7 Questions to ask yourself before starting the hiring process

You can easily spend a fortune on Indeed or Zip Recruiter, but there are other, less expensive methods like Craigslist. I know what you are thinking when you hear the name Craigslist. A common complaint I hear is: “All I get are the dregs of society.” But, before you judge the results of the ad (on any of these sites), ask yourself if you’re putting your best foot forward to attract quality candidates. Are you featuring a picture of your smiling, welcoming team standing in front of your attractive shop in the ad? Are you highlighting the key benefits of coming to work for you, before putting what you need? If not, then their attention span is already over the rev limiter and it’s less likely they’ll get to your benefits offered. Start with all the bells and whistles first to attract the best candidates.  

Is your compensation competitive? 

Having better employees helps us justify the higher rates we have to charge and compete in the job market. It also allows you to keep the employees you hire. Consider offering a competitive sign-on bonus. 

Are you thinking outside the box? 
Get creative with the headline and strategy of your advertising to get the candidates you truly want. A headline by one of my clients targeted waiters and waitresses to work in his shop. He realized they were ideal candidates because the job skills were transferable. He knew that if a prospective employee was really good, he could train them as a service advisor. The ad worked really well, and he hired a good entry-level service writer who was affordable, willing to learn, and could sell right from the gate. 

Believe it or not, Facebook works extremely well for attracting employees. Write a great ad and then make a great video explaining the opportunities in working with your team and what’s in it for them to join. Invite page followers to like and share the post. You can even boost the post for about five bucks a day, and you’ll instantly start getting candidates for interviews. The video can also be put on the career page of your website — which you should have, if you don’t. 

Google reviews are very important. Would you want to work for a company that has a bad score on Google, or for one with a five-star rating? What is your reputation in your area? What are the people in your town saying about you and your shop and its customer service? The word will get out about your attitude and reputation, be it good or bad. It’s best to be on the winning side. Great Google reviews will attract higher quality candidates. 

Word of mouth marketing or referrals are one of the most effective recruiting strategies. You can turn everyone you know into a headhunter. If someone finds you an employee that you keep for over six months — what would you give that person? What does it cost to be without a tech who produces at least 35 hours a week? That’s 35 times a labor rate of $120 equals $4200 in labor. Take that number and multiply it by 2 to get the parts in there and you have $8400.00. So, given the cost of an open position, I would think that paying people for referring good hires would be justified. 

Of all these options, I’ve found that keeping and developing your employees is the way to go. If you can keep them engaged and happy to do their jobs, then you’ll have a much better chance of staying fully staffed. How many of us grew up during the time of the boss saying, just do your job or someone else will? It was a common catch phrase and seemed to work at the time. Nowadays it would not work because we’re in an employees’ market. This means that for the first time in decades, employers don’t have the upper hand.  

Treating youremployees the way they want to be treated, instead of the way you were treated, can be a huge step outside of an employer’s comfort zone — and many are struggling to do it. They struggle to find out what makes each employee tick. What are their hesitations, doubts, concerns, and fears? Are you treating each one as an individual or only as a team? Don’t get me wrong, I want them working together, but do they have the right mindset when doing so? They must be united in the common goal of taking care of customers. They must understand that you’re in the people business, not the car business.