Small Business has the Hiring Advantage over Large Business
How can small business compete? One of the great things about doing business in this modern age is that new technology can give the little guy the advantage over the big guy. David doesn’t need a sling-shot to beat Goliath anymore; he now has a computer and a handful of useful software. Take the leading applicant tracking software for example. A small business can better keep track of the candidates who are applying for positions with them and choose only the very best. With larger corporations, red tape and huge human resource departments slow the process down.
We just made it through a recession and people need to work. A small business can offer a job faster when they use job recruitment software that identifies the characteristics and training they need for a specific position in each of the candidates who qualify for that job. Once the field has been narrowed down, the interview process will be less time consuming. With a larger company, there could be dozens of candidates and it could take weeks to actually hire someone. In a small company that time frame could be cut down to days.
Larger corporations have a tendency to be very guarded, even cloak and dagger, about what direction they’re leaning in during a recruitment drive. The general philosophy is that, if you keep people in the dark, they’ll treat the job being offered with more respect. It’s making someone work harder than is really necessary for a job that they may not enjoy once they get it. These thoughts go through the minds of all job seekers, so a quick offer from a smaller company is more likely to be accepted than a long wait from a larger company not really saying anything about what your chances are.
Do what you love for a living and you’ll never work a day in your life. That’s everyone’s dream, and it only happens in smaller companies. The larger the executive and management structure is, the less likely you are to be able to exercise your own free will and be creative. Fitting into the corporate mold isn’t living the dream; it’s surviving the nightmare. There are thousands of highly qualified individuals who have become faceless automatons in corporate America, desperate souls hoping every day to just keep the income flowing until something new comes up.
Identifying those idealists, dreamers, and young go-getters in the sea of job seekers is a task only applicant tracking software can perform for you. You as a human being can’t possibly review all of those folks without assistance. Program your recruitment tracking system to identify the qualities you look for in candidates who can help you grow and become the company you want to be. Corporations look at buzz-words like “entrepreneur” and “self-employed” as trouble indicators on a resume. Small companies look at those candidates as assets who can help them build a bigger and more successful company. You might miss those words in a resume. Your ATS applicant tracking won’t.
Applicant Tracking is Like Golf
Take a look at the categories on any web based recruiting software and you won’t see “golf” as one of the job openings you’ll be prospecting for, but is golf really just a game? For anyone who plays to win, it’s much more than that. You’re either playing against others or you’re trying to beat the course. That may not count as a job to people who don’t play, but for you the golfer it takes the same level of hard work and dedication you put into the position you get paid for to be successful out on the course. Games don’t require that kind of effort. Golf is much more than just a game.
If you play golf as part of a team in tournaments, there’s even more work that goes into the pursuit of this “fun” and exciting pastime. Picking your teammates takes the same kind of planning and decision making that recruiting new employees requires. That recruitment tracking software we mentioned above? Use it for job applicant tracking when you’re selecting partners. Play a round of nine with each of them and rate their performance. You can store that info online and go back to it if you need to make a substitution later in the season. Injuries do happen, you know.
You’re probably shaking your head at this point wondering if we’re for real, but success at golf often leads to success in business. A long drive and a good short game will get you a lot more respect from potential clients and partners than a slide presentation in the boardroom. Golf is the game of kings and those who play it feel they are in a world of their own when they’re on the links. If you can’t keep up, you can’t communicate with them. No communication means you make no sales. It’s that simple. That’s why you can’t treat golf as a casual pastime.
There are those, of course, who treat golf like a game and don’t need ATS applicant tracking to keep tabs on potential partners, but they’re generally average players at best and are rarely seen rapidly climbing the corporate ladder. Those are the folks who say you don’t have to be Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy to be a good golfer. The other golfers, those with your passion for winning, want to be better than either of those players. It’s not likely to happen, but striving for it is what separates the mediocre pitch and putters from the longest drive champions and tournament winners.
Michael Jordan is a golfer and those who play with him say he is merciless and cold-blooded; two characteristics that will help you achieve success in the real world. He won six world championships. How many have you won? How many of your peers are striving to win at all? Do the math for yourself. Ask everyone in your circle if they consider golf to be “just a game” and take note of where they are professionally. Those who believe that golf is much more than just something to play tend to do better in the business world. Are you one of those people or are you just playing games?
The Small Business Story 