A paper by BDC about how to hire and retain the best employees has a section on marketing your business to potential employees that, in my experience, can be helpful in solving an age-old problem—recruiting good employees.
They broke it down into 6 key points:
- Tell candidates why they would want to work for your business. This will make you think about how your business can be differentiated from the competition. Then write a job description for the kind of employee you are trying to attract.
- Be conscious of your shop’s image. Assume that potential recruits will research your shop, so avoid exaggerating and be truthful when describing why your business is a great place to work.
- If you have an email list (you really should have one), take advantage of it as a marketing tool. Your email could land in the inbox of someone looking for a business like yours to work at.
- Personalize your pitch because top performers have their own goals. Tell them how they can achieve those goals at your shop but don’t make promises you can’t keep.
- Encourage referrals from your existing employees and reward them.
- Offer more than the basic compensation package. Flexible work schedules, perks etc. can help close the deal.
Hiring successfully is hard. But with these six points you’d be off to a good start.