5 Reasons Why Hiring is a Challenge for Small Companies

Small companies may offer rewarding employment opportunities, yet they still struggle to find top talent. They compete with larger organizations that also provide rewarding job opportunities and are more well-known. Bigger salaries and benefit packages are the more obvious advantages of working for a big companies. Yet, there are many other areas where big companies out shine small businesses.

Here are five reasons why small companies struggle to compete with large companies when hiring talent.

1) Salaries & Benefits: Not a secret that salaries are generally lower in smaller companies. And, it is a rare small company who can compete with the benefit packages of large companies. Most large companies have group health plans, retirement plans, dental plans, disability and other benefits that outshine smaller companies benefit packages. And, vacation or PTO time is often more generous at large companies too. No question, small companies lose hands down in the compensation area.

2) Career Track: You may wear more hats in a small company, yet it is often the same hats year after year. Small companies struggle to create career paths that can keep employees engaged for the long term unless they are experiencing phenomenal growth. Large companies move people to different departments and divisions creating new experiences for employees who value learning which is a big advantage when recruiting talent.

3) Training & Mentoring: Business owners often want their new hires to hit the road running because they don’t have time to train. Top talent value learning and prefer to work for companies who will teach them something. Big companies knock small businesses out of the ballpark when it comes to professional development. There is an infamous quote that goes something like this . . . Question: “What if we train them and they leave?” Answer: “What if we don’t and they stay?”

4) Employee Brand: Large corporations have a lot of marketing money to create employer brands that entice people to come work for them. The “known” over the “unknown” generally wins. With career sites, employee videos and great word of mouth promotion, big companies portray a winning strategy and doesn’t everyone like to be part of a winning team?

5) Recruiting Budgets: Many small businesses operate without a line item for recruiting in their budgets. Their strategy is to first work their network . . . strike one. Then, post to one job board and hope for results . . . strike two. Then, give up and take a break . . . strike three. Six months later, they are not even close to filling their open position. Big corps promote their jobs on all the major job boards (not just to Indeed) and they actively recruit passive candidates.  With today’s technology tools available to all companies, small companies can look big if they invest and implement the right recruiting strategies.

Written by:  Ann Clifford