Three Simple Human Resources Tips For Canadian Small And Medium Business Owners

The times are changing – even for human resources.  Gone are the days when you could simply place a want ad in the local newspaper and then sit back and wait for the resumes to arrive in the mail.  In the Internet age you must take your candidate search online.  No one knows this better than many of the larger Canadian companies.  These companies know how to get the most for their money – especially when it comes to human resources.  There are some very basic human resources strategies and tools that you can easily and affordably apply towards your small or medium sized business.

Have A Plan
All of Canada’s top companies have a defined plan for how they develop their human resources.  No matter what the size of your business, you should have a human resources development plan.  It is important that you create a simple one-page plan that honestly details your basic company structure, your human resources goals and how you plan to best match the interests, skills and talents of your employees with the long term economic goals of your company. You may also want to include your present human resources capabilities, philosophy and needs, the number of employees you intend to hire, how you will manage them and your estimated personnel costs. Review and revise this at least once a year.

Know And Grow Your Present Employees
How do you expect your best employees to stay in your company unless you offer them something more than a paycheck? Often employees state that their work environment is equally or more important than how much they earn.  Most successful companies know this and realise that small, inexpensive gestures like free cappuccino and warm cookies in the lunchroom go a long way to create and sustain employee moral (and retention).  Grow your employees: Training your current employees will not only directly benefit your productivity but it can also build strong bonds with employees.  If employees feel that the company respects them enough to invest in them then they will probably go that extra mile for you. One out of town seminar per year for an employee could save having to train a new replacement employee every year or two.

Cast A Wide Net And Hire The Best Candidates Possible
Probably the most important human resources lesson that successful businesses have learned is how to hire the best possible employees.  Simply posting a free advertisement on free social classified ad sites kijiji or Craigslist is fine if you are looking for a new barista for your solar powered organic coffee shop but if you are looking for a skilled professional to help move your company forward then you had better find and use the same tools as companies that are actively recruiting the exact same employee.

Hands down, the number one human resources tool for hiring top-notch candidates in Canada would have to be Workopolis.  Before you go flying off the post your job, there are few things that you should know about this great Canadian human resources tool.  Spend a few seconds here and save hours and dollars when you get to the Workopolis website.

First of all, Workopolis is huge.  They receive over 3.5 visits per month.  The Workopolis resume database has over 2 million resumes on file.  This is enormous considering Canada’s population is only around 35 million. Workopolis is actually many job sites in one. Workopolis also operates a network of industry focused job sites so that you can target your job postings towards the best possible candidates in your sector or industry.  

Workopolis also offers many different packages to suit every employer. You can even focus your human resources recruiting by region. Workopolis has individual package pricing for National, Western Canada, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada job postings.  Each ad package gives you access to a free suite of candidate screening tools – aptly named the screening room. Don’t want to post a job? You can also purchase packages with or without access to the Workopolis database (with or without posting a job) and search through candidates yourself.

On the downside Workopolis is not cheap. But considering the investment you are about to make in hiring, training and seasoning a new hire, why wouldn’t want only the best candidates? A nationwide single ad can go as high as $750 for 30 days.  Of course there are tricks to get these numbers down.  The Workopolis pricing is quite flexible if not a little complex at times. You can purchase longer term job posting packages for lesser amounts or you can purchase job extension credits for far less money than you pay for the original job posting.  You can also save by narrowing your search to a specific region. For the nationwide example mentioned earlier, the price drops to only $325 if you target the Atlantic Provinces only. Workopolis also has ongoing special offers and discounts but you may need to dig around the Workopolis website to find these deals.