Whether you are taking on your first employee or adding to your established team, recruitment is one of those areas that many smaller business owners find challenging for lots of reasons.
Many businesses are looking to recruit just now so job hunters have lots of choice to go at.
This blog aims to help you consider how you will go about recruiting to secure the best people for your business in what is currently a VERY noisy job market.
Let’s dive straight in!
Job descriptions and Job ads
Before you go out looking for your new team member, first get clear what you want a new recruit to do.
What are the specifics of the duties involved and the knowledge, skills and experience you are looking for from your ideal new employee? The clearer you are when you put out your job ad, the more likely you are to receive applications from the right candidates.
My top tip, if you have tried to recruit in the past and found you aren’t receiving applications from the right type of candidate, go back and revisit what is written in your job ad…it is likely some changes are needed there.
Where to find suitable candidates
There are lots of places you could potentially find candidates, some of which are free to use and others carrying a cost ….we know that budget is particularly important for smaller businesses.
There are lots of options out there from online job boards (such as Indeed and CV library) to other places such as on your own website, your social media platforms and potentially your physical shop window. Also, you might also want to look for recommendations from existing employees if you already have a team. When deciding where to advertise, give lots of consideration to where your potential new team member will look for work – that’s where you need to advertise your role.
What kind of team member do you want?
There are many ways that someone could work for your business and it is important to be clear what that looks like for your new role as it will turn on or turn off potential applicants.
You may decide to take on a self employed contractor, a full or part time employee, an apprentice or a casual worker to name a few. Be sure of what you need and be clear about that when you recruit, the last thing you want is a mis-match in expectations between you and your potential new starter.
If you are unsure which is the right route to go down, take advice to help you decide which is the most appropriate option based on your needs.
Cost to recruit – time and money
When it comes to recruitment, there are costs involved both in terms of time and money.
Of course, you will take on a wage bill once you recruit but there are other costs to factor in including pension contributions, employer NI and any equipment you will need to provide so the person can do their job.
Aside from this, as a busy business owner, you will need to decide whether you can afford to spend the time to handle the employment process from end to end. If you haven’t done it before, make no mistake, it really is time consuming.
If you have that time, great……… If not, it may be time to consider other options such as delegating to an existing team member or using the services of a specialist recruiter who can take much of the time and effort away from you, up to the point where you make a final selection on who to appoint.
Don’t forget the paperwork
Whichever route you decide to go down to bring someone in to your business, you are required to provide written particulars of employment by day one, this would normally be in an employment contract. This document is important as it is required by law, an employee would expect to receive it and it sets out the working relationship between you and your employee. Also, if you decide to take on the services of a self employed person, you should still put an agreement in place with them too to set out how that relationship will work.
It’s important to remember that all businesses are different so it is important to be sure that the contractual terms you provide reflect your business. It can be tempting to “google up” something from the internet but that is a risky strategy unless you have the specialist knowledge needed to be sure the document reflects your business AND is reflecting current employment law and best practice standards.
In summary
If this blog has helped you make decisions around whether recruiting yourself is the best way to progress, has given you some helpful hints and tips on how to put your job across in the best way and put it in front of the right people then it has achieved it’s goal.
If however you have found yourself with more questions than answers on this subject don’t worry. You can book a free, no obligation short call to go through your questions HERE
