Great businesses are made up of great people.
Everyone knows that it’s the people that make a business what it is. However, in many sectors, the job market leans in favour of the candidates. Good people are in short supply and a lot of the really talented people have been swept up by tech businesses, startups and private equity backed firms that have large cheque books and aren’t afraid to use them.
Create an employer brand
If employers don’t market themselves, sell their company culture and shout about their achievements, how will good candidates know to look for a job there? Your employer brand should differentiate your firm from its competitors, show top talent how working at the firm can help them to develop and reach their careers goals, etc.
Create an ideal employee profile
If you could clone your best performing team member, you probably would. Why? Is it that they always deliver, have great communication skills and keep customers happy? Do they spot opportunities, come up with new ideas and find ways to create new sales leads? Write all of this down and use the key points to create a written profile of the type of people that you want to hire. This is your ideal employee profile. You can use it to filter out candidates who won’t fit within your business, allowing you to focus your time on the potential recruits who are worth pursuing.
Ask your team to refer potential candidates
Recruitment agencies are great at helping businesses to find new candidates. They sift through candidate profiles saving you time and effort. However, this comes at a cost and not all businesses have the budget to engage a recruitment agency.
That’s where your team comes in. Your own people have the inside knowledge of your firm and they will know what type of person will fit well with the culture in your business. An existing employee is also highly unlikely to recommend a bad candidate as this would reflect badly on them. You can help to motivate your staff by offering a reward for referring successful candidates. If you have the budget, you could offer say £500 as a bonus to the staff member who referred in the new recruit. If the budget doesn’t stretch that far, perhaps you could reward your employee with a meal or a bottle of wine.
Finally – take your time to identify the right candidates. But, when you find the right person for a job, be prepared to move fast. Have the offer letter ready to go (always have a template to hand), have the financial package agreed and once the candidate accepts the offer, ensure that you get them signed up there and then. In today’s remote environment, using e-signatures can help you to sign up a new joiner via email if necessary.
