Put yourself in the recruitment shop window

Published on Thursday 19 November 2009 09:14

EDINBURGH is a great place to work. There's a good choice of jobs and unemployment is lower than in many other parts of the UK.

But no-one can deny that the Capital has been dented by the recession. The banking sector – one of the biggest industries – has been in crisis, and hundreds of jobs have either gone or will disappear in the future.

The downturn means that the jobless total in Edinburgh has risen by a dramatic 69 per cent this year alone. In some pockets, such as Craiglockhart, it has gone up by 200 per cent. This clearly means that more and more people are chasing every available vacancy.

The Evening News is running its own Get Edinburgh Back to Work campaign to help ensure that the Capital comes out of the slump as quickly as possible and the city's economy starts to boom again.

For many companies, recovery can create challenges. It's estimated that more than 90 per cent of Edinburgh firms are small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMEs) employing fewer than 250 people.

As the recession lifts – and there are already some indications things are improving – then they should be some of the first companies to take advantage of the improved trading conditions and start to grow their business.

As they crank up for expansion, they may well need to recruit new staff, especially if they've had to lay employees off in the bad times. The relatively high number of unemployed in the city at present means they'll find no shortage of potential recruits, but this poses its own issues. With more people than usual looking or jobs, how do bosses know they are getting the best people – and how do they pick employees who are going to be hard-working, loyal and fit in to the team?

Getting it right is critical. The smaller the company, the more crucial every single staff member is to the success of the overall operation. Big firms can afford to carry a few passengers and time-servers – that's a luxury which simply isn't open to SMEs, where every shoulder has to be pushing hard against the wheel.

Getting the wrong person is an expensive business for small firms. It's estimated that the cost of recruiting a single employee in Edinburgh averages something above 1,200 – and in the case of specialist staff, that can rise to 5,000 or more.

Across Scotland, SMEs invest some 30 million every year hiring 25,000 people. Yet of that money, nearly 7m is wasted, as 22 per cent of new recruits leave again within six months of getting the job.

This means massive disruption – some seven in every ten managers say that employees who depart have a disruptive effect on business performance.

So how do small and medium-sized companies in Edinburgh get it right? Over the next few weeks, we'll be using our Get Edinburgh Back to Work campaign to provide tips for SMEs on getting the staff they need and deserve and by providing real-life examples of golden rules and best practice.

Keep reading this column. As Edinburgh's economy bounces back from the doldrums, it could turn out to be the best investment you've ever made.