3 Tips to Hire and Retain Top Talent for Your Small Business

It’s no secret that the job market has changed significantly over the past few years. In a very short period of time, we’ve seen the market swing from candidates competing for positions, to millions of jobs disappearing, to employers competing simply to keep their teams. Navigating the hiring challenges we’re seeing today requires business owners to pivot, but it will also require them to have strong hiring and onboarding systems in place.

This might seem like an odd statement, but hear me out. As a business Owner or Admin, your plate is beyond full. Being proactive about your hiring practices is probably a pipe dream – chances are, you’re trying everything you can think of to simply get qualified people in the door.

And when a job ad does seem to work, you’re buried in applications, resumes, and follow-up notes. You know you need to review and respond to them, but you’re buried in all the “urgent” things that keep popping up and demanding your time.

And so the cycle continues.

If only there was a way to streamline the process – to attract the superstars you’re looking for, to quickly weed out the candidates that aren’t a good fit, and to make the hiring and onboarding process run smoothly for all involved.

I have good news – there is! It all boils down to (you guessed it!) strong systems. And we’ve put together a Boot Camp that equips you and your team to build and implement the right systems in only 6 weeks’ time, with only a few hours per week of focused effort.

This program is available as a self-paced option year-round, but twice a year we open it up for live instruction. You can learn more here!

In the meantime, here are some tips to help you start to navigate your hiring and onboarding challenges!

Tip 1: Have a Hiring Strategy and Hiring Workflow

It seems like businesses today are competing for the award of “Most Unique Job Title.” Bestowing titles such as “Problem Wrangler” or “Brand Warrior” may help to build your company culture, but putting these titles on job ads will not help you find the person you’re looking for.

Some businesses have even gone so far as to create roles such as “Digital Prophet,” “Dream Alchemist,” or (I kid you not) “Galactic Viceroy of Research Excellence.” These titles are fun to put on an office placard or business card, but I promise you – the people you’re looking for are not going to be searching down these job ads on LinkedIn or Indeed!

If it fits your company and culture, it’s perfectly fine to use these titles in-house. When you’re looking for strong candidates, however, it’s best to use the titles that people are likely to enter in the search bar. (By the way, we give you sample Job Ads for just about every position you could want to fill in the Hiring and Onboarding Boot Camp – all you have to do is tweak it to your needs and you’re ready to go!)

It’s important to realize that the hiring process doesn’t stop at the Job Ad, though. Many candidates today are fairly picky about which job ads they respond to, and it’s likely that they’re going to check you out before they do. Making sure that your social media accounts and website accurately reflect your brand and culture is essential when you’re trying to attract quality candidates!

Tip 2: Make Use of Hiring Technology

Do you ever feel a sense of dread when you look at a giant stack of resumes on your desk or submission emails to review? You’re not alone. Even professional hiring managers make it a point to sift through these as quickly as possible, only spending a few seconds on each.

More good news: you can bypass this process by putting a strong process in place and using hiring technology, like an ATS (Applicant Tracking System). And even better, in the Boot Camp we’ll guide you through the process of setting up and implementing your own ATS in a fraction of the time than it might otherwise take!

This system can take care of a lot of the “dreaded tasks” for you, from scoring your candidates to handling the initial written interview questions. It will track the progress of each candidate, letting you see the status of each in real time as you go through the process.

For example, we typically receive between 100-300 applications per role. (We received over 1,500 applications for one of them!) We’ve already hired at least 10 new team members this year; that would equal anywhere between 1,000 – 3,000 applications and resumes to review on average, hundreds of written interviews to send out, receive, and evaluate, and several dozen interviews to schedule. And that’s just the beginning of the process.

There’s just no way we’d get anything else done! Our ATS trims a considerable amount of time off of this process, allowing us to focus on getting the right people hired and training them for success.

Research shows that implementing a strong ATS can cut your hiring time by at least 20% (on average). Adding strong Hiring and Onboarding Systems to the mix will save you up to 40 to 60% of the time you would normally spend. That’s 20-60% more time you, your Admin, or your HR Team will have to spend driving your business forward!

Imagine not having to deal with the giant stack of paperwork or weed out candidates who aren’t a good fit for the role or your team. Imagine having a smooth hiring process, one that saves you time and gives your candidates a good experience.

Imagine being able to build it quickly, without having to go through all the trial and error because you have access to a proven framework and experienced Coaches to guide you!

Tip 3: Be Intentional About Your Onboarding Process

Onboarding is something that we all know we have to do, but relatively few business owners really get intentional about their process. Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for team members to be unaware of resources (or even of job expectations) weeks or months after they’re hired.

Not only does this cost your business in terms of payroll and productivity, it can also cost you amazing team members because they’re not satisfied with their role. Remember, candidates now have a lot more choices than they did even a few years ago – and overwhelmingly, people tend to choose their job based on their job satisfaction.

In fact, current studies show that companies that have a strong onboarding process improve their retention of new hires by 82% and their productivity by 70%.

I don’t know about you, but those are numbers that cause me to take notice.

Again, there’s good news – we can help you build the systems you need! From Onboarding Agendas to a full Onboarding University, we can supply you with the resources you need to not only hire great talent, but to onboard them effectively and retain them long-term.

If you want to navigate the hiring and onboarding challenges and have streamlined hiring systems, a smooth onboarding university, reducing your time, all while attracting the right applicant… build those systems!  

You’ve read what the data says and what many business owners have told us, but we want to hear from YOU. What challenges are you facing? Let us know so we can collaborate and create a plan that works for your business!