Worried that you can’t find the right employees who can make the difference between business as usual and accelerated growth?

The good news is that many top candidates are interested in more than just high-profile businesses. Here are five tips you can follow to increase your capability to attract high caliber talent.

1. Raise your business profile so more people notice

Attracting the right people to your business relies on them being able to find you. There are steps you can take to help raise your business profile including:

• Entering into business grant competitions
  
  
• Participating in local business networking events
  
  

2. Know who you want to hire and proactively seek them out

You’ve built your business from the ground up, so you know what it is going to take to be successful in the role.

• Create an ideal profile of the skills and knowledge of your “perfect hire” and start listening to your industry chatter for names or mentions
  
  
• Single out people to approach
  
  
• This is one of the biggest sales pitches in your business, so put in the effort and make it count
  
  

3. Craft your small business story to attract customers and candidates

• Tell the story of your business in a way that will appeal to the employees you’re targeting
  
  
• Make sure to deliver a positive candidate experience that mirrors the one you create for your customers: both are equally important to the success of your business
  
  
• Even if you’re recruiting remotely, there are ways you can positively engage with talent and deliver an authentic sense of what you and your business are about.
  
  

4. Reach out to candidates on the channels they visit

• Social media channels
  
  
• Interest groups
  
  
• Professional networks
  
  
• Consider the message you’re using to attract talent as it needs to ring true to your business
  
  

5. Illustrate how employees will get a chance to shine

Small businesses give employees a perfect playground to let their talents and capabilities shine. Many top tier candidates are looking for exactly what makes small business ‘small’:

• Less bureaucratic
  
  
• More latitude to tackle a variety of jobs
  
  
• More flexibility to learn by doing
  
  
• Work directly with leadership
  
  

If this aligns with what you can offer, then make sure you bring up these points and emphasize how your small business will support your new employees to get noticed and rewarded quickly.

Being small, talent can feel valued, as your relationship is often closer than if they were working at an enterprise level business.