For many Filipino micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), growth depends on more than finding customers or securing capital. Having enough people with the right skills is becoming a critical business concern.
A recent survey by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) found that 46% of MSMEs are experiencing a talent crisis, while 72% plan to expand their workforce, according to Jobstreet by SEEK.
The mismatch highlights a problem that can easily be overlooked in discussions about business growth. An entrepreneur may have demand for a product or service, but expanding operations becomes difficult when the business cannot recruit the people needed to support that expansion.
Against this backdrop, Jobstreet by SEEK is expanding its engagement with Filipino MSMEs through recruitment education, digital hiring tools, business consultations and partnerships with local business organizations.
Why is hiring becoming a growth issue for MSMEs?
Hiring is often treated as an administrative function, particularly in smaller businesses where the owner or a small management team handles recruitment alongside day-to-day operations.
But workforce decisions can directly affect how quickly a business can expand.
A company that lacks employees with the right skills may have difficulty taking on additional customers, opening new locations, extending operating hours or adopting new technologies. At the same time, hiring the wrong person can create additional costs through turnover, retraining and lost productivity.
This makes talent acquisition more than simply filling vacancies. It involves identifying the skills a business needs, reaching appropriate candidates and building a workforce that can support its longer-term objectives.
For MSMEs, that process can be particularly challenging because they may not have dedicated human resources teams or large recruitment budgets.
What is talent acquisition?
Talent acquisition is the process of identifying, attracting, evaluating and hiring people whose skills and experience match an organization's workforce needs. Unlike simply filling an open position, talent acquisition considers the broader skills and people a company needs to support its business strategy.
That distinction becomes increasingly important as smaller companies grow.
How Jobstreet by SEEK is supporting smaller businesses
Jobstreet by SEEK has positioned its MSME initiatives around the theme "Building Better Teams. Growing Businesses."
Rather than focusing only on job postings, the company's recent activities have included education and networking opportunities designed to help business owners address different aspects of workforce management.
Its BizTalks in Pasig and Quezon City, conducted with local government offices, introduced MSME owners to recruitment practices, digital tools, entrepreneurship resources and government programs.
In Pasig, participants were introduced to free Jobstreet Lite Job Ads and AI-assisted job-ad creation.
For a small business owner who does not have a recruitment specialist, tools that simplify the process of writing and publishing job advertisements can potentially reduce one of the barriers to hiring online.
The Quezon City session similarly focused on digital recruitment, entrepreneurship and collaboration within the local business community.
Why digital recruitment matters to smaller companies
Recruitment has increasingly moved online, changing how employers reach potential candidates.
For large companies, digital hiring can be supported by dedicated recruitment teams and multiple HR systems. Smaller businesses may have fewer resources, making simple and accessible digital tools particularly relevant.
However, technology alone does not solve a hiring problem.
A well-written job advertisement still needs to accurately describe the role, responsibilities, qualifications and expectations. Businesses also need to assess candidates consistently and consider whether their compensation, workplace environment and growth opportunities are competitive enough to attract suitable applicants.
This is where recruitment education can complement hiring technology.
For MSMEs, learning how to use a recruitment platform effectively can be just as important as having access to the platform itself.
Jobstreet expands its MSME ecosystem beyond recruitment
Jobstreet by SEEK has also taken its MSME engagement beyond hiring tools.
At Negosyo Forward: READY, SET, GROW, organized with PH Business Network, entrepreneurs had access to a business clinic where they could consult business advisers and industry experts.
The consultations covered several areas that influence business growth, including:
- Finance
- Workforce management
- Labor compliance
- Banking
- Intellectual property
- Digital transformation
- Business registration
This broader approach reflects an important reality for small businesses: hiring does not happen in isolation from the rest of the business.
An entrepreneur may need to understand labor requirements before hiring, establish payroll and financial systems as the workforce grows, or adopt digital tools as operations become more complex.
Building a team, therefore, is closely connected to building the systems that support that team.
What does this mean for the future of Filipino MSMEs?
The reported gap between businesses planning to hire and those experiencing talent shortages points to a larger workforce challenge.
If 72% of MSMEs plan to expand their workforce while 46% are already experiencing a talent crisis, recruitment could become a significant constraint on growth unless businesses improve how they identify and attract talent.
For business leaders, the lesson is straightforward: workforce planning should happen before a company urgently needs people.
That means identifying future roles, determining the skills required and developing a repeatable hiring process rather than treating every vacancy as a one-off problem.
It also means considering how technology can support recruitment without replacing the judgment required to evaluate people.
Jobstreet by SEEK's involvement in MSME events, including Quezon City MSME Week 2026 and the Go Negosyo MSME Summit, places recruitment within a larger conversation about entrepreneurship and business development.
The company's approach also reflects a broader shift in how workforce platforms can engage with smaller businesses. Instead of simply serving as places where employers post vacancies, recruitment platforms can become part of the business-support ecosystem by providing education, tools and connections.
The strategic value of building the right team
For a growing MSME, every hire can have an outsized impact.
A new employee may become responsible for a major customer account, introduce a new capability or take over a function that previously depended entirely on the business owner.
That makes hiring a strategic decision, even when the business itself is small.
The challenge is making that decision deliberately.
As more Filipino MSMEs prepare to expand, access to recruitment tools is useful, but so is knowing what kind of team the business actually needs to build next.
That may ultimately be the more important question for entrepreneurs: not simply "Who can we hire?" but "What people and capabilities will help this business grow?"