The quality of the people who work for you is one of the most important factors in the success of your business, but recruiting can be a hit and miss affair.
Research has shown that many small and medium-sized businesses are finding they cannot recruit the managers they need. The two most common reasons given are lack of suitable skills and inability to match the remuneration packages offered by larger businesses.
Finding a person with the right skills, qualifications and experience can be both difficult and time-consuming. But with the internet increasingly becoming recognised as an accepted job-hunting resource, employers have found that online recruitment can be very effective.
Recruiting new staff takes up precious time and resources, so once you have found the right person for the job make sure you allocate sufficient time and resources to induct them properly.
Most jobs are offered on the basis first of a candidate's CV and application letter and then on the outcome of an interview.
A number of businesses use contractors and subcontractors to carry out short-term work or to supply specialist skills on specific projects.
Every employer knows just how important wages are to recruiting and keeping good employees. So how best to go about setting rates of pay?
In recent years, social and economic changes have had an increasing impact on how people work.
There are rules governing the employment of young people with which employers must legally comply.
The purpose of drawing up employment policies is to make sure that employees are aware of and understand the rules that apply to them.
Many smaller businesses choose to employ staff on a part-time basis. This often has the advantage of controlling costs when there is no need for a full-time worker and of adding flexibility to the running of the business.