you can place your job advert. Just some ideas include relevant trade and industry magazines, local papers, and famous job sites like Monster.co.uk. Beyond that, you can consider recruitment agencies – there are many specialist ones, according to industry and location and you might well find a good fit for your needs here. LinkedIn remains a great new online pool of professionals from which to pick and choose suitable candidates. There are other ways too find good candidates too – next time you’re playing golf with your friendly business associates, find out if there’s anyone who they know of who may be a good fit for the position you’re looking to fill. Finally, your own staff members may have suitable recommendations – they are probably intimately in tune with the skills and experiences required, and may know someone who can provide them.
- Wield a good job advert. Writing a job ad is no different from writing a sales page. The basic rules of AIDA apply (ensure your ad grips the readers attention, perks their interest, sparks their desire and prompts them to take action to respond). A good job ad will be specific – without being scary. It must get the balance right in being specific enough to get the right candidates involved, without being so anally detailed that it may actually deter some otherwise suitable candidates. For example, some things to include in your job advert will be the duties and responsibilities the new hire will be required to fill, a brief blurb about your company and its mission statement, and possible rewards, perks and commissions up for grabs.
- Have a budget. While some methods to find a new hire will be free, more specialized positions may require a bit of a budget to fill. A couple of hundred pounds isn’t an unreasonable amount to parlay to find the perfect new hire for your business.
Remember, a new SME employee can either improve your key metrics or send them spiraling in the wrong direction – it’s therefore worth investing some time and resources in ensuring that the best possible pool of candidates are identified and used to hire from.