48% of SMBs say recruiting is a challenge

Indeed equips small businesses with tools to recruit better candidates

Despite the collective strength and importance of small to medium sized businesses in Australia, it seems they can face serious stumbling blocks when it comes to attracting, hiring and retaining staff.

A report released by Indeed highlights that 48% of SMBs (including businesses in the construction industry) say recruiting is a challenge and 40% believe it is harder to recruit today than it was five years ago.

Additionally, the report has also revealed that sometimes small businesses are not recognising and advertising their unique appeal to job seekers. In fact, 69% of job seekers in Australia believe it is hard to know what an advertised job will actually be like in an SMB.

However it isn’t all bleak with a majority of job seekers believing that in a small to medium size business, their job application is more likely to be seen by the right people (73%). 58% of job seekers also believe that they have a greater chance of landing a role at an SMB compared to a larger organisation.

Indeed’s Head of Career Insights, Jay Munro, says: “As small businesses continue to grow and expand, it is important that they understand job seeker behaviour and opinions as it is essential to attract the talent they need to remain competitive.”

The research comes as Indeed releases a free hiring handbook for SMBs; The Complete SMB Hiring Handbook: Everything you need to make the perfect hire.

“SMBs have the cutting edge over large businesses as they have a very unique appeal to job seekers. At Indeed, we are committed to ensuring we are providing the best tools to SMBs. The new handbook provides insights into the hearts and minds of job seekers to ensure SMBs can compete with larger companies for the best candidates,” said Jay.

The hiring handbook is a free tool for all businesses and is aimed at reducing the gap in recruitment knowledge for SMBs. It covers everything from identifying when to make a new hire, to writing an effective job ad, identifying hard skills and soft skills, extending the offer of employment and onboarding new employees.

To download the handbook visit: www.hiringhandbook.com.au