Finding high quality, skilled labor is an important goal of any business, especially startups and smaller ventures. Without trained, effective workers making up the company, it will be much harder to be successful. Thankfully, a number of important trends related to the employment sector have started to improve, and as a result small businesses may soon find it is easier to fill vacant positions.
If this is the case, it could remove some of the burden on your financial plan. No firm can grow and prosper without productive workers, and the past few years have been hard on the labor market. With that in mind, it may be best to focus on finding the right people to bring into the company – and the recent improvements may have made that an easier goal.
Full-time employment statistics improve
Over the past several years, the U.S. has struggled with full-time employment and a high jobless rate. Too many residents were out of work and looking for a new opportunity, and the tight economy made finding positions a challenge.
However, that has started to change. According to Gallup, the U.S. Payroll to Population employment rate, or P2P, reached 44.5 percent in May. That is up slightly compared to April and May 2013, making up for a declining trend that was present for much of last year. The P2P statistic measures the percentage of the population employed full time, and is often indicative of hiring patterns. In addition to this metric, the nation's unemployment rate was 7 percent this past month, while the workforce participation rate ticked up to 67.6 percent.
Find the best people
As conditions improve, you may find that it is time to bring in new people for your small business. However, picking the wrong new hires can be a problem for your company's overall success and its financial plan, so it pays to be smart.
According to Mashable, the first thing you should do is define the open position. In the listing, write out what tasks the person will be required to perform, how the role fits into the business' culture, salary, benefits and any other relevant information. The goal is to demonstrate the value of the job within the company. Better yet, you should tell all candidates if the position is subject to change due to your current growth phase. Naturally, many small businesses are rapidly evolving, and any new hire should be able to as well.