How to stay competitive in this competitive employee market

Every small and local business owner understands that competition is not just limited to customers, but also their top talent. As larger companies can easily overshadow smaller businesses, it is so important to take those extra steps necessary to stand out as a great option to attract the best employees.

It’s true that your employees are a critical asset to your business. They can truly make or break your operational performance, your customer experience, your potential for growth and more. Simply put, the better your team, the better service you can provide to customers and build a great business that has higher profit. In our years of experience supporting businesses looking to hire top talent (before, during and after the pandemic), these are the best practices we’ve used to help our clients stay competitive as an employer in this competitive employee market.

Build your business reputation

No matter how small your company might be or which industry you might operate in, you need to establish your business reputation to get people interested in working for you. Even small businesses can compete against big brands by being strategic. It can start with steps as simple as social media and overall online reputation. If you start there, you’ve built a window for prospective employees to see into and an organization they will want to join.

The process of finding and hiring talent has changed a lot over the last few years due to advancement in technology and the competitive nature of online platforms and tools. People no longer spend their weekends going through newspaper ads to find a job. Today, online platforms like Indeed, Glassdoor and LinkedIn are everything. What are you doing to make sure a Google search will give people the right impression of working with and for you?

Create a positive workplace culture

Workplace culture is the atmosphere you provide your employees and employee appreciation is just a small piece of that. Whether your goal is attracting new employees or keeping your current staff engaged, the key is a workplace culture that people feel welcomed into. 

While a strong workplace culture has been something around for big brands for a long time, it is really only recently that small businesses have begun embracing this effort as a priority. Even if you have less than 10 employees, even if it is just you and another person, define what you stand for as a group and live that through your business.

Focus on employee appreciation

You might think that employee appreciation is just for those you currently employ, but employee appreciation is actually one of the easiest ways to also attract prospective employees. By showing existing employees how much you appreciate them, you’re building a culture of advocates. That online reputation is strengthened by the words of your current employees and, trust us, a positive employee review goes a long way in terms of attracting top talent.

We know first hand that it is not easy to find employees these days. The main reason why it has become difficult to attract talent is that the competition for talent is at an all-time high. More and more companies are competing for the same talent and you need to do things right to get them to choose you. The truth is that employee retention tends to require the same things as attracting them in the first place. What you need to do to be a company that people want to work for is maintain your business reputation, continue to appreciate employees when they perform well and ensure a positive workplace culture.