Why we created the Small Business Job Board
“48 percent of all US employees work for small businesses, down from 52 percent in the early 2000s.”
Small business jobs are anything but small. For many, they bring back fond memories - working that first job at the coffee shop or neighborhood restaurant. For others, they reveal the vital and substantive role taken on when everything shut down.
It was from numerous conversations with small businesses that are a part of the Main Street Alliance network where the idea for the Small Business Job Board came to be. Two common themes amongst their stories emerged:
Small business jobs are competing with corporate jobs
Because corporate jobs very often come with more robust benefits such as better healthcare coverage and retirement options, they are often people’s go-to when looking for an opportunity. This illuminated, especially after the pandemic, a massive need that had to be met in order for small businesses to be able to competitively hire. One shift we saw was when restaurants increased prices and added in welfare percentages so that they could attract staff at a fair rate. And what we found across the board was that small businesses were starting to offer more perks yet they weren’t getting attention.
The Small Business Job Board is celebrating these progressive small businesses and making it easier for people to filter on jobs with specific characteristics that are important to them such as: benefits included, company is BIPOC/woman-owned, company is a B-Corp, company is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Small businesses often rely on their individual networks for hiring
Small business owners wear a lot of hats including being both the hiring manager and marketing manager. Facebook and Instagram are easy options to share about job openings but they limit hiring to only those already within a small business’ network. LinkedIn and Indeed can be options but are too cumbersome and the openings get lost in a sea of corporate opportunities.
The Small Business Job Board is dedicated to spotlighting small business job openings and bringing them in front of more people looking for purpose-driven work.
““Over 99 percent of America’s 28.7 million firms are small businesses.””