CREATING A TEAM full of superstar employees is one of your most important jobs as a pet business owner or manager. Your employees are the people who stand face-to-face with your customers and bring — or fail to bring — money into your business.
Fortunately, developing an amazing staff isn’t rocket science, but it doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a process leading from one step to the next until you have a team full of standouts.
The very first step is to find potential superstar employees (not mediocre folks who barely have a pulse) and attract them to your business. This is a critical part of the process, but so many store owners leave it entirely up to chance. They take applications from whomever happens to float by. Or they put a generic black-and-red Help Wanted sign in the window.
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Using a few key strategies can put you way ahead when it comes to attracting an excellent pool of applicants. Think of it as a numbers game: If you have two random candidates applying for a job, you have a much smaller chance of finding a superstar than if you have 22 well-qualified applicants.
To increase your numbers, try these recruiting techniques:
Create an Ideal Employee Profile. This tells you exactly who you are trying to attract to your business. What are the characteristics, talents, skills and capabilities you want and need in your next superstar?
Always wear your Recruiting Hat. You never know who might be your next superstar employee. It could be the server at a restaurant. It could be someone you meet at a party or anywhere! Always be ready to ask if they might be interested in working for you. Use the phrase “I hope you’re happy here, but if you ever want to make a change, here’s my business card.” We recommend you print this phrase on the back of your business card, so you can make the “ask” simple and effective.
Write a Red Hot Help Wanted Ad. It must include an attention-grabbing headline, your Ideal Employee Profile, a description of the job responsibilities and a list of reasons why a candidate would want to work for your company.
Post your Red Hot Help Wanted Ad across platforms. In your store and on your social media; send it to your friends, family and professional acquaintances; run it in the local newspaper; and put it on job sites like Indeed or ZipRecruiter.
Keep a Hot Prospects File. Save the information from everyone who looks like a superstar candidate. You may not always be hiring, but you should always be looking!
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Hire and hope is not a smart way to choose employees. When you use these more strategic techniques, you’re far more likely to end up with a team member who will add significant value to your business and give your customers the service they deserve. Just imagine what you could accomplish if everyone on your team was as good as your best employee.
Have fun finding your next superstar!