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  • Why Hiring Is Broken for SMEs – And What You Can Actually Do About It

    Let’s start with a brutal stat:

    When you advertise a role or try doing some recruitment – you ever notice that the candidate application pool is very small to virtually nothing?

    Only around 2% of applicants are actually close to relevant to the role you’re hiring for.

    That’s not a guess – it’s what I’ve seen after 10+ years of running a recruitment business focused on engineering and manufacturing roles.

    And that 2%?
    It’s assuming they’re available, interested, and match your business needs today. That’s why that figure drops – and why a lot of job get unfilled, or take a very long time to fill.

    Some roles don’t get 2%.
    Some don’t get a single suitable applicant.

    Not because the salary’s too low.
    Not because your company isn’t good.
    But because the market simply doesn’t have the people.

    And that is a big problem to any company hiring technical people.

    So, let’s ask the real question:

    What’s Going Wrong?

    Here’s what I see on the front line of recruitment every week from a hiring company perspective: (Brutal truth)

    1. Sometimes – Companies Are Hiring Out of Panic, Not Preparation

    Someone hands in their notice – and suddenly it’s chaos.

    Or an engineer is approaching retirement… and you start succession planning 2 months before their leave date.

    This leads to rushed job ads, recycled specs for a company that has moved on internally/productionally or managemental, unclear expectations, and zero pipeline (internal options).

    1. Job Specs Are Too Perfect

    The outgoing employee was brilliant – so you try to replace them like-for-like.

    But you’re asking for 5 years of experience, niche skills, and a salary just under the market rate.

    Perfect candidates aren’t just rare – they’re usually not on job boards, not applying, not answering your LinkedIn message – and probably happy in the role they are currently in. Especially as well – in this market, candidates are nervous to leave.

    And if they are, they’re snapped up in days.

    1. Past Hiring Failures Lead to Interview Paralysis

    You’ve been burned before.

    So now even good candidates go through 3- or 4-stage interviews. When your competitor is making an offer after the first.
    There’s zero tolerance for risk.
    You’re trying to replace someone without any disruption – which, ironically, guarantees disruption.

    1. Misconceptions Anchors You Down

    You might think:

    • “Grads won’t cut it.”
    • “Older candidates are too stuck in their ways.”
    • “We don’t have time to train.”
    • “That person’s leaving in 5 years anyway, why bother?”
    • You may have other beliefs.

    These beliefs – whether accurate or not – keep you stuck.

    So… What Can You Actually Do?

    Here’s where it gets practical.

    1. Start Succession Planning

    Every member of staff needs a plan.
    A basic SWOT analysis is a great place to start:

    • Strengths – What are they good at?
    • Weaknesses – What training would help them grow? This is a quick win for internal moves.
    • Opportunities – How can you retain and develop them? If they have a great work ethic and smart – lets look at keeping them around longer – how? Where could they go, you need a pair of safe hands? (no matter what the role).
    • Threats – What happens if they leave? What is the cost of that to you, the business the staff?

    A receptionist might be replaced in a week.
    Your top Design engineer? Could take 6 months.

    1. Have a Plan to Replace “Joe”

    Every company has a “Joe.”

    They’ve picked up five people’s jobs over the years.
    They’re running ops, programming machines, managing safety, fixing production issues, come in on days off, works till late – the lot.

    If Joe leaves, you’re not hiring one person. You’re hiring three.

    Joe exists because MAYBE the company didn’t grow, didn’t hire, didn’t develop.
    That’s not a criticism – it’s just the truth – I come across it in nearly every company I work with.

    But replacing Joe means thinking strategically, not reactively. You may need to create 2 jobs not 1. And that sounds expensive – but it might save you a lot of problems, money and stress in the long term.

    1. Understand the Real Cost of Inaction

    Leaving a job open costs more than the recruiter fee you’re avoiding – that’s not a hard sell BTW – it’s something I have been told on many occasions by hiring managers.

    • Lost productivity
    • Staff burnout
    • Overtime costs
    • Delayed projects
    • Even more staff leaving

    Can you afford to not fill that role?

    TL; DR – What’s the Fix?

    • Plan ahead. Don’t hire from panic.
    • Know who Joe is, and build a backup.
    • Get clear on essentials vs. nice-to-haves.
    • Don’t go it alone.

    Need Help?

    This is what I do at Thomas Lee Recruitment – not just throw CVs at you, but help you rethink how you hire, especially if you’re an SME manufacturer.

    Let’s have a proper chat – before hiring becomes another headache.