One of the greatest challenges for a startup and small business is attracting the talent to help make your vision a reality. Startup businesses are unable to offer the salary packages that larger organisations offer, they are not always able to provide fancy offices and working environments. In addition to this, startups don’t have dedicated HR professionals to help them make the right choices about who to hire.
The challenge is daunting as we watch enterprise businesses ‘snap up’ the best talent in our industry. In order to capture the attention of great candidates we are able to use two simple digital marketing tools to attract the kind of people you need in your business. I have watched many startups and small businesses attract top talent and retain them with these simple techniques.
Showcase your culture on social media
Startups and small businesses have a huge advantage over large enterprises. Their people are not just a number, a cog on the wheel of a bigger machine. Small business by its nature creates a more personal, more flexible, more caring work culture that is very difficult for larger enterprise to replicate.
“Social media presents a great opportunity to share what its like to work in your business”
Most top talent are looking to stand out, to be a part of something bigger, to have their voice heard, and their opinion counted. Startups are able to provide this business culture simply due to their size.
Creating a great culture in a small business is much easier than a bigger business, and startups should realise the competitive advantage they have when finding great talented people to work in their business.
Social media presents a great opportunity to share what its like to work in your business. What the people are like, what the company’s vision is, how you go about achieving that vision and how much fun you have doing it.
Think of social media as your own personal talent pool of potential employees that are silently watching to see if your business is worth working for. Share videos, articles and photo’s of your business at work, celebrate the wins, share your success and above all make sure people can see your bigger vision.
People want to work for a company that stands for something bigger. A bigger company doesn’t mean a bigger vision or a bigger dream. Make sure that your dream is clearly articulated through social media channels and you will find that your social media channels will start to fill up with great talented people who love the idea of working for you.
In short, use the power of the social media landscape to showcase what your business stands for, what it is trying to achieve and how they achieve it.
Headhunt the people you want
Don’t just sit their like a wounded soldier getting upset that you can’t get the talent you need. Social media sites like LinkedIn provide the perfect opportunity for you to headhunt the right talent if they are not showing up at your front door.
“Find the people you need to accelerate your business in the right direction”
LinkedIn provides you with an up-to-date business network of people showcasing their CV’s to the world. Use this database to your advantage and find the people you need to accelerate your business in the right direction.
If you successfully showcase your business and your working culture through social media channels, you will find that you get a much better response from people when you first approach them to work for you.
These two platforms offer a great solution to startups and small businesses to attract and grow your team with top talent.
About the author: Mike has won the respect of business by his determined approach to helping business navigate a diverse and complicated world of Digital and Business. Mike’s digital agency DigitLab was voted one of South Africa’s Best Digital Agency by The Bookmarks Awards in 2012. Mike is also an entrepreneur and businessman.
