by Spectrum Business
A business is only as good as its weakest employee, so the saying goes. Therefore, every hire in your small business counts.
The good news about current hiring is that there are many options for finding and evaluating job candidates. Choosing the right resource to aid in your hiring is a matter of mapping what you need to the specialty of the hiring resources available.
Review the following hiring resources to identify the best approach for your small business.
Recruiters handle the demanding work of finding quality candidates for your business. They gather resumes, conduct initial interviews, verify references and negotiate job offers on your behalf. This professional assistance comes at a cost, which is typically 10% to 35% of the new hire's annual salary, paid either upon hiring or partially as a retainer during the search. For businesses struggling to attract good candidates, recruiters provide access to pre-screened talent and industry expertise that can significantly shorten your hiring timeline.
While this fee may sound high, recruiters can be invaluable and more than pay for themselves in certain circumstances. For one, they save your company time, and when time is tight, it may make more financial sense for you to pay someone rather than to conduct the search yourself. In addition, a recruiter can be the right choice if you want to keep your search confidential. Recruiters typically tap their professional network to find people, meaning a search can be done discreetly. Recruiters are also helpful if you are filling a position that is out of your domain of expertise. This specialized insight helps you find quality candidates who are qualified and properly vetted, even in fields where you lack technical knowledge to assess their capabilities yourself.
LinkedIn is a good place to find candidates for professional positions within your business. You can place an ad and showcase it to your network and the larger LinkedIn community. Pricing typically depends on location and other factors. The site lets you target candidates through keywords for skills or experience. Once your ad is posted, you can find out who has been looking at your posting as well as view the profiles of applicants before you bring them in for an interview. LinkedIn is a professional business site and therefore may not be your best resource for hourly or administrative staff.
One of the strengths of online recruiting is the potential to access people with specific skills or expertise. Many sites exist today to help your company find everything from skilled administrative staff to technical specialists to people with sector-specific skills and experience.
For example. Dice.com is a site specializing in experienced technical staffers. Each site takes a slightly different approach to helping with hiring, but most will let you narrow your post by location and skill. Many sites offer a package price that provides cost savings for posting multiple jobs over time.
While skill-specific or industry-focused sites enable you to post jobs requiring certain types of skills, other job sites provide access to workers based on type of hire. If you need freelance or hourly staff for your business, posting job listings on specialized hiring platforms helps you target candidates seeking flexible work arrangements. This focused approach eliminates the common challenge of attracting good candidates who want full-time positions when you're only offering part-time or contract work. By clearly specifying the type of hire upfront, whether hourly, freelance or project-based, you'll connect with qualified candidates whose availability and career goals align with your business needs.
Examples of these sites include Upwork and Snagajob. Upwork is a resource for finding freelance workers. Snagajob can help businesses find hourly workers in retail, food service, health care and other areas. Both sites let you post jobs based on your specifications.
Time spent choosing the right hiring resource can pay off when you find the right person for the job with the greatest ease. Keep in mind that the right hiring resource may vary from hire to hire. Review this list as needed to stay on track.
