Over the past few years, many small businesses have been held back in a number of ways, whether it was the struggling economy or a lack of access to credit. However, one of the issues that many often cited when it came to problems growing their companies is that there just haven’t been enough qualified candidates for their open positions.
When this is the case, given the number of people who are out of work nationwide to this day, it might often be a failing of the company, rather than the people themselves, according to a report from the Huffington Post. While it has certainly been a buyer’s market, so to speak, for hiring since the recession began, companies can’t afford to be too picky if they do in fact want to hire people. Moreover, a failure to hire can often set companies back. For instance, if there’s an open position and it takes a long time to fill it, the person who could have been doing that work isn’t there to pick up the slack, and thus, it falls to other employees to do that work. That, in turn, might put them behind on the things they’re supposed to be doing in their own jobs.
Potential obstacles to better hiring policies
One problem that might lead to this, of course, is that many small businesses simply don’t have the time to properly evaluate all candidates as well as they might like, or in a way that would allow them to find more qualified people, the report said. While big companies often have people whose entire jobs are devoted to this, small business owners have to wear a lot of hats, and as such, may struggle to focus on this one issue in particular.
Further, because of that impediment, many companies might not know the best way to go about hiring, especially online, the report said. Whether it’s through improving want ads or making sure that all channels are being utilized properly, the way that job openings are presented to candidates online could be made more efficient and therefore attract better candidates overall.
Owners might also want to think about the ways in which they’re positioning themselves to best afford taking on more workers, which can be another impediment to hiring. Taking the time to find more affordable small business insurance, such as liability insurance, can go a long way toward improving a bottom line by savings thousands annually.
