The hiring challenges a small or medium-sized business faces can be vastly different from those of a large corporation. To compete effectively in the job market and build a strong team of employees, smaller companies need hiring practices that are creative, agile, and efficient.

The following are seven of the biggest hiring challenges our clients with small and medium-sized companies have struggled with, plus our tips on how to overcome them, improve your hiring practices, and secure top talent for your business.

1. Building Trust

One of the key components of attracting and recruiting top talent is building trust. This is easier for larger, well-known companies to accomplish, due to widespread brand recognition. Smaller companies, on the other hand, need to rely on other methods of building trust.

Here’s a good place to start:

Review Your Company's Online Presence

Take a close look at your website and social media accounts and ask yourself, “Is this an accurate representation of our business from our employees' perspective?” If your employment branding could use a refresh, consider hiring a professional (like Red Seat 😉) to help you develop your employment brand.

Other than your website, candidates often search social media for insight into a company and their culture. Consider regularly sharing content on social media that shows your employee and company values in action. This will assure job seekers that your company cares about its employees and that you routinely live out the values you say are important to your business.

Write Professional, Informative Employment Ads

When you write your job ads, make sure they provide accurate information about your company, its culture, the position, and expectations for the new hire, along with compensation, hours, and benefits information.

Being transparent about who you are and what the job is all about goes a long way toward building trust in the hiring process.

Communicate Clearly…and Follow Through!

Clearly communicate what candidates and applicants should expect during the hiring process. Then, do what you say you are going to do.

For example, if you say you will follow up with a candidate within a week, follow up with them! If you cannot hold to that promise, consider making a different promise, such as that you will follow up when you know more. Or, if you know you are awful at follow-up, ask the candidate to follow up with you if they haven’t heard anything. The rule here is to do what you say you will do!

2. Inefficient Hiring Process

An inefficient hiring process is a surefire way to miss out on top candidates.

If your company does not have a dedicated HR person with the bandwidth to handle recruiting, chances are the manager who is hiring is putting in extra hours to manage job postings, review resumes, and contact candidates. This can make for an inefficient hiring process, slow follow-up, and missed opportunities (not to mention increased burnout and turnover of existing staff).

Without a dedicated HR person, you also may not know how to work the system with posting ads, utilizing resources, and developing outreach to prospective candidates…resulting in more missed opportunities.

Our best advice for handling hiring on your own is to find a person in your company who has the time to manage the process AND the authority to make decisions about which candidates should move forward (along with some know-how to design and manage a hiring process).

Or, for best results, consider outsourcing your hiring to an expert like Red Seat.

3. Hiring Without a Plan

Following a professional, well-thought-out hiring plan shows candidates you are serious about hiring top talent and affords you the best chance of attracting and securing the best candidate for the role.

For starters, take time to develop your evaluation criteria before you advertise for the position. Without a clear road map of what you’re looking for and how you’ll evaluate prospects for those traits, making informed hiring decisions will be challenging.

In addition, get up to speed on the best hiring practices, how to structure successful interviews, and the national and local laws you need to follow when hiring (we’ll discuss more about compliance in a bit). Finally, make sure to train your interview team on how to conduct successful interviews.

4. Maintaining Compliance

When you run a small or medium-sized business, keeping up with ever-changing employment laws and regulations can be a significant challenge. In addition to federal laws, states, cities, and industries all have different laws and regulations to follow when it comes to hiring…and they can all change from year to year!

But ensuring compliance and maintaining fair and unbiased hiring practices is crucial to avoiding legal issues and making successful hires.

Each year, set aside time to review any changes in laws and regulations. Many industries offer professional education courses to help you stay on top of things more easily.

Once you’ve gone over any new regulations, review your interview forms, reference questions, employment applications, and non-compete or non-solicitation agreements for accuracy and compliance to current federal, state and local laws and industry standards.

5. Finding Candidates With the Right Skill Set

Employers today often struggle with one of two scenarios: not enough applicants for some positions, and far too many applicants for others. This points to a disconnect between the skills required to do a job and the skills available in the candidate pool.

Finding candidates who have all the skills you need isn’t always easy. For some difficult positions where there is a limited pool of talent you may need to set the bar at finding a “best-fit” hire. For example, highly skilled and technical roles, jobs in remote locations, or positions requiring specific industry experience are some of the most likely roles that may require thinking outside the box to find qualified candidates.

This may require being open to candidates with related or transferable experience, not only candidates with the exact skill set you seek. In many cases, the details of a job or the software you use can be taught, and soft skills like adaptability, problem-solving, and a capacity to learn can fill the gap between the skills you seek and the limitations a candidate may have.

If you are open to training high-potential candidates who don’t have all the skills or experience you want, you could end up with some fantastic new employees.

6. Meeting Expectations for Salary and Benefits

For small and medium-sized companies, meeting job candidates’ salary expectations can be a struggle…especially when large corporations are offering more for similar positions.

Determining the right compensation for a role requires finding a balance between market pressure and internal equity (i.e., ensuring current staff and new employees are paid equitably). Finding that “sweet spot” is key: a compensation package that attracts skilled applicants and is equitable for existing employees in similar positions.

You can learn all about determining compensation in our recent blog.

It’s important to remember that compensation means more than just salary: it can include bonuses, expense accounts, car allowance, and other benefits as well. In addition, consider the other perks that may attract potential employees, such as flexible work options, paid time off, continuing education, and career advancement opportunities.

7. Finding the Right Company Culture Match

Company culture—the values, beliefs, ethics, attitudes, and practices that shape your work environment—is a key factor in determining whether a candidate is a good fit for a job (and whether your company is a good fit for them!).

Finding employees who thrive within the type of environment your company offers is an obvious win/win situation. Without that right fit, conflict can arise and job satisfaction and retention can suffer.

Understanding, communicating, and interviewing for a good company culture fit requires more than a simple description of your company culture in your job ads. Your culture needs to be infused into every aspect of your hiring process.

This includes:

Using clear descriptors in your job ads to highlight your company’s unique culture and values
Ensuring your online presence reflects your culture
Developing culture-focused interview questions and training your team to interview for these key attributes

…and much more. You can dig into how to leverage your unique company culture in your hiring process in our recent blog on the topic.

Not sure what exactly your company culture is? It’s time to find out! Examine your workspace, website and social media content, employee attitudes and morale, and the communications you send both internally and externally. This information will give you good insight into how you are seen by those both inside and outside your company.

We hope this helps you address the hiring challenges you’ve experienced. If you’re looking for additional help with recruiting and hiring for your company, the Red Seat team would love to be considered. Contact us to learn how we can help you find and secure top talent for your business.

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7 Hiring Challenges of Small and Medium-Sized Companies [and How To Overcome Them]