How to recruit the best talent for the right jobs

Our founder - Chris Keeling - offers some advice to fellow CEOs in small business about how to recruit the best talent for the right roles.

As an owner of a small organisation (less than 50 people) I can appreciate the challenges of finding good, new talent to strengthen the business. 

Fortunately, I also had 12 years’ experience in HR and then worked in the recruitment sector before starting Jobtrain in 1999.  In that sense, I gained good insight into the rights and wrongs of recruitment and that has helped in recent years when we have been growing our own operation. 

So, I thought it may be helpful to share some of that learning so that other SMEs can also benefit.

Step 1 – Be clear about what you are looking for

Sounds obvious, but titles like Customer Support, or New Business or Technical Support are very commonplace.  And it is fine, even good, to use such titles as it is what people will search for.  But you then need to be able to describe the role in a punchy advert in a way that engages and enthuses people. 

Don’t exaggerate and over-promise, but you must be clear about why someone would want to work for your organisation. 

In short, why would they want to leave where they are to join you? Rarely is it just money – you need to be able to offer future growth? Or a great culture? Or flexibility? But you must offer something more than just another job! 

Step 2 - Get your advert seen 

With all the best recruitment plans in the world, you won’t achieve anything unless you can attract the candidates.  This is a broad area to discuss and there are many facets – but at its most simple level, advertise the role where your target audience operate! 

If you are recruiting specialist roles (catering, or finance, or surveyors etc) then you may want to invest in the specialist job boards for that sector (The Caterer as an example).  However, the vast majority of employers and an even larger number of candidates will all use Indeed.  If you are not familiar with Indeed, then it is a type of job board.  A very general one – but one that delivers around half of ALL candidates that apply via JTGO.  And we handle over 40m candidates per annum! 

Step 3 - Don’t waste good money on advertising! 

I know!  When you read Step 2, you were probably thinking I’ll have to spend money on a lot of advertising!  Not true. I've written extensively about this before, but the Indeed job site can be a free-to-use resource.  Sure they will try to charge you and sell you packages to ensure your job gets a premium listing etc.  But don’t be lured in by this.  If you have a recruitment system (an Applicant Tracking System, or ATS for short) then you should be able to post to Indeed and other free sources at a click of a button – for FREE!  

You don’t need to invest in additional positioning on the site – candidates will find you because they use the filters on Indeed itself.  For example, if I want to look for a bar manager role in Leeds, then I will enter that job title, that location and (possibly) a salary expectation and it will show me that jobs that match my needs. In fact, I just searched using that very criteria and found 7 jobs!  It is that easy. 

Step 4  - Don’t use agencies unless you have to 

Now I have to confess that I worked for an Executive Search company in the past and as such I have seen all sides of this market. 

I know that when you are looking for rare skill sets and maybe have a limited market, then there is a definite case for using third parties to help you source your candidates. 

However, the vast majority of organisations regularly recruit for the same type of position – and using agencies can become expensive.  Instead, look at using a system (an ATS) to help you advertise directly, and receive applications directly.

Don’t be put off by the thought of too many time-wasters or applicants who will hound you relentlessly for progress – a decent system will take care of all of that for you.  Ultimately, by advertising directly (and often for free) you will be doing exactly what the agency is doing.  But in this instance, you control ALL the candidates and can quickly choose the ones you want to see, rather than waiting for an agency to decide.

Step 5 – Engage early, engage often and be quick! 

I always put myself in the shoes of a candidate.  I used to hate applying for jobs and the waiting, waiting for any response.  With each day, my enthusiasm for the organisation waned. 

Let candidates know quickly if you are interested or not. Set interviews quickly – don’t wait until a closing date has passed before you start this process.  As soon as good candidates apply, be prepared to see them. 

When you are ready to make an offer, make it personable. We all know contracts of employment are legalistic necessities.  But don’t reflect that in the offer. Talk to the candidate about why you want them; about what you feel they can bring to your business; about what you hope you can give to them.  Only then should you tell then you can put the offer on writing (and explain the formality of that).

There is so much more I could add and could advise in this area.  But I would just say that the worst thing is to do nothing.  If recruitment is something that is always a challenge, then try something different and not only could you save money, but you will find better people and those that you hire will prove to be a great asset.