Small Business Owners & Campus Recruitment

Over the years small business owners have struggled at winning talent from some of their larger competitors or just larger firms period. The economy and current business climate lends for great opportunities for the smaller business owner (SBO) to hire business school students who would have not been normally in the marketplace. This is taking what some may say is a negative business climate to a win-win opportunity for the small business.

As a SBO, the recession should cause you to think about the talent you currently have in your organization and where some of the gaps in talent may exist. As students start to expand their job searches, this is a prime opportunity to recruit students into your company as you can offer them opportunities to be more than just a number, allow them to cross train to use their skills and knowledge in more than one area and provide them with purpose. In turn, many of them will bring to you new and diverse thoughts, updated knowledge and abilities with technology and the ability to hit the ground running as you can often time see an immediate impact.

Now you may be thinking who has the money or the budget to develop a campus recruitment program or you do not know where to start. Well, my company Mahogane Management is a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider that works with start-ups, small and mid-size businesses to create solutions for recruitment as part of our On Demand RPO solutions. This is a great alternative recruitment solution to paying a staffing agency fee to find your next employee which often time takes a percentage of 20%-30% of your new hire salary. This is often a very expensive hiring solution to the business owner. Now ask your self, who isn't looking for an alternative way to save without compromising service, that is cost efficient and deploys best in class practices? Our On Demand RPO solution partners with you to design a customized recruitment solution to address your needs and if designing campus recruitment program is part of that solution, we can provide you with an alternative to traditional staffing services.

Mahogane not only provides flexible intake methods for candidates to capture their information from applying via PDA, IVR, and Web to just name a few to creating a video to add to your company site to share with candidates about your company and/or the job itself. Our creativity and technology is endless and we partner with you to simply connect the pieces. Now that my shameless company plug has been included, think about whether developing a campus recruiting program is something that is right for your organization. Here are a couple of points to keep in mind.

1. Are you an Employer of Choice?
This will help you think about how your organization is viewed not just internal but external out in the market. Are you committed to meeting the varying needs of your workforce both in and out of work?

2. Do you offer a Competitive Compensation/Benefits Package?
Is your compensation and benefits program in line with the market? If you offer salaries below market, do you offer other rewards or benefits such as flex time, more vacation, company perks?
You can still be competitive as most grads are looking beyond compensation to more of a quality of life package that focuses on the mind, body, and career first then pay. Quality of life and enjoying what they do is more important than the quantity of the pay.

3. Do you offer a formal Training & Development program?
Effectively communicating a company's training and development opportunities are part of the campus recruiting process. As graduates look for opportunities that will allow them to continuously broaden their expertise through extensive training whether functional, being cross trained or offering professional development courses, you too can compete with larger companies if you can address one or more of these needs.

Quick tips: You can identify an e-learning provider to assist you in implementing e-learning courses to train and develop your workforce online. You can provide professional training opportunities through various associations and organizations. Create a network with local consultants, providers or other businesses to sponsor monthly or quarterly workforce trainings.