Finding qualified workers for small businesses

Small business owners often spend every moment of their day trying to make improvements to the company to ensure success. Considering the lack of time to look at applicants who want to work for company, Business Insider recommended three places to find qualified hires.

According to a recently released study by The Wall Street Journal and Vistage International, most small business owners can't find anyone to hire. Despite the high unemployment numbers, 31 percent of small business owners said they couldn't find applicants who were qualified for the positions they were offering.

The number of business owners who couldn't find workers who were qualified increased to 41 percent in the manufacturing industry, while 30 percent of those in the service business and 29 percent in retail sector reported the same problem.

"Any new hire is a major new investment and a major new risk for a small business," said Michael Marasco, director of the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern University in Chicago. "Your tendency is to be conservative and try to make do with the employees you currently have."

Kevin Madden, president of Group One, which installs alarms and video surveillance in homes and commercial properties, said companies could grow a lot faster if they had the right people in place who were qualified.

"Based on present economic conditions, we have to be cautious. It's expensive to train someone," said Mike Pierdiluca, co-owner of Ad-Ex International.

Pierdiluca added that business owners could get hundreds of applications for a job opening but many of the younger applicants lack experience in the field that he is in and that other companies have openings in.

According to the Business Insider, if a small business is on a tight budget and trying to increase its business marketing efforts or has someone who can hit the ground running, it might be more cost-effective to get along with a position being unfilled as opposed to having someone at the company who will take time and money to train until they fully understand the gist of the job.