Ireland is at full employment, which means sourcing talent has become a real challenge. John Cradden on what employers need to do to achieve hiring goals.
Competing with the biggest corporations for the best talent is a practically a permanent challenge for SMEs, but skill shortages risk becoming the issue that really hampers potential growth in 2025.
One in three SMEs are struggling to fill roles, with half of them experiencing long-standing vacancies and now concerned this could stop them expanding, according to InterTradeIreland’s most recent All-Island Business Monitor survey.
“How you communicate the qualities of your company in a way that would make people want to come and work for you is also critical”
Another report by Peninsula Ireland found that over half of SME respondents cited recruitment as their primary staffing challenge.
But what’s also true is that being smarter about your search for candidates will help you stay ahead of big multinational competitors in the race to hire the best people.
Flexible working and talent development
In 2025, being smarter means getting a handle on the things that most candidates seek out (such as flexible working and training/development opportunities), but also what you can offer as an employer brand and how to get the best out of technology, particularly automation and AI.
The Peninsula survey found that – besides increasing wages – SMEs plan to attract new talent by offering flexible working hours (46%) and investing in upskilling (37%).
Indeed, it might be unwise to overlook the value of flexible working as a recruitment tool. A new survey by CPL revealed that an impressive seven out of 10 Irish employees currently avail of hybrid working arrangements, with 60% of respondents saying they would turn down a position if they couldn’t hybrid work.
Furthermore, a LinkedIn study found that companies in Ireland with less than 250 staff were more inclined to recruit workers in remote positions in the year up to July 2024, with 12.6% of all people hired by these employers.
And while investing in training for existing employees is recognised as an important strategy to fill skills gaps, offering potential job candidates clear pathways for their talent development in the long-term will also pay dividends in attracting applications.
Employer branding
How you communicate the qualities of your company in a way that would make people want to come and work for you is also critical. Effective employer branding across all available platforms, including your website and social media, should convey clearly values, future growth plans, and details of employee wellbeing programmes.
Does you communicate details of any perks, employee wellbeing and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programmes in your recruitment advertising? Bigger companies might offer better salaries, but if the company culture is committed to supporting employee wellbeing in a meaningful way, such as through flexible working, mental health supports and perhaps private health insurance, that can swing many candidates your way.
Part of your employer branding could also include finding ways to communicate the general advantages of working in an SME, namely the opportunities and experiences that you may not otherwise be exposed to at larger employers. Popular examples here could include more hands-on experience, a greater diversity of responsibilities and multi-faceted roles, more direct involvement with senior management, rapid skill development, and a more collaborative working environment.
Transferable skills
Indeed, in line with this need for employees to be adaptable, SMEs are also encouraged to focus on hiring people with good transferable or ‘essential’ skills. These are uniquely human skills like listening, leadership, teamwork, or problem-solving, that transfer well across jobs and industries.
Sometimes these skills are not that well defined, so it’s worth checking out the Universal Framework developed by the Skills Builder Partnership, a non-profit organisation supported by organisations like Business in the Community and CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development).
AI and automation
AI tools have been making a noticeable impact in the recruitment sector with more than one-in-four employers in Ireland currently using AI for talent recruitment, according to the latest Irish Jobs AI and Recruitment Report. Tracking candidate applications is one of the most common uses.
Platforms for team and HR management, such as Asana, Slack and Sage Business Cloud People, can also use AI to automate some of the more repetitive, time-consuming functions required for recruitment processes, such as reminders, interview scheduling, email and report drafting, and summarising meeting notes.
Grants and resources to support recruitment
If you have skills gaps in certain areas like ICT, tech or engineering, the Critical Skills Employment Permit aims to attract highly skilled workers from overseas to come live and work Ireland.
The IDA offers client companies a training grant towards the execution of talent management plans if they can show how their proposed plans would be used to address strategic business challenges, including talent attraction. Among other things the grant would provide financial support of up to 50% to a maximum of €3m for training programmes and associated costs.
Graduates can be a great source of untapped and potential talent, and with trends showing them more disposed to working for SMEs and start-ups, schemes like Enterprise Ireland’s GradStart can help give them an edge over big companies when recruiting. Gradstart provides financial support to employ up to three graduates at any one time for two years.
As part of your perks and incentives for employees, consider the Key Employee Engagement Programme, or KEEP, which will run until the end of 2025. KEEP is a tax share option scheme that allows employees to acquire shares at a future date and at a fixed price, under specific conditions, without paying tax.
There is likely to be a Skillnet business network that can help with recruitment strategies regardless of what sector you operate in.
-
Bank of Ireland is welcoming new customers every day – funding investments, working capital and expansions across multiple sectors. To learn more, click here
-
Listen to the ThinkBusiness Podcast for business insights and inspiration. All episodes are here. You can also listen to the Podcast on:
-
Spotify
-
SoundCloud
-
Apple
