6 minute read
4 WAYS TO ATTRACT QUALIFIED WORKERS
INDUSTRY NEWS
4 Ways to Attract Qualified Workers to Your Small ASSOCIATION INSIDERBusiness in 2021
The labor shortage brought on by the SPOTLIGHTCOVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown has left many big and small businesses alike struggling to come up with creative approaches to attract new workers. In a poll just taken (Q3 2021), half of the small business owners reported that it’s harder for them than it was at the same time last year to find qualified people. Below are a few often-overlooked fundamentals for attracting good workers in the extremely competitive 2021 employment market.
Around 31% of businesses said they still have open positions they have been unable to fill in the last three months or longer. That’s nearly double the 16% reported in Q1 2020. There are still a million more open jobs than people looking for work. There are currently over 10 million job openings in the U.S., which the Labor Department says is a new record. The hiring problem is costing the U.S. American businesses lost sales and revenues. But, there are indicators that the labor shortage INDEX is easing. The recommendations offered below are from LinkedIn management and other sources of updated information for improving the success rate of attracting qualified applicants to small businesses.
4 TIPS FOR ATTRACTING THE BEST APPLICANTS TO YOUR SMALL BUSINESS IN 2021
Small businesses typically cannot keep pace with large wealthy corporations when it comes to wage and benefits packages. But, many can succeed in the currently difficult labor market by adding these basic proven methods to their strategies for attracting good job candidates:
1. Do more than just post the job opening.
Small businesses need a digital presence that helps build their brand not just to attract potential customers, but also to appeal to talented workers. LinkedIn data reveals that many people looking for work engage online with prospective employers’ brands for months before applying for a job with them. By all accounts, it’s clear that even at the lower ranks of the employment market, good workers
continued on page 16
Celebrating 10 Years Of Sweeping Excellence
currently have a strong sense of their freedom to INDUSTRY NEWS be selective in their job hunts. But, small businesses can compete more effectively by having a basic web presence in place.
A small business needs a website that reflects its purpose, social mission, values, and workplace culture. Give local workers an impression of what the experience of working for your company is like. ASSOCIATION INSIDER
Today’s best workers are looking beyond pay rates and basic benefits, often prioritizing company culture in their decisions to apply. Making your workplace culture stand apart from others is a major asset for small-business employers. When job seekers begin to SPOTLIGHT perceive your business as more INDEX than just a typical employer brand, they can appreciate your thought leadership and management.
2. Aim your message at the right potential candidates.
Effectively communicating your message to the right segment of the employment market is the most basic principle for posting a successful job opening. However, too many businesses miss this mark entirely. (Small businesses very often have the same problem of wasting precious resources by failing to market their products and services to the right targets in the consumer market as well.) The key here is using your business’s employment marketing resources to communicate the truth of your company’s values, instead of whatever you sense they most want to hear.
One way to accomplish this is to let people in your business other than just the top management communicate with your potential applicants and share information about their employee experience. No one in your company can relate better and reach their peers more effectively than people openly talking about how they genuinely feel about their jobs. So, present a refreshing image compared to the typical employer brands, by featuring your employees in your job ads, on your social media videos and other posts, and in your other job outreach activities.
3. Build an engaged online community.
For some busy entrepreneurs, developing a truly impactful online community around your small business may seem like just an excessive notion. They may write ...it’s worth the time it off as advice from people who investment to use are out-of-touch with realities on the ground for small business your virtual space to owners. Consider that just having connect with your a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, target audience. or Instagram page is important. But, it’s just a first step toward all you can accomplish by robustly using these modern tools to your business’s full advantage. Social pages are where people are these days. Being active in the places where the people you want to attract are already spending time is a powerful way to showcase your business’s personality, values, commitment to the community, and more. It’s an ideally convenient and popular place for people to get to know and like your business and engage with it. So, it’s worth the time investment to use your virtual space to connect with your target audience. The concept is simple. Just be routinely active on your social sites by having people from your company engage with your visitors there. Occasionally, pay
for inexpensive boosts to vastly multiply your page’s exposure. With each post you enter on your social page, you have raised awareness of your consumer and employer brand.
4. Be transparent about having staff work from home.
A sizzling hot topic in the job market these days is what employers plan to do to enable working from home, or a full return to working at the business’s location, or hybrid arrangements mixing the two. This is the time to be transparent about your company’s intentions to migrate to more at-home work options or to bring all operations onto your business site. Job seekers are interested in talking about this key aspect of employment with a company. It’s no longer a non-priority point for later discussion. Employment industry experts now recommend including it in your job postings on your company’s public pages and even adding commentary about the policy from your top leadership. So, if your business has a clear policy on this, share it with your target audience in your local employment market, and welcome their feedback.
COMPETING SUCCESSFULLY IN THE EMPLOYER MARKET IN 2021-2022
The good news may be that a recovery in the U.S. employment market might be budding here in Q3 2021. After all, Q2 saw July hiring totals that were the second-highest of the year. Still, small business owners may face additional obstacles competing with major corporate employers like Walmart, McDonald’s, and Target. Those and other major employers are currently throwing massive financial resources at solutions for drawing new workers. However, applying the basics discussed above and taking advantage of your superior familiarity with your local area and its sources of talent can help significantly in appealing to the best job candidates. Additionally, using your technology to tap additional resources like Monster, ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn, your local unemployment office, school job fairs, and others can further help you succeed in attracting good applicants to your small business.
Sources
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/12/how-to-post-jobs-on-linkedin-amid-tightest-labor-market-in-history.html
