Jim Huston: Finding the Best

Jim Huston

You'd think that given the current economic conditions that there would be plenty of qualified help available. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. Yes, there may be ample non-skilled laborers looking for work in many parts of the country. However, finding qualified crew leaders and managers who have a high degree of motivation is not as easy as one might think. Like the coaches of professional and college sports teams, you should always be recruiting.

Here are some ideas that you might find useful:
 

Sponsor a job fair. One client in the Northeast recently had to recruit qualified individuals to fill a number of positions. Some of these positions were technical, some managerial and the remainder were non-technical. He decided to have a job fair. For a number of weeks, he advertised the job fair in a couple of local papers. He placed flyers in local gas stations, convenience stores and with suppliers. Job signs were placed in front of his office and at key intersections. Come job fair day, more than 50 applicants showed up and were interviewed in a four-hour period. The good news was that most of the positions were filled.
 

Pay a recruiting bonus. Paying your existing staff a recruiting bonus to find good help is an excellent way to get your staff involved in the hiring process. Good people usually attract good people. However, the newly hired staff member has to pass a probation period before the bonus is paid.
 

Manage expectations with thorough job descriptions. Prior to sponsoring a job fair or beginning the hiring process, you should develop clearly written job descriptions for each position that you desire to fill.

Job descriptions should include:

• A description of the position
• To whom the person reports
• The skill set and education requirements for the position
• Clearly defined responsibilities
• Salary, hourly rate, anticipated incentives and/or bonuses
• Appraisal criteria
• Success factors that the candidate for this position should display
• The hidden job description (implicit qualifications for the position).
  • What should this person enjoy doing to be successful in this position?
  • What personal qualities (enthusiasm, steadiness, flexibility, love of detail, etc.) are necessary for this position?
  • Who has succeeded at this job before and why?
    
    
• Individual profile qualifications for the position such as:
  • Should like to work alone
  • Must excels at solving technical problems
  • Should be a people-person
     
• Professional attitude (describe the professional qualities that the successful candidate should display):
  • Customer service oriented
  • Requires minimal supervision
  • Is punctual and energetic
  • Encourages, assists and supports fellow staff members

Consider a split-pay option. For instance, some companies pay their crew leaders a base of $13.00 per hour. However, the crew leader can earn another $3.00 per hour based upon performance. That's an extra $120.00 for a 40 hour week and an extra $516.00 per month.

The company identifies 10 items (crews out on time, trucks cleaned daily, all paperwork turned in daily, no accidents, jobs done on budget, etc.) worth $50.00 each per month. If the crew leader misses more than three items in a given month – no bonus. If the same item is missed two months in a row – no bonus.
 

Pay a signing bonus. Consider paying a "signing" bonus as long as the individual passes the probation period.
 

Conclusion. Recruiting and hiring new staff is always difficult. Just like the coaches of sports teams, you should always be in recruiting mode. Remember to have clearly thought out and written job descriptions. If you don't know what you're looking for, you'll never know when you've found it.