Attracting and hiring the top people for your vacancies is crucial in driving your organisation forward. For SME businesses looking to become more innovative or perhaps to expand their organisation, finding the best can make a whole world of difference to your output and the productivity of your teams. We interviewed Ben Rainforth-Gott, HR Programmes Director for JLA Group, to discuss how to effectively direct and transform organisations through their human resources function. So, how can you ensure that you are selling yourself effectively and positioning yourself in a way that ensures you are best placed to hire the top professionals?Q: What challenges to SMEs face when both attracting and winning top talent?A: A lot of businesses find it difficult to attract and win top talent, as the competition is so fierce and because we have a candidate-short market at the moment. A lack of brand-awareness can have a detrimental effect on SME businesses. This can be remedied by having a well thought out attraction strategy at the commencement of a recruitment process. This means you will be able to up-sell opportunities and diversity in your SME. In an SME, people are known for their worth and capabilities, meaning that they don't get lost in the larger environment that bigger brands can offer.Q: What are the key benefits of working in an SME, as opposed to working in a larger blue-chip company?A: Alongside the key challenges that SME organisations face when selling their organisation to people, there are also very obvious and desirable benefits to going for an SME rather than a large blue-chip corporation. Here are some of the key benefits of working within an SME.More exposure to senior leaders.The ability to demonstrate your skills and capabilities.Getting involved in strategic work that shapes the business and enables it to grow in a faster and more agile way.Q: How should SMEs position themselves when attracting top talent?A: It can be difficult to pinpoint and highlight the key selling points for your business. All businesses key offerings are slightly different, but it’s important to recognise what your ideal candidate might be looking for when considering a move or beginning their career journey. Here are some important things to consider when positioning yourself as a business throughout the recruitment process.Be clear about your USP(s), and outline why you have put effort into each of them as a business.Define your company culture and sell it. SME’s are often more open and jovial.Highlight that the work is much more varied and rewarding. People can really make a difference within smaller businesses.Progression opportunities are often more plentiful.Q: Are there any key differences in motivating different generations? A: When approaching candidates of different ages or experience levels, businesses should make their investments beneficial for both parties. You should be embracing the fact that people are likely to have shorter career stints of between two-three years and ensure that when people depart for other opportunities, they sell the experience that they have had whilst working for you. This should be blended in with embracing longer-term individuals. The key is placing your people at the centre of their development and progression and supporting latitudinal and longitudinal moves within your organisation. That way, people will feel encouraged to remain with you as they will know they have an abundance of potential opportunities ahead of them.Q: How can SMEs use the recruitment process to better understand candidates’ key motivators and win top talent?A: Bettering your recruitment process will only aid in your attempts to attract and recruit the best people that are looking for new opportunities in today’s market. Embodying and embracing new and innovative ways to sell your brand and better your business will help target the right professionals that you want working with you. Honest, open, and transparent communication from the outset.Making sure people understand the role, culture, and environment of the business. You should either compliment this with the mix of candidates’ experience, or linking it back to the candidate’s motivation for a move.Cultural fit only works in pockets of an organisation that want to grow and change. So, diversity of thought and experience if often advantageous for an organisation. Knowing what you sell and what you deliver is the same thing.Q: What might an ideal recruitment process look like to attract millennial talent?A: The millennial generation is the future leaders of our workforce. However, the challenge remains that businesses aren’t selling themselves effectively enough to attract this talent away from their competitors. Selling the opportunity to grow and develop, enhance skills, and offer the diversity of roles available will highlight to a millennial how they can build their career with you.It is important to be mindful that SME’s don’t always appeal to all millennial workers. People joining SME’s often need to be agile and flexible in their approach to a changing environment. If they are, not only will they succeed in an SME, but they will develop great skills to support in larger blue-chip entities.If you are interested in expanding your team, please get in touch with one of our specialist recruitment consultants today for a confidential discussion. Alternatively, submit a job spec, and we will get in touch with you.Vicki StanworthBusiness Manager, Michael Page Human ResourcesBen Rainforth-GottHR Programmes Director, JLA GroupHuman resourcesLinksAbout usTestimonialsSalary comparison toolJobs in ScotlandBrowse for jobsInsight and adviceLinksExhausted but still working harder faster?Supporting your employees: mental health and wellbeingReverse mentoring schemes: why they’re important and how to set up your ownRecruiting for empathy: key lessons from Belinda Parmar OBEPeople analytics in HR: getting the best out of your peopleHow to prepare your workforce to work alongside artificial intelligenceUsing people analytics to steer business decisionsMental health awareness: managing financial wellbeingHow can SMEs, import and export trade practitioners survive a post-Brexit reces…How might GDPR affect different business functions?Using people analytics to create a more effective workforceArtificial intelligence: candidate assessment processes of the futureEmbracing AI in human resources: where do I start?Can blind recruitment combat bias?The Apprenticeship Levy and its effect on an organisation’s wider talent agendaMental Health: time to change our attitudesHow the CIPD can add real valueThe Senior Managers Regime – the HR viewBeyond unconscious biasEmbracing learning to be better recruitersThe Journey: from a Human Resources Director to an Interim HR ProfessionalThe ever changing world of employment lawHow can performance development drive success every day?Five signs a candidate is a top reward managerYour interviewKnowing your pensionsHow important is a degree for your HR careerWhy HR CVs need to talk numbersReferencesMaking redundancies fairCIPD qualifications: essential or desirable?
