Small Business Support

Hiring Support for Small Businesses

Practical hiring support for small businesses in the UK. Get help with recruitment admin without expensive agency fees.

Why Small Business Hiring Is Harder Than It Looks

When you're running a small business, hiring staff feels like it should be straightforward. You know what you need. You know your business. How hard can it be?

The answer: not hard, just time-consuming. Really time-consuming.

Writing a job advert that gets decent applications takes longer than you think. Posting it across multiple sites and keeping track of responses is fiddly. Reading through CVs — most of which are completely irrelevant — is draining. And chasing candidates who ghost you or cancel interviews? That's a full-time job in itself.

The Real Time Drain of Small Business Recruitment

Writing the job advert

1–2 hours to get the wording right, list requirements, and make it sound appealing but realistic.

Posting and managing ads

2–3 hours setting up accounts, posting across sites, and managing incoming applications.

Screening CVs

5–8 hours reading through 40+ applications to find the 3 or 4 worth speaking to.

Coordinating interviews

3–5 hours chasing people, rebooking when they cancel, and managing the back-and-forth.

Opportunity cost

Every hour spent on hiring is an hour not spent on sales, operations, or actually running your business.

That's 12–20 hours per hire. And that's if everything goes smoothly. If you're hiring 2 or 3 people in a year, you're spending the equivalent of a full working week just on recruitment admin.

Your Options for Getting Help Hiring Staff

So you need to hire someone, but you don't have the time to do it all yourself. What are your options?

Option 1: Do It Yourself

Good for:

  • Tight budgets
  • One-off hires
  • When you have the time

The reality:

  • 20+ hours of your time
  • Pulls you away from the business
  • Easy to miss good candidates

Option 2: Use a Recruitment Agency

Good for:

  • Senior or specialist roles
  • When you don't know the market
  • Full-service support

The reality:

  • £6,000–£12,000 per hire
  • Often overkill for small business roles
  • Unpredictable costs

Option 3: Get Hiring Support (Ari)

Good for:

  • Operational & commercial roles
  • When you need time back
  • Cost-conscious hiring

The reality:

  • Fixed fee: £695–£1,295
  • Takes hiring off your plate
  • You stay in control

How Ari's Small Business Recruitment Help Works

Ari is hiring support for small businesses. We're not a recruitment agency — we don't take over your process or charge percentage fees. We just take the hiring admin off your plate.

Think of it like having extra hands for the month you're hiring. You stay in control. You make the decisions. We handle the time-consuming bits.

You pay a fixed fee (from £695 for 30 days), and we get to work.

What We Take Off Your Plate

Writing Job Adverts

We write clear, effective adverts that attract the right people and put off the wrong ones.

Managing Job Boards

We post your adverts across multiple sites and manage all the incoming applications.

Active Candidate Sourcing

We search LinkedIn and CV databases to find candidates who aren't just waiting on job boards.

Screening Applicants

We read every CV and filter out the time-wasters so you only see relevant candidates.

Initial Phone Interviews

We speak to candidates to check they're genuinely interested and suitable before passing them to you.

Creating Shortlists

We present you with a shortlist of the best candidates, complete with our notes and recommendations.

Interview Coordination

We handle all the scheduling and chasing so you don't have to play email tennis.

Ready-to-Interview Candidates

We hand over pre-screened, engaged candidates ready for you to interview and hire.

You stay in control. You decide who to hire. We just do the heavy lifting.

A Real Small Business Hiring Scenario

Sarah's Building Supplies Business

15 employees, Kent

The Situation:

Sarah needs to hire a delivery coordinator. She's hired people before, so she knows what she's looking for. But she's in the middle of a busy season, and every hour counts.

The Problem:

She could do it herself, but that's 20 hours she doesn't have. She could use an agency, but that's £8,000+ for a £40k role — way too expensive for a straightforward hire.

What Sarah Did:

She used Ari for £1,295. We wrote the advert, posted it across multiple job boards, actively searched for candidates on LinkedIn, screened 35 applications, conducted phone interviews, and presented Sarah with a shortlist of 4 quality candidates.

The Result:

Sarah interviewed the shortlist, made an offer, and hired someone within 3 weeks. She spent about 4 hours total on the process (briefing us, interviewing, making the decision). The rest was handled for her.

"I didn't need a full recruitment agency — I just needed someone to take the hiring admin off my plate. Ari was perfect for that."

— Sarah, Building Supplies Business Owner

Common Questions About Small Business Recruitment Help

How much does help hiring staff UK actually cost?

Will I lose control of my hiring if I get recruitment support?

Is this only for big hiring campaigns?

What if I don't hire anyone within 30 days?

Can I outsource hiring admin but still stay involved?

Need Extra Hands for Hiring?

Let's have a quick intro call about who you're looking to hire. No pressure, no sales pitch — just a straightforward chat about whether we can help take hiring off your plate.

Fixed fees from £695. 30-day support. No contracts. No percentage fees.