Finding and hiring talented people to grow your business is hard…really, really hard.

In fact, 60 percent of small business owners say that it’s their toughest challenge.

New to Constant Contact? Sign up for a free trial today.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise

As a small business, your potential to do more business is directly tied to the quality of your staff. And if you’re hiring the wrong people, you could be at risk of damaging customer relationships, but also wasting a ton of time and money in the process.

These are things that no small business can afford

The good news is that many of the tools you’re probably already familiar with could provide the answer to even your biggest recruitment dilemmas. Here at Constant Contact, we’ve more than doubled the size of our workforce in the last couple years, and learned some important lessons along the way.

Let’s take a look at how you can use email and social media to find your next great employee:

Leveraging the power of social media

Statistics show that more than half of all job seekers in the U.S. use social media. Last year, 36 million Americans used Linkedin, Twitter, or Facebook to find work.

When you consider that 65 percent of new jobs in the U.S. are created by small businesses, there’s a good chance a lot of those people were finding employment at businesses like yours.

Here a few things to consider when using social media for recruitment:

  • Cross promote. Cross post your open jobs across various social media channels like Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter to gain maximum reach. To save time and be more efficient, there are many social media management tools out there that allow you to post to all outlets from one spot. Many of these tools, like @hootsuite or @bullhornreach are free too! Hootsuite even offers a premium service that tracks your campaigns so you get valuable insights into what posts are working, etc.
  • Get creative. Everyone is always advertising and posting jobs that say, “Now Hiring or Help Wanted.” Try and stand out and be different to separate your business from others. For example, if you own a restaurant and you need to hire a cook, try something like: “Do you have the right ingredients?”
  • Experiment with different types of content. Your job posting doesn’t have to be text only. Consider using photos and videos to showcase your culture and better engage your target audience.
  • Use social search: Almost all social media outlets like Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter offer search capabilities to look for people. This helps solve a big recruiting problem. Do not hesitate to search for folks that are currently doing the job you need to fill and meet your job criteria. This opens the door to ask them for advice or tell them you are looking for a referral. If you feel comfortable, directly engage them about the job opportunity at hand.

Email: The unsung hero of recruiting

Email can be your best friend when it comes to recruiting. It’s fast, easy, highly trackable, and you can contact a large volume of people in a short amount of time.

And, you probably already have a great list of relevant contacts (industry peers, friends, family, colleagues, etc.)

Rather than just relying on personal emails, you can use an email marketing service like Constant Contact to create professional-looking emails to let people know you are in the process of hiring.

With our customizable templates, you can add photos of your business, upload logos, and provide links for people to learn more.

Here are a few tips to consider:

  • Design audience-specific templates. Try creating a few different templates for each of your audiences. For example, you might want to use a different template and message that you send to your friends and family (asking for those referrals) versus the message that you send to your peer or industry contacts. This will save you time and help you provide a more relevant experience to the people you’re trying to reach.
  • Remember to include a call to action. Simple and straight forward calls to action work well. For example, “Apply Now by Emailing Your Resume” is a great call to action because it gets right to the point and encourages a clear action. You can provide a link within your email so that people can apply online or can email you directly too.
  • Share it! This is where you really see the value of combining the power of email and social media. You can share your recruitment email on your top social networks and let people know you’re hiring. You can also encourage current employees and colleagues to share your email with their own friends and followers.

Set your business up for success!

If you’re hoping to do more business this year, you need to make sure that you’re properly staffed. And this starts with finding the right people to do the job.

Email and social media are just examples of the tools you can use to find your next successful employee. Find the tools that work best for you, and you’ll be well on your way to growing your team and doing more business in the New Year.

New to Constant Contact? Sign up for a free trial today.

Is recruiting successful employees a problem for your small business? We’re here to help! Let us know what challenges are holding you back. It could be the topic of my next blog post!