{"id":191,"date":"2025-10-28T18:03:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T18:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/?p=191"},"modified":"2025-11-06T17:56:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:56:58","slug":"5-recruitment-strategies-that-cut-one-clients-hiring-time-by-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/5-recruitment-strategies-that-cut-one-clients-hiring-time-by-75\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Recruitment Strategies That Cut One Client\u2019s Hiring Time by 75%"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a business owner, you\u2019re probably aware that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/the-leadership-skill-most-founders-avoid-delegation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">delegation is crucial for leaders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But what if you\u2019re struggling to find the right person to delegate tasks to?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/small-business\/small-business-data-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eighty-two percent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of small businesses have no employees. They\u2019re operated by solo entrepreneurs. So, when the time comes to scale the business, those founders have no experience in making hires.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And small businesses that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">do<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have employees make hires very rarely. \u201cAmong the roughly 6 million small businesses with employees, 49% have just one to four workers,\u201d reports the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2024\/04\/22\/a-look-at-small-businesses-in-the-us\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pew Research Center<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Yet over <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/advocacy.sba.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Frequently-Asked-Questions-About-Small-Business_2024-508.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">40% of small businesses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are looking to hire new employees \u2014 and they have very little experience in doing this. The average small business might hire someone every five years, making them unpracticed in this skill.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For these reasons, over <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessnewsdaily.com\/hiring-retention-difficulties\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">84% of small businesses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> say they struggle to hire new employees. More than 60% rank it as one of their top barriers to success. Often their recruitment process drags on for months, and they struggle to target and identify the right talent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s dive into why hiring can be so tough for small businesses in more detail. Then, I\u2019ll share a client story that shows how we helped them resolve this challenge, along with strategies for finding the right talent.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Main Hiring Challenges for Small Businesses<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Small businesses (and medium-size ones, for that matter) face several key issues when it\u2019s time to hire. Most struggle with these fears and hiring hurdles:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Losing a talented recruit to a competitor, due to hiring delays.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Determining which skills gaps are most crucial to address.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finding people with the right abilities and experience.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Determining which qualifications are crucial and which can be built on the job.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Figuring out which recruits best fit their culture and values.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Small businesses usually <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/topics-tools\/news\/talent-acquisition\/small-businesses-face-hiring-challenges\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">don\u2019t have a talent strategy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in place. They\u2019re new to the game, after all. But when you have a small team, it\u2019s even more crucial to think strategically about hiring. You might be doubling your workforce or expanding it by a quarter, so you really need to get it right. This can mean <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/how-a-siloed-team-made-one-agency-2x-faster\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">redesigning roles<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and creating a new position focused on skills your team currently lacks, before you start recruiting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have less than 10 people, you\u2019re probably not practiced in hiring. Even if you have a natural ability to read people, you\u2019re more likely to make mistakes if you don\u2019t hire very often. At ia Blueprint, since we\u2019re hiring people all the time, we have a steady and reliable process. Let\u2019s look at how this benefited one client that had been struggling with retention and recruitment.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Case Study: How One Client Fixed Their Turnover Problem<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our client, an insurance firm based in Colorado, was losing employees due to the massive volume of work it was asking them to handle. Over time, the problem was compounding. The remaining team members were growing even more stressed and frazzled, since they had to carry the workload of their departing coworkers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the client reached out, we talked with them in depth to understand the situation and their needs. They sought to create a personalized client renewal team that could manage this function with more dedicated focus. Due to their heavy workload, their customer service team was struggling to spend enough time with clients to maintain a personal touch. By enlisting the support of virtual assistants for renewals, they sought to free front-line staff to give clients the attention they deserved, while building their business\u2019s capacity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, we placed an entire team of virtual assistants with them, selecting folks who had expertise in this function. We hired a team leader to spearhead their newly created client renewal department, along with two other staff. Hiring these talented people took only two weeks, cutting down their time to hire by 75%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This strategic move lifted a massive burden from their existing staff\u2019s shoulders. In turn, it dramatically ramped up productivity, streamlined client communications, and supported ongoing customer retention. Just as importantly, the firm hasn\u2019t lost any employees since then, because their staff are no longer overworked. Instead, their employees have a high level of job satisfaction and their culture is stronger than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, how did we help them accomplish all of this? We\u2019ll dive into that next.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 Recruitment Strategies for Effective Hiring<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-192\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-735x490.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"735\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-735x490.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-435x290.jpg 435w, https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pexels-fauxels-3184465-1568x1045.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/man-and-woman-near-table-3184465\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image source<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/monsterworkwatch24.my.canva.site\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2024 Monster Work Watch Report<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, candidates cited poor communication, recruiters\u2019 unfriendly attitudes, and having to jump through too many hoops as the most common reasons why they bowed out of the recruitment process. A lengthy, cumbersome process gives them the impression that a company will be hard to work with \u2014 and a talented candidate will find other options. But for overtaxed small business leaders, it\u2019s hard to speed up that process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to decrease time to hire, while making sure you choose the right candidate? Leveraging the expertise of a recruiter can dramatically improve the success of your hiring process. This can mean the difference between taking months to hire a suboptimal candidate and finding the perfect one in just a few weeks. And it will keep you from losing talented recruits due to an unwieldy process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At IA Blueprint, we have a well-oiled process for targeting \u2014 then hiring \u2014 the right talent for each client. Read on to learn about crucial strategies that guide our success.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let Your Business Strategy Guide Your Hiring Strategy<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consider both current and anticipated talent gaps. Look at your future direction, so you can hire with long-term needs in mind. Think about what skills and expertise you\u2019ll need as you scale. Then, create or fine-tune your role descriptions based on these needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, maybe you need an executive assistant to free up your own time for strategic leadership priorities. Or, maybe you need customer service support for personal or commercial insurance lines, so your existing staff can focus on sales and marketing. Either way, identifying your needs will help you bring in the perfect addition to your team.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ask the Right Questions<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When talking with virtual assistant recruits, we know how to watch for whether they\u2019re overselling themselves. We ask the right questions to assess whether they genuinely know what they\u2019re talking about. Great questions focus on specific behaviors and actions they\u2019ve engaged in on the job, asking for examples.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time, we don\u2019t make it an interrogation. Instead, we create a conversational experience that draws out insights about candidates naturally. We also look at whether they have a proven track record in the core areas that clients need help with, based on past employment history.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speed Up the Process<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hiring often takes months. And if your process drags on indefinitely, qualified candidates are going to move on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reducing time to fill a position will help you avoid losing talent to competitors. By partnering with IAB, clients can speed up the process to 3 weeks. If we already know the client and their needs, it can take even less time. Since we always have a strong pipeline of talented recruits, it\u2019s often mainly a matter of matching the right person and company. By reducing the time to hire a candidate, we help you secure your top choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create a Smooth and Supportive Candidate Experience<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A recruiter acts as the face of the company for prospective employees, so make sure they\u2019re making the right impression. You want your interviewers to be friendly and personable, not standoffish. Tell recruits what to expect from the process every step of the way, too. Good communication will provide stronger insights and keep them invested in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Look Outside of the Box<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When hiring virtually, you open the door to a vast pool of qualified talent. Skilled applicants around the world can compete for the role, letting you find an ideal match. By hiring a VA from across the world, our clients can tap into an incredible array of skills along with personal qualities like integrity and commitment. Satisfaction is extremely high on both ends, with employees staying with clients for an average of five years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hiring the right people will help you <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/build-a-culture-that-scales-one-assistant-at-a-time\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">build a culture that scales<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As you think strategically about hiring, you\u2019ll also grow a team with complementary skill sets who can rely on one another\u2019s abilities to accomplish bigger goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wondering how to partner with a recruiter to optimize your recruitment process? Or, do you want more insight on how a virtual assistant could benefit your operations? Let\u2019s <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/book-a-discovery-call\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">set up a conversation<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to discuss how to hire a virtual assistant who fits your needs exactly. While small businesses face common challenges, every case is different, and we\u2019ll help you identify the hiring strategy that best fits your stage of growth.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Learn how to solve common hiring challenges by partnering with an experienced recruiter. We\u2019ll look at how this decision fixed one client\u2019s ongoing turnover problem while boosting customer retention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-beaux-pilgrim","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iablueprint.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}