Why Your Small Business Needs a Recruiting Plan
Having worked in a privately-owned business for several years, it is easy for me to understand why some small organizations find creating a recruitment process an arduous task. Many small business owners find their day-to-day filled with firefighting, instead of the preferred visionary and planning functions they wish to pursue. It can be a struggle to meet the needs of clients, promote the business, maintain current employee satisfaction, and then add to that filling seats with the right people. The result of this leads to desperate hires, placing any person in the vacant seat, whether they are a good fit or not.
Workopolis offers a quick overview covering the basics of a solid recruiting plan in the article Why Your Small Business Needs a Recruitment Process by Radyah Kahn. First, you need to know what you are looking for in a new hire. A great way to achieve this is by asking others in the position you want to fill. You should use this information to fine tune a job description. Second, it’s time to screen the applicants based on resumes, experience and education. Using someone who knows the job they are applying for is again helpful in this process. Next, reach out to those people you have selected. After that, set up the interviews. This is your chance to evaluate their personality, ability to answer related questions, and get a sense of their professionalism (i.e. timeliness, appearance, manners). Finally, get feedback from your colleagues and staff members about the candidates.
The biggest argument for businesses lack of recruitment plans generally revolves around time. The truth is, creating a plan can take a huge time commitment initially, but down the road, you save more time and money than the bad hires take. Yet, the impact of a bad recruitment plan extends beyond monetary issues. In fact, the Forbes article The True Cost of a Bad Hire... It's more than you think states, "chief financial officers actually rank a bad hires morale and productivity impacts ahead of monetary losses."
When bad hires don’t pull their weight, others get burnt out making up for it. Poor performers also lower the bar for other employees’ performance. Not to mention, if your managers are creating a poor environment, it then becomes the leaders task to retrain those affected, even after the bad hire has been removed. There are several resources available to help you set up a decent, yet flexible plan for your needs. If you have a small business without a recruiting plan in place, now would be a great time to make one.
Conor Kennedy is a Graduate Assistant in the Graduate Programs in HRD at Villanova. He also serves as the Treasurer of the VU SHRM chapter. Learn more about him here & connect with him on LinkedIn!
Photo posted with permission from Amtec Staffing flickr account.
