Most people don’t start a business to run a full-scale human resources department. Yet between skills shortages, admin overload, and candidates ghosting mid-process, recruitment headaches are all too common. And when a role sits vacant, it’s not just productivity on the line – it’s growth, team morale and customer experience.

The good news? Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) don’t need the headcount (or budget) of a corporate HR team to compete. Many of the perceived barriers to hiring are myths, says Employment Hero, which helps business owners overcome these common misconceptions. Its Employment Operating System (EOS) connects recruitment, onboarding, HR and payroll in one platform, offering practical solutions to dispel the idea that the right talent isn’t out there or that HR processes are always complex.

The result? Less chaos, more control, and the confidence to hire without losing momentum.

Myth 1: Structure slows you down

Some business owners believe adding more structure to hiring will just add red tape. But the opposite is true.

Racket, a boutique PR and marketing agency, had hit a familiar wall: manual, unstructured processes were slowing down the team and hampering business growth.

“We had contracts just saved in emails; things would go missing,” says Racket’s general manager, Dayna Broomfield.

A business coach flagged the need for a structured, centralised approach, and led Broomfield to Employment Hero’s all-in-one EOS.

With contracts, policies and onboarding steps all built into the same platform, Racket eliminated the scramble for paperwork and freed leaders to focus on strategy and culture, rather than chasing forms. The structure also reshaped the agency’s culture, making it easier to support hybrid and remote work and open communication.

“It’s helped retention,” Broomfield says. “It’s helped people feel like they matter.”

Myth 2: Great talent isn’t out there

In a tight market, it’s easy to believe the right candidates simply don’t exist. In reality, they’re often hiding in plain sight; the challenge is finding them fast enough.

The small HR team at the e-commerce company New Aim faced the challenge of filling key roles efficiently while juggling rapid growth. New Aim supplies consumer goods from more than 30 in-house brands to retailers including Bunnings, Myer and Woolworths.

Instead of relying on job ads, New Aim uses Employment Hero’s SmartMatch tool, using keywords to search for candidates with specific experience. “The keywords I put in were very effective in surfacing quality candidates,” says New Aim’s HR generalist, Crystal Gao. “I was able to find a candidate in just a few days.”

SmartMatch searches Employment Hero’s talent pool of over 1.5 million jobseekers to generate curated shortlists based on a role, location and key criteria. It also reaches out to candidates to check their interest, saving the employer time and reducing hiring costs. SmartMatch integrates directly into the Employment Hero platform, so hiring managers can review and contact potential hires without leaving the system.

Myth 3: Hiring is only about filling roles

At New Aim, the Employment Hero platform isn’t just used to bring in new talent. Existing staff – more than 500 and growing – can view and apply for open roles internally, creating clear pathways for career progression and boosting engagement across the business. It’s a faster, more transparent way to match people with the right opportunities.

For Racket, eliminating manual admin through the EOS freed leaders to shift their focus from chasing paperwork to investing in their people and strategy.

When recruitment, onboarding, HR and payroll are connected in one EOS, SMEs can move beyond reactive hiring. They can build teams that are stronger, more engaged and ready to drive growth.

In a market where every hire matters, SMEs don’t have to accept the myths that slow them down. With the right systems in place, they can compete, and win, against much larger teams. They just need to find and use the right tools for the job.

Hire for free today and get access to more than 1.5 million candidates with Employment Hero.