How smaller businesses can compete with large organisations in talent attraction

Working for a small business may seem daunting when large competition looms. Niall O’Rourke, partner at Sharp & Carter recruitment agency joined The HR Leader to discuss the benefits of working for a smaller organisation.

Mr O’Rourke said: “If you're part of an organisation where there's 5,000 staff versus part of an organisation where you're 50, you're probably going to get more exposure and learn more to further develop your career at the smaller company.”

Mr O’Rourke notes that revenue should not be the key consideration of a successful business. Smaller companies may not pull in as much money but may be better equipped for looking after the needs and wants of employees.

“It's our job to find out what's the best home for you. If you are at a stage of your career where you just want to make money for a couple of years, then we will say: ‘well, this is the best option.’ If you're at the early stage of your career and you want more exposure to new tech stacks, or you want to move up into a senior engineer, into an architect position, then you're probably going to get a better chance of doing that in a smaller company by taking on more responsibility,” explained Mr O’Rourke.

“It doesn't make a difference if you are one of those large tech beasts or if you're a small not-for-profit charity, you're all competing for the same staff… It's not always about money but everyone is fighting for the same talent.”

Mr O’Rourke notes that flexibility is often a key consideration for candidates: “We are seeing organisations that are starting to push people back to come back to the office three to four days per week. Is it difficult to recruit for those organisations? It can be.

“People say: ‘if I offer fully remote work, is that going to attract the best talent?’ The answer is no, because someone else is going to have something else that you're competing with.”

Mr O’Rourke says you shouldn’t get hung up on competition: “You're never going to be able to take on competitors’ day in and day out. I say to customers: look after your own backyard. If your backyard is in order, then the rest will do itself.”

“Here at Sharp & Carter, if we look after our staff and genuinely believe that it's the right thing to do, the business will look after itself, the revenue will come in, the placements will come. The relationships will come if we do the right thing,” he said.

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full conversation with Niall O’Rourke is below.