Kleiman, who offered hiring tips at BLR’s HR Strategic Summit held recently in Scottsdale, Arizona, will be speaking on the topic in an upcoming BLR® Webinar.
Finding A Players
Kleiman offers four sources of great new employees that are free and easy.
Former Employees
Former employees who left the company and came back are great employees for several reasons, says Kleiman.
They know what they are getting into, they know what they are doing, and they are eager to go to work. As a bonus, just by their existence, they are a great retention tool.
But how many companies have a process of staying in touch with former employees? Kleiman asks.
What are your competitors offering workers these days? Check your state’s edition of BLR’s exclusive Employee Compensation® program to find out.
Referrals/Friends of Current Employees
Whatever kind of people thrive at your company, it’s likely that they hang out with other people who are similar and may also thrive in your company. Furthermore, current employees aren’t likely to recommend to you a potential poor employee, and they are not likely to recommend you to their friend if they don’t see it as a good match.
Referral bonuses are a common way to encourage employee referrals, says Kleiman, but they are often not handled right. Many make the referring employee wait 3 months or 6 months to get their bonus. Give it right away, says Kleiman. Delaying payment means you don’t have confidence in your process.
What’s your referral hiring rate? If it’s below 35%, you should revamp your recruiting program.
How About Applicants?
Kleiman suggests that many recruiters have success asking applicants for help!
Ask applicants for the names of present or former coworkers and for three personal references. When you call those people, you’ll get some information about your applicant but also some information about the reference. If you like what you hear, Kleiman says, add their names to your recruiting file. When you need someone with his or her background in the future you can call, remind him or her of your previous conversation, and mention you have job openings that might be of interest.
Actually, says Kleiman, these people may give you better references than supervisors would, because no one has told these people not to talk to you.
Don’t just look at national data when you can have data specifically for your state. It’s all in BLR’s famed Employee Compensation program. Try it on us! Find out more.
How About Your Customers?
Don’t overlook opportunities to recruit your customers and the people they influence. For example, Kleiman says, take Southwest Airlines, which targets its passengers with signs posted in airports that ask, “Are you sick of where you work?” or Starbucks Coffee, where signs in stores read, “If you like the Starbucks experience, maybe you’d like to work here.””
In tomorrow’s Advisor, the rest of Kleiman’s best practices for recruiting, plus an introduction to the compensation guide that brings federal and state regulations to your fingertips.
Candidates often make the same mistake, failing to highlight what would make them a great employee. Sure, you have the requisite skills, but can you get along with others, etc.? The person with the best qualifications could easily end up being a poor employee.
I actually tried maikng a Sno-ball cake once (this was pre-vegan), using that Betty Crocker Bake-n-Fill pan. Unfortunately, the empty inside of the cake is too big so they’re impossible to cut into manageable slices. I’ve always meant to turn a chocolate cupcake into a vegan Sno-ball. The only hard part is recreating the rubbery marshmallow stuff. Oh, how I miss those things.