The Small Business Employer

The small business:

• usually has less than 25 employees
• sole proprietorship or partnership (owned by just one person or family)
• owners make decisions about hiring and firing employees
• a very limited number of locations that are geographically close together

The important point is that basically a very small group of people make all decisions about hiring and firing - usually the owners of the business.

Direct Application to a Manager

Unless this is an especially well known brand, you can expect fewer applicants for any jobs. In fact, if the company is small enough, they might not have a web portal to submit applications. In this case, you should print the application and hand it or mail it to a real person. Find out who the managers or President or anyone you can figure out the name of (often you can find out by searching for that company on LinkedIn.com). Most professionals will post their current positions, so search for the company and you should find their names and titles.

Why not just send your cover letter and resume to the President of the company as well as various managers who would be in charge of the jobs you are interested in? While some may throw away the application because they are too busy, a well targeted cover letter and resume should get passed around to the appropriate hiring manager. Of course, if it isn’t targeted to their needs and written well, it’s likely to get ignored.

It’s especially important that you know about this business, whether through their website, industry or news periodicals and mention that in your cover letter. At minimum, do a Google search and try to learn about this company and industry.