In a candidate-driven market, finding the right people for the job can be hard. Up to 40% of employers report having a hard time filling positions. When you have empty seats at the office, you’re missing out on productivity and income, and you’re more than willing to pay someone to fill said seat. So why can’t you find anyone? Your search radius may vary, but depending on what positions you’re filling, finding illusive candidates could be a matter of how you’re looking versus where you’re looking.

One of the most prominent small business trends in recent years is getting the hiring manager involved in the hiring process. It sounds obvious, but there was a time when hiring managers simply told recruiters to bring back the best candidates and couldn't be bothered otherwise. Now, more and more hiring managers are entering the process at earlier stages and helping cull down the number of candidates.

Hiring manager involvement in the interview process may be all well and good for larger companies where hiring managers can delegate tasks and lighten their workload, but that’s harder to do in a small business, especially one where the hiring manager could also have a number of other priorities. But don’t worry — even in small businesses, there are ways to reduce your workload that give you the time to interview a smart hire.

The hardest part of posting a new job advertisement is building the description itself. You know what the job entails and you even have a perfect candidate in mind, but how do you make sure your job ad appeals to those coveted candidates? Your hiring leader wants the applicant to be aware of every aspect of the job, but you know there’s such a thing as giving too much information. You’re trying to get candidates excited about the open position, not scare them off with a long list of qualifications and demands.

Mixing all of these factors together can be daunting, no matter how big or small your business is, but if you separate your job advertisement creation process into three distinct parts, you’ll find it’s easier than you think.

It seems like every day I read a news story about a tech startup in Silicon Valley that receives millions of dollars in funding and given that I got my start at a startup (See what I did there?) I have a great appreciation for the startup mentality and all of the things that happen when funding comes in and it’s time to start hiring at rapid-fire.

With so many Silicon Valley companies setting trends when it comes to office layouts, benefits, and meeting philosophies, it’s only natural that organizations across the country want to replicate their processes when it comes to hiring as well. With 64% of Silicon Valley CEOs planning to hire this year all eyes will be on South Bay. 

So what can we learn from these scrappy startups as they continue to set trends in the workplace?