Who isn’t having problems with talent acquisition in this difficult market? Most companies, especially small/medium sized businesses, struggle with recruiting the talent that they need to make their business successful. The best way to overcome these challenges is by first understanding the problems in your recruiting and talent acquisition. These are the 5 biggest issues your enterprise may be facing in these departments.
1. Employer Branding
This is a huge problem for businesses trying to attract and acquire the talent they need. Small and medium sized companies especially deal with this challenge because they aren’t as well know as their larger competitors. Most enterprises know the importance of branding in attracting customers, but your brand as an employee is equally important in attracting talent. Job seekers are more exclusive than ever in their choice of company and where they will apply. They need to have a good impression of your company’s culture and values to choose to apply with you. Use social media and video technology to get your employer brand known out there and make the right impression on job seekers.
2. Job Postings
The design and management of job postings is a huge challenge for many companies. The job postings and descriptions themselves could be having more of an impact on your hiring efforts than you realize. Like a candidate’s resume, your job postings give job seekers a first impression of not only the job itself, but also your company as a whole. When you don’t put effort into creating engaging and descriptive postings, job hunters can easily become uninterested in your company and not apply. Work on making your postings stand out and explain your company’s values and working environment to make a better first impression. Along with the descriptions, managing multiple job postings across different boards and websites can be very challenging. Consider investing in hiring tools to help stay on top of your applicants and postings.
3. Reach
Speaking of multiple job postings on multiple job boards, are you putting in the effort to spread your job postings across a variety of sources and hiring techniques? Just posting job openings to your website isn’t enough these days to attract the talent that you need. How are candidates supposed to know to look on your website? Especially if you are a small or medium sized business without a huge reputation to attract candidates, it falls to you to find ways to get your career opportunities out there. There are tools out there that can help enterprises post their opening across a number of different boards. Social media is another avenue businesses have begun to explore for reaching job seekers and informing them of opportunities. Work on expanding your reach and getting your job opportunities out there to the talented individuals that your business needs.
4. Talent Network
Along with employer branding and expanding your reach, small and medium sized businesses need to build a talent network to have a pool of options ready to fill vacancies. When building your employer brand online and extending your reach, work on your talent network. Look out for individuals interested in your brand and keep them in mind when looking for candidates. If you find someone talented, but they are not the right fit for a particular position, don’t cut them off. Communicate with them positively and create a relationship with them in case you can hire them in a different capacity. The way you treat your candidates, even the ones that you don’t choose, can set you up to better fill your open positions in the future and creating a talent network will improve your employer brand and reputation.
5. Hiring Process
Many small and medium sized business have not put the time and resources into creating an efficient and effective hiring process. Many small or medium sized business have difficulty identifying and filtering candidates in the initial stages, then have trouble selecting and categorizing candidates once they have chosen their preferred applicants, and may not allow for enough time to fill vacancies. Often times SMBs (small/medium businesses) will look for the simplest and cost-effective ways to address their hiring process without taking the time to find the right resources and develop the most effective hiring process. Use tools out there to streamline and improve efficiency. Spend time crafting a strong, successful hiring process that works for your enterprise.
There are many challenges small or medium sized business face in recruiting and talent acquisition. These are the five biggest and baddest trial that SMBs face when hiring. However, by understanding these challenges, you can reassess your company’s talent acquisition strategy to better overcome these problems. You will attract and retain the talent your business needs in no time once you conquer these challenges.
