SME owners surprisingly optimistic about recruitment.

 Entrepreneurs will make the recruitment and training of quality people their single biggest financial investment over the next 12 months, according to Entrepreneurship UK: 2008 a report by Deloitte, the business advisory firm.

In the survey nearly a third (31%) of entrepreneurial businesses identified a shortage of quality talent as the main barrier they face to achieving business growth.  However this has prompted many to recognise the need to address this issue by prioritising expenditure, with more than a quarter (27%) of businesses making the recruitment and training of quality a focus for investment.

Tony Cohen, head of entrepreneurial business at Deloitte, said: “Entrepreneurs have a voracious appetite for growth and a passion for success.  As the owners and managers of their businesses there is a lot at stake and it comes as no surprise that their greatest financial investment for the year ahead will be in recruiting and training the right people to help grow the business.”

Interestingly, nearly half (49%) of the entrepreneurs surveyed rely on external recruitment, with just 23% opting for internal promotion.  This strategy reveals a conspicuous disparity when comparing it to their ideal recruitment process of promoting internally (47%), instead of recruiting externally (38%).

Tony commented: “Internal promotion and external recruitment will go hand-in-hand in any business, as the key is finding the right quality talent.  However it is particularly critical in growing businesses where a weak or missing skill will be more pronounced.  The recruitment process is dependent on the skills requirement and direction of the entrepreneurial business at a particular time in its development.”

According to Deloitte’s findings, almost half of the entrepreneurs surveyed are looking to grow their revenues by over 30% in the next 12 months, with a quarter of the respondents looking to achieve 25-50% revenue growth in the next three years.

Technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) businesses are the most positive, expecting an average of 26% growth in the coming year and 111% over the next three years.  While within the consumer business sector – in spite of its position as the least optimistic of the eight industries surveyed – revenue growth is predicted to increase by 18% in the short-term and 48% over the forthcoming three years, demonstrating solid growth projection, albeit at less than half of that anticipated by TMT firms.

On the whole, entrepreneurs interviewed were realistic in admitting the economic slowdown would probably have an impact on sales and delay their growth strategy, although a fifth of respondents believe it will have no impact at all on their business.

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