7 ways to compete with the big guys for talent
June 11, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Attracting talent, Special Report
Small companies often think they can’t compete with the big guys when it comes to finding and keeping employees. But smaller firms offer a lot that the big ones can’t.
Brand name recognition and bigger budgets go a long way in helping those large corporations attract employees, but small companies have their own advantages.
Here’s what smaller organizations have over the big guys:
- Job security – As we’ve seen lately, the biggest companies are often hit the hardest when cut backs are needed.
- Faster hiring – Big firms usually have big hiring committees and an extensive hierarchy of decision makers. Small businesses, on the other hand, can move fast to secure a great candidate before the competition.
- Access to higher-ups – Another advantage of working for a small firm: Employees get to interact with everyone in the company — including the CEO in many cases. To convey this, have a top exec touch base with a valued candidate who’s on the fence about accepting a job offer.
- Stability — The downside of name recognition is that, these days, many large companies are associated with bad news. Take advantage of that by stressing your firm’s growth, stability, long-tenured employees, etc.
- More room to move – At a smaller company, employees get more of a chance to perform different tasks. They’ll likely get more responsibility upfront, along with a greater opportunity to be promoted or make a lateral move.
- Flexibility – With less bureaucracy than big firms, small employers can often be more flexible in many areas, such as work schedules, salaries and vacation time, making it easier to address employees’ individual needs.
- More influence – When there are fewer employees overall, every individual has more of an impact on the company’s success. Also, the smaller size makes it much easier for opinions to be heard and changes to be made.
What has your company used to compete with larger competitors when hiring? Share your ideas in the comments section below.
Tags: big competitors, flexibility, security, small companies
June 12th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
2) this all depends on the company. We take forever! (read months)
5) This greatly depends on how small the company is. Some small companies, such as the one I work for, has absolutely no room to move up.
6) this is down right funny. Less bureaucracy? Hardly. I have worked for big corporate and now a family owned. Smaller is not always better. Not always worse either.
7) I disagree in my case. You might get heard more, but ownership will do as they want to do.
Small business (family owned), has great advantages in many ways that you can offer. But I think this goes to medium sized companies.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Created customized jobs around employee talents, values and interests. No more on-size-fits-all; customization, personal and responsive. This attracts serious performers who want to act and think like owners.