5 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete With Large Firms for Top Talent
Welcome to Recruiter Q&A, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers!
Today’s Question: What is one way recruiters can attract top talent when competing with larger, more well-known competitors?
The answers below are provided by members of YEC Next, an invitation-only community for the world’s most promising early-stage entrepreneurs.
1. Offer Quicker Upward Mobility
Larger organizations have many perks which you can’t compete with, but recruits are often placed in a very small box at these organizations. Smaller organizations offer significant opportunities, including exposure to many company departments (something that could take 10+ years in a larger organization), more responsibility, greater influence in decision-making, and quicker upward mobility.
It’s all about the mission-driven goal of a smaller company. The bigger the goal, the better. At the end of the day, great employees want to be fulfilled and do great work that helps people. Also, toss in equity to help offset the pay cut they’ll have to take.
We focus on people who share our vision so they can become part of the company. We try to connect with applicants at a personal level, and that is something that attracts people. We are not looking just to fill another position. We value them as unique individuals. We also give more flexibility and perks than most larger counterparts, like paying for lunch, a casual dress code, and remote work options.
Many candidates get treated as if they’re a commodity. The best candidates get to choose the company where they want to work, so what has worked for us is building relationships with candidates, even with those who can’t join currently. Text them, check in, and invite them out to dinner (if appropriate). What would you do if you had to go all-in to hire this person?
Larger companies typically forget the human side of recruitment. They focus only on past job history and education, as well as internal and cultural fit. To attract top talent, appeal to that prospect’s emotions. Research the prospect’s likes — social media makes this easy — and appeal to those likes. Also, get the C-level execs involved in the entire recruiting process to create additional energy.
