How to Attract Talent to a Small Company

By Rick Riddle

Share on: 

Attracting talent to a small company can be a great challenge. First, you face the fierce competition from the big companies that have more attractive wages and opportunities.

Then you have the competition from other small companies. This proves that having a clear strategy to attract the talent to your company is the best way to secure that talented employee that you wish for.

This first step is to be aware of your weaknesses. This means obviously knowing that you can compete with big companies in the wages and prestige department.

But always remember that there are many advantages in working in a small company. So it only makes sense to also be aware of your strengths and play them up. Use them to your advantage to attract the talent to the company.

Below you can see some strategies to secure the talent that involve using your advantages to their maximum level of attractiveness to a potential employee.

Your Company’s Mission                  

This is like when you’re marketing your business to your customers. You want to make them aware of what your business stands for.

This stage is important when it comes to recruitment because you want potential candidates to know the values of your company, so you can find and engage people that have the same core values.

This is also a great way to make them feel closer to your company than the big ones.

Showing them the company’s mission gives them the opportunity to notice that your business is more than an establishment that makes profit. You want to do something good for your clients and your community.

This is a great way to attract talent to small companies because many people feel disconnected with the big brands because they aren’t focused on their mission statement. They seemed to be this worldwide business that cares only about profit.

So make your company’s mission accessible on your website and everywhere that you’re looking for talent. Many companies that offer paper help online also provide copywriting services that can help you target your mission statement to the exact kind of people you want to attract.

How It Is to Work for You

This is one of the most important things you can do when you’re hunting new talent. To convince them to work for you show them what will be like when they do.

You can get the help from your current employees on that. Take them to the recruitment process, so they can talk to the potential employees to get a taste of what is like to work for your company.

Remember to point out all your strengths. You can show them that working for a small company feels like being a part of a family. You make new friends and get opportunities to learn about the whole process of the business.

When you’re in the latter stages of recruiting, you can bring the talent to your company and show them they daily work that it’s done and how the environment is in your business.

So remember to:

  • Tell them the advantages of working in your company
  • Get current employees to talk to them what is to work in your business
  • Take them to your company to give them a taste of what is like to work for you

Social media

If you want to attract talent in today’s world, you have to use social media. This is one of the most effective methods to get new talent.

Social media also accomplishes all of the above by making potential employees aware of your company’s mission and showing them what is like working for you.

The power of this tool relies heavily on the lack of formality. You can meet talent in an environment where they can feel like your company is more like a family and less like a big corporation. And that’s when you outperform big companies.

If you want to recruit on social media, you can start by using your own company profile and making followers aware that you’re hiring.

You can also use LinkedIn, but remember that it’s a more formal place.

To put it simply, using social media to get talent helps you with

  • Finding talent
  • Making them aware of the advantages of working for you
  • Interacting with them on a more meaningful level

Show Them the Possibilities

As a rule of thumb, small businesses have more flexibility, more possibility for growth inside the company, and more job diversity.

This can make the company more desirable to many potential employees. The chance to schedule their working hours better allows for a flexible working environment that many prefer.

The possibility for growth is something that is hard to get in big companies. And the possibility to grow with the company that feels like a family can be a very attractive opportunity to point out.

The job diversity plays a vital role in convincing talent to come to your company. Small companies can show potential employees that working for them includes an array of possibilities like learning more than your job description would allow.

Good employees are engaged and love to learn and job diversity immediately helps you identifying who’s made for the job.

Tailor the job for them

You don’t have to go out of your way to create the perfect job offer. But it can help you attracting talent if you understand what they want and need and offer them that.

For example, in entry-level jobs, the potential employees want to know if they will have opportunities for growing inside the company, and showing them that that’s possible is a great start.

Now, if you want to hire an executive, perhaps you’ll have to offer them equity.

Now, whatever angle you decide to play, remember that small companies are more flexible than big ones.

Conclusion

If you follow this tips you can make your company more attractive in the talent pool. All you have to do is to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

So remember that you can’t:

  • Out pay big companies
  • Out benefit employees
  • Give more prestige on their resumes

But you can:

  • Give them a better working environment with more flexibility
  • Give opportunity for growing
  • Give them the ins and outs of the company’s process

So ply up your strengths so they can outweigh your weaknesses. 

Learn more about Social Hire

At Social Hire, we don't just do social.

Is it important to you to increase the digital footprint of your business by utilising digital marketing, but can't work out how to begin?With the professional understanding of our digital experts working in your business, you can begin to see interaction, brand loyalty and enquiries get better without having to take your team out to spend time on ineffective marketing strategies, or spend money on a internal marketing manager with a view to get results that may not deliver!

Our specialists are a team that assists our partners improve their presence online by giving online marketing on a regular basis.

You might like these blog posts 5 Free Must-have Chrome Extensions for SMM!, The 5-Step Guide For Small Business Productivity, You wait all day... then 3 turn up at once..., and Why Is Digital Personalisation So Important In Business?.

  Back to Recruitment blogs