Due to our experience as Recruitment Consultants, working alongside End Clients and Consultancies from all around the World, we knew that we needed to tackle the challenges SMEs I SMBs are facing.
In a competitive market, attracting talent is a major challenge for CIOs and CTOs in all businesses. One third (33%) cite talent attraction as their biggest talent management challenge, followed closely by improving productivity (32%) and talent retention (30%).
The agility of small & medium business and startups is a great differentiator and advantage versus their larger business counterparts. Despite shifts in business winds, the owner can adjust their sails with ease and minimal bureaucracy.
Conversely, a small business faces unique disadvantages that are part and parcel to their more limited resources than say, a Fortune 500 office with thousands of employees dispersed across hundreds of offices. For example, if one person is out sick, or worse, unexpectedly resigns, then it’s more likely that a large organization has staffing that can help take up the slack, at least for a while. For a smaller business with more limited staffing resources, however, the unplanned absence of a team member may be more jarring. It’s likely that each person has a crucial role in their niche area.
The common traits
In addition to the operational and revenue-producing impact wrought by employee loss, small businesses often are ill equipped to jump into the hiring waters. This perfect storm of disruption further is exacerbated if the employee loss occurs during the company’s busy season. Not only is their leadership already stretched trying to cover for the missing talent, but now they are expected to seek out, sift through and interview candidates while handling an increase in customer demand.
For businesses with more limited staffing resources, it’s likely that each person has a crucial role in their niche area. Therefore the operational and revenue-producing impact wrought by employee loss, the business owners often are ill equipped to jump into the hiring waters. This perfect storm of disruption further is exacerbated if the employee loss occurs during the company’s busy and critical season. Not only is their leadership already stretched trying to cover for the missing talent, but now they are expected to seek out, sift through and interview candidates while handling an increase in customer demand
Many small businesses are struggling not only with finding great candidates, but also with thinking strategically about their overall talent strategy and how to address important topics like diversity and inclusion, remote work, compensation, retention, etc…which are very much top of mind these days. On top of everything, let's remember that startups have a dependency on their capacity to attract talent before going to the next stage and get more fundings.
The BDO and Ibec 2022 SME Sentiment Index surveyed 167 senior managers in firms employing 10-250 people.
While three in five companies have confidence that revenue will increase over the next year, the remaining 40% were split between those who expect revenue to be unchanged and 20% who believe turnover will decline. Salary demands, the impact of wider inflationary pressures on margins and difficulty finding candidates with the right skills are the top challenges faced by SMEs, according to the survey responses.
What are experts saying?
While the adage "hire slow, fire fast," may be easy to say, Heiliger said, it's "nearly impossible to implement." It can be hard to see when a job outpaces a person in a high-growth company, he added.
“As SME’s grow they don’t always have an understanding of the nuances between the various specialist recruitment markets, which means that when they are looking for the best people in an unfamiliar field, it can be very difficult to find and attract them,”
says Bryony Gibson, Bryony Gibson Consulting.
Andrew Mackay, Coleman James, highlights cost as the biggest barrier for SME’s looking to compete regionally, nationally or internationally: “Reluctance to invest can be detrimental as it will save both time and money in the long run. It is important that the recruitment process should be thorough, consistent and timely. Procrastination and lack of ability to make quick decisions often means SMEs lose out because exceptional talent doesn’t hang around.”
Michaela Reaney, Gradvert, also stresses the importance of having a “strong skills pipeline” for businesses, while acknowledging that employers need recruitment strategies in place.
Maureen Brown, Sullivan Brown, suggests staying up-to-date with the correct interview techniques is vital to hiring the right person, and regular training with hiring managers is essential.
It’s estimated that the cost of a bad hire is around 15x their base salary, so without the luxury of large budgets and precious time to repeat the process if the wrong hire is made, the importance of recruiting well for SMEs simply can’t be underestimated.
How TRech can help
In order to harmonize the situation the TRech team has designed “Own Your TRech“ a Solution for companies willing to:
Take ownership on their recruitment lifecycle
Streamline their hiring process
Improve their efficiency in talent attraction
Save time, money and resources and still recruit the best Talent
Boost confidence and loyalty through continuous learning
We will train and coach your Hiring Managers , Stakeholders and/or HR team to OWN their TRech, and we will accompany them during the process of hiring.
TRech International will deliver a range of practical modules that are easy to apply, enhancing your recruitment processes, improving the quality of your hires, acing your employer branding and boosting your employees confidence with the right skillset. Overall, saving time and money - invest now, to save later.
For more information about how Own Your TRech can help your business, get in touch with our Growth Partner
Camille Haddjeri
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