In the competitive landscape of talent acquisition, we’ve gathered twenty-one unique strategies from CEOs, Founders, and HR professionals to help your SMB attract top candidates.
From partnering with specialized recruiters to providing relocation assistance packages, discover how these leaders tailor their recruitment efforts to bring in the best talent.
- Partner with Specialized Recruiters
- Utilize Passive Sourcing Methods
- Showcase Authentic Employer Brand
- Highlight SMB Advantages in Messaging
- Leverage Employee Referral Programs
- Conduct 360-Degree Recruitment Sessions
- Invest in Long-Term Employer Branding
- Promote Career Growth Internally
- Offer Remote Work Opportunities
- Recruit Freelancers for Projects
- Emphasize Work-Life Balance
Partner with Specialized Recruiters
To tailor this strategy and ensure we attract the best candidates, we work closely with our recruiters to clearly define our job requirements and ideal candidate profiles. We provide detailed insights into our company values, work environment, and the unique opportunities we offer. This collaboration ensures that the recruiters can effectively communicate our brand to potential candidates, making our roles more appealing to top-tier talent.
We also stay engaged throughout the recruitment process, offering feedback and maintaining open communication to refine our approach continuously. This partnership has significantly enhanced our ability to attract and retain high-caliber employees, driving our growth and success in the competitive tech and SaaS landscape.
Blake Smith, Marketing Manager, ClockOn Australia
Utilize Passive Sourcing Methods
Wendy Makinson, HR Manager, Joloda Hydraroll
Showcase Authentic Employer Brand
While enterprise companies tend to be very buttoned-up, SMBs can create a more intimate, friendly, and welcoming atmosphere. Share stories, celebrate successes, and show the human side of your business. This approach not only attracts top talent but also makes them excited about joining a company where they feel they can make a difference. After all, people care deeply about who they are working for and why. By being genuine and engaging, you can build a strong, appealing employer brand that draws in the best candidates.
Vivian Chen, Founder & CEO, Rise
Highlight SMB Advantages in Messaging
Small-to-medium-sized businesses often outshine large bureaucratic companies in terms of career growth opportunities, the ability to have a more significant impact, more visibility from upper management, and many other advantages. Our outreach messaging is short, with the main focus being three to four bullet points that specifically highlight the benefits of joining a smaller organization.
Mike Basso, Founder & CEO, salestalent.com
Leverage Employee Referral Programs
What I find especially great about referrals is that they’re far more likely to be a fit both in terms of skills/knowledge/experience and when it comes to culture fit and personality. This is because the employees who are making the referrals understand your culture already, to a much deeper level than you can achieve by describing the culture in a job posting. Because of this, they’re able to do some initial selection, only referring those individuals in their network that they see matching the role on all points.
Employees also already have a vested interest in referring people who will excel. For one thing, they know they’ll have to work with this person if they’re hired, so they won’t refer someone who will make their life more difficult by failing at their job. Employees also recognize that their reputation is somewhat at stake when they refer a friend or network contact.
I’ve found an incentive system can be an effective way to promote more employee referrals. A cash bonus is often an effective and simple incentive, though you can also use PTO days or other perks for this. I like to use a system where the referring employee will earn the incentive after the person they refer is not only hired but has been with the company for a specified length of time (I usually make this six months). This way, employees are encouraged to not just refer a lot of people, but specifically to refer those individuals who have a strong chance of being hired and excelling in the job long-term.
Matt Erhard, Managing Partner, Summit Search Group
Conduct 360-Degree Recruitment Sessions
To tailor this strategy for attracting top talent, we emphasize clear communication and highlight our organizational values and mission during these sessions. With the sessions, the candidates can see that we practice what we preach. Personalization is key, as we customize interactions to align with candidates’ career aspirations and interests. By integrating feedback and continually refining our approach, we ensure that our recruitment process is not only inclusive but also compelling for candidates seeking meaningful alignment with our company’s vision and values.
Stijn van der Vat, CEO & Founder, Deepler
Invest in Long-Term Employer Branding
Additionally, retention rates of candidates sourced through effective employer branding are often improved as they are emotionally invested in the brand and are already well-versed with the environment and company culture.
Chris Percival, Founder & Managing Director, CJPI
Promote Career Growth Internally
By emphasizing our commitment to career development and internal promotions, we attract ambitious candidates who are looking for long-term growth opportunities. This approach not only retains top talent but also demonstrates our investment in our employees’ futures.
Our transparent promotion process and support for continuous learning make us an attractive employer for high-potential candidates. This strategy fosters a culture of loyalty and motivation, driving overall company success.
Shawn Plummer, CEO, The Annuity Expert
Offer Remote Work Opportunities
We customize this plan by offering flexible work arrangements and providing extensive tools and resources to our distributed workforce members. The use of project management software, video conferencing facilities, and messaging platforms ensures that communication between employees proceeds seamlessly, such that projects are completed through collaboration with each other successfully. Remote staff should feel like part of the team no less than those who work out of an office building; hence, regular virtual team meetings as well as social events sustain strong team dynamics within companies.
Another important element is clarity in communication, as it helps remote employees integrate themselves right from the start by ensuring that they understand how we do things. New hires appreciate openness, which facilitates quick adaptation regardless of their location.
Jessica Bane, Director of Business Operations, GoPromotional
Recruit Freelancers for Projects
Recently, we hired a developer on a freelance basis to work on a specific module of our eLearning platform. During this project, we evaluated his technical expertise, communication skills, and ability to meet deadlines. Since this individual excelled in all these areas, we discussed the possibility of him joining our team full-time. Initially, this person was not interested. It took offering a generous salary package, highlighting growth opportunities, and offering him work-from-home days.
This strategy has helped us recruit multiple talented individuals who are great assets for our team.
Farhan Siraj, Chief Executive Officer, OSHA Outreach Courses
Emphasize Work-Life Balance
Running a bookkeeping company, there are many Big 4 firms that will attract top talent based on brand name and salary alone. However, the trade-off is that work-life balance suffers, and there’s quite a lot of politics involved in getting promoted.
We make sure to put that at the forefront of our interviews, and while we don’t always win out, many long-term and qualified individuals are content, preferring us over the big companies.
Taryn Pumphrey, President, Ledger Lift