How to Get the Best Employees to Work for Your Small Company

Research from LinkedIn  shows that more and more employees are heading to smaller companies, and not because the money is better. Working for smaller companies offers employees some pretty great non-financial benefits, such as the ability to clearly see the impact of their work and a clear knowledge of how they fit into a company’s future.

This is great news for these smaller companies, many of which don’t have bottomless budgets to spend on recruiting. There are simple ways to highlight everything your small company has to offer, using tools that are already at your disposal.

Here are four qualities of small businesses that attract top talent and some advice on how to use them in your recruiting strategy:

1. Their Employees Aren’t Faceless

It’s easy for an employee to feel overlooked when they’re one of 10,000. They’re lucky if someone outside of their department even knows their name, let alone all they’ve accomplished for the company.

Smaller companies, however, can more readily and personally show their appreciation for high-performing employees. Your company blog and social media sites are an easy way to publically acknowledge employees. Start running a regular feature on your blog, highlighting a different employee each month. Outline their history with the company, what they’ve contributed in the past, and why they deserve to be recognized this particular month.

Find outside-the-box reasons to celebrate employees. Yes, it’s important when an employee breaks a sales record, but don;t forget about the employee who’s doing well in the office and volunteering for the Red Cross every week. This will show current and future employees that you value your workers for more than what they contribute to your bottom line.

2. Employees Believe in the Company and Its Future

The aforementioned research from LinkedIn found that 42 percent of respondents chose to work for a smaller company because they believed in its mission and direction. However, a potential employee can’t fall in love with your vision for your company if you don’t share it with them.

Make sure your mission statement is clearly defined and featured on your company website and social media. Also include examples of how your company and your employees are fulfilling the values it stands for. It’s one thing to say your company “strives for excellence” or “develops cutting-edge technology” and a completely different thing to prove that and give it meaning. Tweet and post regularly about achievements or activities you are doing to hold up the company’s mission.

Also, share a five-year plan of where you envision the company going. How do you want to grow and expand and how will your employees help you get there? Focusing on how different members of your team are going to contribute and help the company achieve goals will allow job seekers to see how their involvement will have an impact.

3. Smaller Companies Have More Attractive Company Cultures

Giant corporations tend to come off as cold or lacking personality, something that can push talented employees away. Smaller companies, on the other hand, can show off their unique characteristics in ways that job seekers can relate to.

Talk to your current employees and find out what types of industry-related websites they frequent and which industry influencers they follow on social media. That will not only help you more clearly define your company culture, but also find outlets to share that culture so it can attract talent.

Be sure to immerse job candidates in the company culture throughout the interview experience. In a 2015 report from Virgin Pulse, almost 40 percent of respondents said their coworkers were the number one reason they loved their company. Introduce job candidates to the people they’ll be working with so they can see what their coworkers are like and how they’ll fit in.

4. Smaller Companies Provide More Personal Interaction

The CareerBuilder 2015 Candidate Behavior Report  found that the part of the application process job seekers disliked the most was that it was too automated and provided no human interaction. Stock emails are expected from big companies, but if, as a small company, you want to bring in the best employees, you need to do better.

After receiving an application from a candidate or interviewing them, send them a personalized email updating them on where they stand in the hiring process. They’ll be impressed not only that you took the time to communicate with them as an individual, but also that you gave them a real live person they can turn to if any questions pop up. When it comes to attracting skilled employees, that personal interaction will go along way.

What other advantages do small companies have when recruiting? Share in the comments!