Recruiting Channels
Recruiting is challenging but manageable if you understand what recruiting channels are available to you and how to maximize using them. Each channel serves a purpose and these days, your prospective employees may be found using one or many. Start by creating a good position profile to determine where and how to approach your search. The more you understand about the position you are trying to fill, and then the best use of each channel, the more effective you can be in leveraging your results.
1.Word of Mouth and ERP
Recruiting is a TEAM Sport but the tendency is to assume the new HR Director is going to single handedly recruit, hire and onboard all new employees. Anytime you need to fill a position just pick up the phone and place your order! But that is not how the game is won. In reality, recruiting is most effective when ALL hands participate.
Imagine the impact if every member of the team felt responsible for recruiting great talent into the organization. Yes, HR can help. No, HR cannot do it alone. An effective recruiting strategy must include employee referrals and drawing on ALL personal and professional networks. You get the picture.
The good news is this channel will produce results. Like all successful recruiting, Word of Mouth works best in a well oiled HR machine with a well crafted ERP.
Recruiting is a TEAM Sport but the tendency is to assume the new HR Director is going to single handedly recruit, hire and onboard all new employees. Anytime you need to fill a position just pick up the phone and place your order! But that is not how the game is won. In reality, recruiting is most effective when ALL hands participate.
Imagine the impact if every member of the team felt responsible for recruiting great talent into the organization. Yes, HR can help. No, HR cannot do it alone. An effective recruiting strategy must include employee referrals and drawing on ALL personal and professional networks. You get the picture.
The good news is this channel will produce results. Like all successful recruiting, Word of Mouth works best in a well oiled HR machine with a well crafted ERP.
2.Employee Referral Programs – ERP
This is Word-of-Mouth kicked up a notch and sometimes on steroids. A well-executed ERP can solve the majority of your staffing challenges but it requires a well-executed human resource program. See where I am going?
When the staff is functioning as a team, with the good of the organization in the forefront, they will recruit good people to join them in the fight. Success begets success! And just Like defining a healthy membership as “a collection of like-minded individuals coming together to pursue common interests”, staffing a club should reflect the same motives and garner the same attention. We offer incentives to members for bringing in their friends, and we should do the same with employee referrals. Just make sure the program is designed to award the reward, often! Rewards can be monetary (cash) or non-monetary ( comp time or other awards ) and the value is less important than the process.
Done well, it is worth the investment to build a great referral program. The Esprit de Corps that you create is the gift that keeps on giving in every area of staff performance.
This is Word-of-Mouth kicked up a notch and sometimes on steroids. A well-executed ERP can solve the majority of your staffing challenges but it requires a well-executed human resource program. See where I am going?
When the staff is functioning as a team, with the good of the organization in the forefront, they will recruit good people to join them in the fight. Success begets success! And just Like defining a healthy membership as “a collection of like-minded individuals coming together to pursue common interests”, staffing a club should reflect the same motives and garner the same attention. We offer incentives to members for bringing in their friends, and we should do the same with employee referrals. Just make sure the program is designed to award the reward, often! Rewards can be monetary (cash) or non-monetary ( comp time or other awards ) and the value is less important than the process.
Done well, it is worth the investment to build a great referral program. The Esprit de Corps that you create is the gift that keeps on giving in every area of staff performance.
3.Company Website
Success in recruiting to a large part, centers around the best use of technology to communicate, organize and process data. Job candidates want mobile friendly access to information and one button processing – immediate gratification, with minimal human interaction. That means a drawn out process with forms to download and return will reduce your capture rate and will hinder your success.
Fortunately, most clubs have feature rich websites capable of delivering on demand when set up properly. Online applications, applicant tracking, pre-employment forms access, all in one, manageable location. Add to that, a great landing page with a marketing approach to job recruiting with great pictures and video of your team enjoying what they do and your club website becomes the hub for your entire recruiting program.
As a minimum; the club employment function should be set up on a micro site, should be easy to access and should offer candidates the ability to apply online. Openings should be updated with descriptions that would excite someone to apply not cause them to reach for a Thesaurus.
When setting up your employment process remember, the goal is to attract applicants for consideration and get them to apply. We can decide after they push the button if we want to pursue them.
Success in recruiting to a large part, centers around the best use of technology to communicate, organize and process data. Job candidates want mobile friendly access to information and one button processing – immediate gratification, with minimal human interaction. That means a drawn out process with forms to download and return will reduce your capture rate and will hinder your success.
Fortunately, most clubs have feature rich websites capable of delivering on demand when set up properly. Online applications, applicant tracking, pre-employment forms access, all in one, manageable location. Add to that, a great landing page with a marketing approach to job recruiting with great pictures and video of your team enjoying what they do and your club website becomes the hub for your entire recruiting program.
As a minimum; the club employment function should be set up on a micro site, should be easy to access and should offer candidates the ability to apply online. Openings should be updated with descriptions that would excite someone to apply not cause them to reach for a Thesaurus.
When setting up your employment process remember, the goal is to attract applicants for consideration and get them to apply. We can decide after they push the button if we want to pursue them.
4.Job Boards and Electronic Recruiting
Online job boards are the fastest and most convenient for recruiting which is NOT to say they are the most effective! Because they are the fastest and easiest to access, EVERYONE is using them so your job postings are competing with potentially every new job opening that comes on the market, every day! If you are not diligent and sometimes cunning, you might as well be posting your jobs on a post it note, folding it into an airplane and sending it flying at a rock concert.
Here are the top three Job Boards for hospitality and one you should be aware of. They are listed in order of effectiveness, according to most recruiters I talked to.
Online job boards are the fastest and most convenient for recruiting which is NOT to say they are the most effective! Because they are the fastest and easiest to access, EVERYONE is using them so your job postings are competing with potentially every new job opening that comes on the market, every day! If you are not diligent and sometimes cunning, you might as well be posting your jobs on a post it note, folding it into an airplane and sending it flying at a rock concert.
Here are the top three Job Boards for hospitality and one you should be aware of. They are listed in order of effectiveness, according to most recruiters I talked to.
Indeed.com Currently on top of the ever changing heap, Indeed boasts “Search millions of jobs from thousands of job boards, newspapers, classifieds and company websites on indeed.com.” . They are currently number one in job searches but, in black and white, they are telling you that you are not the only one posting jobs on Indeed, and indeed they are being honest. Indeed.com is a job posting aggregater and goes looking for job postings to ensure that their candidates have plenty to choose from.
Having said all of that, Indeed is also number one because they make it simple to post jobs in your community. And with a modicum of effort, you can manage your FREE posting and stay on the top page until you fill the job or lose interest in the chase.
For a fee you can “Sponsor” your ad and keep it close to the top. The upside is you only pay for each candidate “click” on your ad. The downside is you may be paying for a lot of marginally interested candidates for high turnover jobs like servers. Choose to sponsor your Ads with caution until you get a feel for how this works. You can budget your investment (set a spending limit) and control your cost, so set your expectations low initially and renew if you like the results.
A strong but often overlooked feature of Indeed ( and other job boards) is the ability to review candidate resumes so you can proactively search for candidates instead of waiting for them to find you. Indeed .com is putting forth all the effort to drive candidate traffic to their site. You should be using this feature to identify the candidates posting resumes. Their effort indicates they may be a cut above the rest and worth searching for.
Having said all of that, Indeed is also number one because they make it simple to post jobs in your community. And with a modicum of effort, you can manage your FREE posting and stay on the top page until you fill the job or lose interest in the chase.
For a fee you can “Sponsor” your ad and keep it close to the top. The upside is you only pay for each candidate “click” on your ad. The downside is you may be paying for a lot of marginally interested candidates for high turnover jobs like servers. Choose to sponsor your Ads with caution until you get a feel for how this works. You can budget your investment (set a spending limit) and control your cost, so set your expectations low initially and renew if you like the results.
A strong but often overlooked feature of Indeed ( and other job boards) is the ability to review candidate resumes so you can proactively search for candidates instead of waiting for them to find you. Indeed .com is putting forth all the effort to drive candidate traffic to their site. You should be using this feature to identify the candidates posting resumes. Their effort indicates they may be a cut above the rest and worth searching for.
PoachedJobs.com: Boasting “the largest job posting website for the hospitality industry in the nation”, PoachedJobs specializes in hospitality and markets to busy managers by suggesting a one click solution. They do help the job seeker by walking them through registration, resume building and giving them a one-click application process. PoachedJobs is intentionally simpler than Indeed or some of the other sites to appeal to busy managers and busy candidates. Not feature rich and not free but effective for high turnover positions. Rates are for monthly or subscription ads.
Craigslist: Craigslist was arguably the FIRST online job posting site but not by design. Savvy recruiters realized early on that candidates were looking for personal stuff on Craigslist and began posting job openings. At first it was free and, for a short time, effective. With the advent of Monster.com and CareerBuilders.com the higher paying jobs moved over but Craigslist continues to be an effective tool for certain job classifications because the prospects are still using Craigslist to find personal stuff. No longer free and still not feature rich, if you use Craigslist, you will need to write your ad carefully and manage your position on the page daily to maximize your exposure in their high traffic search engine.
Glassdoor
While not a Job Board site per se, Glassdoor ( and other employer review sites) should be on your radar and checked periodically to ensure that you are aware of what current and former employees are saying about you. This site solicits reviews from current and former employees to share with prospects before they apply. This adds another layer to the complexity of recruiting, proactively managing your online reputation goes on the list. Your candidates are checking here and so should you.
While not a Job Board site per se, Glassdoor ( and other employer review sites) should be on your radar and checked periodically to ensure that you are aware of what current and former employees are saying about you. This site solicits reviews from current and former employees to share with prospects before they apply. This adds another layer to the complexity of recruiting, proactively managing your online reputation goes on the list. Your candidates are checking here and so should you.
5.Job Fairs and Career Fairs
Many clubs are attending Career Fairs at local colleges or community work programs. Some clubs are even hosting their own “mini” Job Fair as an open house event. Both can be effective once you understand how job candidates approach these and who your competition will be.
Generally, clubs do not present well at these events for several reasons:
Supporting the local college career fair is good business but will require a bigger commitment by you if this is going to be effective. Success will require you getting to know the placement personnel at the college and for them to know you. Invite them to the club and let them experience the environment their candidates will work in. They are more likely to help you once they realize the quality experience you afford their students. Cultivate their support to help steer good candidates your direction.
If your only exposure at the college is once a year on career day and you are not known on campus for your recruiting, take cookies and keep smiling.
5.Job Fairs and Career Fairs
Many clubs are attending Career Fairs at local colleges or community work programs. Some clubs are even hosting their own “mini” Job Fair as an open house event. Both can be effective once you understand how job candidates approach these and who your competition will be.
Generally, clubs do not present well at these events for several reasons:
- they lack the trade show resources that the big companies have such as; full backdrop banners with great graphics and professionally designed employment brochures to sell their jobs
- they are not known in the market and not known to be recruiting
- and they don’t bring Chotchkies to the show ( if you have to ask what Chotchkies are I’ve made my point)
Supporting the local college career fair is good business but will require a bigger commitment by you if this is going to be effective. Success will require you getting to know the placement personnel at the college and for them to know you. Invite them to the club and let them experience the environment their candidates will work in. They are more likely to help you once they realize the quality experience you afford their students. Cultivate their support to help steer good candidates your direction.
If your only exposure at the college is once a year on career day and you are not known on campus for your recruiting, take cookies and keep smiling.
6.Social Media
Social Networking is the new BUZZ word in recruiting and rightfully so. But be advised, this process is the opposite of Post and Pray. As the category name implies, Social Networking is about networking, socially!
To be used as an effective recruiting tool, you must be willing to engage and stay engaged.
In other words, this is not a passive process. This is an opportunity for HR to work closely with the club Director of Communications. The winners, are using Social Networking to build company branding that resonates with THEIR audience, and through THAT connection, they identify like-minded individuals that may make great team members and club members. The Real win here is that successful companies are forced to refine their mission, vision and values to be relatable to customers and employees on social networks.
Oh and one more thing, BEFORE you embark on social media recruiting or brand building for that matter, write your social media guidelines and be sure ALL of your staff understand the rules. Success in this arena includes involving your staff in the process and you will want to make sure they understand where the lines are.
The following Social Network sites are the most common but, certainly not the only options for employers.
Facebook : Was the default media channel for social networking and WAS evolving into a good recruiting tool. Then the Millennials grew tired of the intrusive behavior of their parents following them on Facebook and began moving on to greener pastures. Fortunately, your members are the parents and continue to use Facebook. And members can be a good source of talent referral (other than their own kids).
If you have not done so already, set up a club page and invite all of your members and staff to like and follow this page. Done well, the members will enjoy seeing relevant club news here and will want to participate. Some staff will also enjoy this source of club news and may want to participate within the guidelines. The more interesting the postings, the more effective this tool can be for recruiting. Job postings here extend your reach into the member community so choose your words carefully. Developing your Facebook persona may drive member traffic and produce other benefits for club branding and marketing.
If you have not done so already, set up a club page and invite all of your members and staff to like and follow this page. Done well, the members will enjoy seeing relevant club news here and will want to participate. Some staff will also enjoy this source of club news and may want to participate within the guidelines. The more interesting the postings, the more effective this tool can be for recruiting. Job postings here extend your reach into the member community so choose your words carefully. Developing your Facebook persona may drive member traffic and produce other benefits for club branding and marketing.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn has evolved into the world’s largest professional social network. So Facebook in business casual attire? Because it is a hub for business networking and career advancement AND your push messaging can be targeted, this is a viable recruiting channel for some positions. You can choose between pay-per-click, fee based advertising or premium recruiting services. LinkedIn offers targeted advertising so your job placement may be seen by candidates who may not be searching. One big benefit of using LinkedIn; you will get a more complete picture of their professional activity than you might using just a resume.
This channel is better suited for salaried and executive positions.
This channel is better suited for salaried and executive positions.
Twitter: The New NOT Newspaper! The next generation of job seekers are flocking to Twitter for their social connection to learn about and interact with YOU or something. Emphasis on interacting. Twitter is not an extension of your job board. This tool requires community interaction to be effective which means you have to dance the dance. So, Build your Brand on Twitter, Tweet your job openings to your followers and, once you get the hang of it, use the advanced search features to go hunting for prospects that might fit the bill. With over 1 Billion Twitter accounts and 9,000 TweetMyJobs.com channels to target, this may be a viable recruiting channel IF, you can figure out how to get their attention and build your Twitter community. As one Blogger put it “The whole intent of social recruiting is that is it social! Posting jobs is a one-way push. When tweeting, you want your followers to engage with you, to reply to your tweets and (better) to retweet them to their followers. Know your target audience and then get creative!”. This channel is still evolving.
Instagram; Like Twitter and Facebook it’s all about followers and social interaction, only through pictures! Imagine sharing a day in the life of your best server through pictures. Assuming you could capture a few “right” moments, you could tell a heartwarming story about this young person’s quest to make someone happy with a myriad of interactions along the way. The catch is in understanding who to target and then how. So when setting up your company Instagram account, you need to ask yourself; “Who is your audience and what do they care about?“. Once you have that figured out, start shooting and let your pictures tell the story. Instagram is as much about Club branding as it is about recruiting, but done well, has the potential to be a very effective attractant for tech savvy recruits who share YOUR interest. Instagram could very well help you find your next crop of new hires.
YouTube: YouTube, though not thought of as a recruiting tool per se, can definitely be an effective way to promote your jobs postings and attract candidates. Creative companies are setting up a YouTube Channel, shooting their own video’s for employment ads and using them effectively to showcase their culture, highlight their talent and show off their facilities. This is a medium that resonates with the younger crowd and has yet to be fully exploited. And best of all, your audience is looking for clever, not studio quality hype. This is one to embrace because it’s coming!
8. H2B, H3 and J1 Visas
As labor markets tighten, more and more clubs are looking at Visa programs as a solution for seasonal help in all areas of the club. The cost is relatively high and there are limitations on availability so plan ahead if you are thinking about going this route. To qualify, you must prove that suitable workers are not available for your openings.
If you do choose Visa employees you will need to hire a visa attorney or facilitator to assist in the application process. You will need to consider housing, transportation and the duration of the relationship as well the cost. This is not an inexpensive solution but may be your only hope in certain situations.
As labor markets tighten, more and more clubs are looking at Visa programs as a solution for seasonal help in all areas of the club. The cost is relatively high and there are limitations on availability so plan ahead if you are thinking about going this route. To qualify, you must prove that suitable workers are not available for your openings.
If you do choose Visa employees you will need to hire a visa attorney or facilitator to assist in the application process. You will need to consider housing, transportation and the duration of the relationship as well the cost. This is not an inexpensive solution but may be your only hope in certain situations.
Final thoughts
Recruiting is not just a necessary evil of the club business, it is our life blood! Staffing to exceed the expectations of a very demanding crowd is not something you can leave to chance and hope it works out. All of the programming you are working on, facility and event, will require the right people to execute. But effective recruiting is not an isolated management function. Rather, effective recruiting is the sum of the parts and requires a cohesive HR Process in place to produce results. To be considered an employer of choice, first you fix the process, then you hire to it. Given these truths, are you fully prepared to win this war or are you falling farther behind the curve?
If you sense your recruiting effort ( or your HR process) could use some tweaking or if you are not certain what you really have going on, a fresh set of eyes is likely to identify opportunity for improvement. Best case you simply need some tweaking, worst case they identify what you already suspect and tell you it needs work.
Paisano Performance Partners can enhance all of your recruiting channels and the technology to support them.
And if your HR Process needs attention we can help with that too.
Related HR Issues:
Dysfunctional Teams Derail Cohesive Recruiting
Lack of Defined Purpose – Who, What or Why
Lack of Full-time Commitment to Recruiting as a Process
HR from a Brand Building Perspective is Missing or Lacking