Im looking for staff - any ideas?

[Mark M]

I run a small business, we do alright but Im at the price sensitive end of the market due to our size so I cant really afford to pay a recruitment agent 20% of the annual salary upfront with a small clawback period. I've tried advertising on Linkedin (free job ad) and CV Library (£75) and not got a single person who is suitable with anything close to relevant experience. I think the salary is decent for up here in Newcastle so I dont think thats the problem but does anyone have any advice or options that's worked for them to recruit staff? I was thinking of giving Indeed jobs a go but other than that I'm not sure what else I can do?

 

[Azza]

This thread?

***There are jobs here***

I shared the company's post of it, no bites though :( I wasn't that lucky with linked in, but if we speak of the earlier years of couse. Not sure, now all may have been changed.

forums.overclockers.co.uk

Suppose it depends what your business is and the role & salary you're advertising at.

 

[Quartz]

Have you tried your local job centre?

 

[HangTime]

Yeah I think it depends on the type of role and experience required. If it's some generic role that doesn't need specialist training or experience then job centre could be an option. Regarding LinkedIn don't rule out searching up people with relevant profiles and approaching them directly, this is all agents are doing a lot of the time, the last two companies I worked for were on the basis of an unsolicited approach on LI. You'll need a thick skin however as you'll get ignored / rejected a lot.

I don't know the cost but I'd give Indeed a try.

 

[BUDFORCE]

What is the type of job?

 

[jon86]

What is the type of job?

And salary?

 

[Quartz]

If it's some generic role that doesn't need specialist training or experience then job centre could be an option.

Almost everyone who is claiming unemployment benefit has to visit the job centre so you've nothing to lose.

 

[SilverTongue]

Almost everyone who is claiming unemployment benefit has to visit the job centre so you've nothing to lose.

Apart from time and hair sifting through all the applications that are far from suitable because the opinion of the staff at most job centres is,
JC: "this is a vacancy, why haven't you applied for it"
JS: "because I don't have the experience or qualifications that they require"
JC: "apply for it anyway or we will stop your benefit as you aren't doing enough to find work"

This was exact conversation I had a few years ago after showing them evidence of having applied for 20 jobs where I had relevant experience and qualifications in that week as well as having 3 interviews lined up for the following week

 

[Throrik]

Apart from time and hair sifting through all the applications that are far from suitable because the opinion of the staff at most job centres is,

JC: "apply for it anyway or we will stop your benefit as you aren't doing enough to find work"

Ah, I remember this well, back when I was a wee nipper they made me apply for a role 4 hours a way each way on public transport. They didn't seem to understand why I was reluctant. It fell within a 'as the crow flies catchment area' and they're rigid and inflexible.

 

[OspreyO]

Consider older people who want to work part time.

 

[Quartz]

JC: "apply for it anyway or we will stop your benefit as you aren't doing enough to find work"

"Can you put that in writing?"

 

[Nitefly]

Im looking for staff - any ideas?​

Anyone called Rod would be suitable.

 

[Combat squirrel]

"I think the salary is decent for up here in Newcastle so I dont think thats the problem"

It is, it 100% is.

Pay more than the market rate to the highest level you can reasonably afford - minimum wage for any role (be it national minimum or market dictated) is disgustingly low & I'd encourage anyone not to work for that little money - its an insult - hence why you have 0 applications - you'll get decent applications then & better staff morale if you work with people, not make people work FOR you for the bare minimum.

Sorry to be blunt, but I'm extremely happy the world is waking up to slave wages, its great to see employers struggling to get any staff, how about pay people fairly & uptake will begin again - 99% of the time in literally any business, the workers create 99% of the money, and take home single digit percentages in wages, the world needs to change to fairly distribute wages from profits, not just let 1 guy do 1% of the work and take enormous overwhelming amounts of the profits, and no, 'risk' isn't worth the wage/work imbalance of the owners.

 

[FishThrower]

"I think the salary is decent for up here in Newcastle so I dont think thats the problem"

It is, it 100% is.

Pay more than the market rate to the highest level you can reasonably afford - minimum wage for any role (be it national minimum or market dictated) is disgustingly low & I'd encourage anyone not to work for that little money - its an insult - hence why you have 0 applications - you'll get decent applications then & better staff morale if you work with people, not make people work FOR you for the bare minimum.

Sorry to be blunt, but I'm extremely happy the world is waking up to slave wages, its great to see employers struggling to get any staff, how about pay people fairly & uptake will begin again - 99% of the time in literally any business, the workers create 99% of the money, and take home single digit percentages in wages, the world needs to change to fairly distribute wages from profits, not just let 1 guy do 1% of the work and take enormous overwhelming amounts of the profits, and no, 'risk' isn't worth the wage/work imbalance of the owners.

People are going to be unemployed for a long time with attitude like that…

For low wage jobs, they are more suitable for people with little experience who need more to move onto better things, they normally move on after a couple of years to something much better.

small businesses ( under 20 employees) most of the time can’t compete with big wages…. There is a big skill shortage in loads of sectors currently which aren’t doing small businesses any favours.

I have come to the conclusion that people are simply too lazy to work

 

[CapitalOne]

People are going to be unemployed for a long time with attitude like that…

For low wage jobs, they are more suitable for people with little experience who need more to move onto better things, they normally move on after a couple of years to something much better.

small businesses ( under 20 employees) most of the time can’t compete with big wages…. There is a big skill shortage in loads of sectors currently which aren’t doing small businesses any favours.

I have come to the conclusion that people are simply too lazy to work

Low wages suck. Just as you aren’t owed a living small businesses aren’t owed cheap labour. The job market should sort that out. If you can’t afford skilled people it’s not a viable business.

 

[MatsyLR]

Need to know what type of job, salary and hours. It all factors in to how attractive a job is. I'm in Sunderland so wages are pretty identical. Anything under £24-25k is pathetic and even then that isn't much.

I'm on 21k at the moment plus bonuses of £200-800 per month based on performance. Team of 8 at the moment. We all hate it but it's webchat so we don't have to talk to people in person which non of us are willing to give up. It does feel like slave labour. We can only justify it with the bonus money. Next month ill be getting over 2k due to a decent performance this month.

I'm only still there because I don't have to interact with the public face to face or talking and the wages are more than enough to cover my bills as I only spend around 700-800 a month.

Need to know what your idea of decent is and what the job is.

 

[CapitalOne]

Need to know what type of job, salary and hours. It all factors in to how attractive a job is. I'm in Sunderland so wages are pretty identical. Anything under £24-25k is pathetic and even then that isn't much.

I'm on 21k at the moment plus bonuses of £200-800 per month based on performance. We all hate it but it's webchat so we don't have to talk to people in person which non of us are willing to give up. It does feel like slave labour.

And yet an “entrepreneur” will try and set up a fintech but it only works with childless employees prepared to work for £10 an hour

 

[Stu999]

Need to know what type of job, salary and hours. It all factors in to how attractive a job is. I'm in Sunderland so wages are pretty identical. Anything under £24-25k is pathetic and even then that isn't much.

I'm on 21k at the moment plus bonuses of £200-800 per month based on performance. Team of 8 at the moment. We all hate it but it's webchat so we don't have to talk to people in person which non of us are willing to give up. It does feel like slave labour. We can only justify it with the bonus money. Next month ill be getting over 2k due to a decent performance this month.

I'm only still there because I don't have to interact with the public face to face or talking and the wages are more than enough to cover my bills as I only spend around 700-800 a month.

Need to know what your idea of decent is and what the job is.

And if you’re single and starting out in the world of work you struggle to find somewhere decent to live at that sort of salary, even in the North East (cheapest area for housing in England).

 

[MatsyLR]

And if you’re single and starting out in the world of work you struggle to find somewhere decent to live at that sort of salary, even in the North East (cheapest area for housing in England).

Indeed. I'm single and it's enough for myself but that's because I have low bills to begin with,, low mortgage and no debt.

Minimum wage is not enough for the majority of people. Most of the people I work with are always completely skint by the end of the month waiting for pay day, it's just not enough.

 

[Trifid]

People are going to be unemployed for a long time with attitude like that…

For low wage jobs, they are more suitable for people with little experience who need more to move onto better things, they normally move on after a couple of years to something much better.

small businesses ( under 20 employees) most of the time can’t compete with big wages…. There is a big skill shortage in loads of sectors currently which aren’t doing small businesses any favours.

I have come to the conclusion that people are simply too lazy to work

Business are going to lose out on suitable staff. Just look at the OP. He has also failed to reply to the question of salary and what the job actually is.

price sensitive

not got a single person who is suitable with anything close to relevant experience.

I think the salary is decent

It's not.

but other than that I'm not sure what else I can do?

Be clear with the minimum job specification and state a salary that is realistic to your requirements. You either need to train someone young and inexperienced from the ground up or offer a salary that will tempt someone with experience to change job. Why would anyone take a pay cut, or similar take home to their existing job, and accept the risk of change to work for you? Even worse, as a small business you might go under with no notice!