• Strategies

During the height of the downturn, many small business owners were too cash-strapped to hire workers, even if they saw the opportunity to grow with more staff. The economy is a bit less sluggish now so business is improving for some entrepreneurs. But a new study points to an irony: Apparently, the improved economy is making it hard to hire, too. Corporate-information portal Manta reports 57 percent of SMEs plan to hire this year in the U.S. But one in four of those entrepreneurs say they’re having trouble recruiting quality candidates because they cannot compete with big businesses. Top applicants are turning them down; holding out for big corporate jobs. Here are five ways to find great hires for your small business:

1. Network
Rather than posting a Craigslist ad and getting 2,000 resumes to wade through, let colleagues, family and friends know what you are looking for in a new hire. They may know someone who’d prefer a small-business environment to that of a larger corporation. Nearly 60 percent participants in the Manta study found their hires through their network contacts.

2. Consider recent college graduates
Recent graduates are often hot to find good work and thus pay off their student loans —and it’s one of the toughest hiring markets for grads in ages. If you have a position you could train someone for, then you could nab someone with great potential.

3. Allow telecommuting
This is an angle that attracts younger workers. A study from freelance marketplace Elance found more than half of Millenials consider telecommuting options important in selecting a job.

4. Create a flextime position
Many workers need to work odd hours so they can pick up their children from school or attend certain classes themselves. If you offer some flexibility in your work hours, then you might improve your chances of getting a quality hire.

5. Offer more responsibility and reward
What can you offer an employee that a giant company cannot? At a large company, an employee often is a tiny cog in an enormous machine. Smaller companies can consider offering a small equity stake as well as the chance to have a greater say in company decisions, provided these are worthy of implementation.
Both are things workers often cannot get in “corporate America” or “corporate India.”

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©Entrepreneur August 2011

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business, company, corporate, downturn, grads, graduates, hire, workers