A question I am often asked by newsagents is how to find new prospective employees. Here are some tips which I have found helpful over the years. Some are obvious and others, I hope, are new to you:
- Put a sign in the window. Explain the position, the hours and what you are looking for. Be sure to state how they are to apply. Have a position description behind the counter ready to hand out. This should also list availability requirements.
- Put a notice up at any local community group which has a noticeboard. This should promote your business (with subtlety) as much as the job.
- If it’s an after school position, let local schools know.
- Depending on the nature of the role, talk to your local community job centre.
- Email your customers. They may know someone.
- Publish an email on the newsagents@yahoogroups site – other newsagents often know people.
- Advertise in your own monthly newsletter. Don’t have a monthly customer newsletter? Start one!
- Let businesses nearby know, especially hairdressers – they know stuff and they talk a lot.
- If you want a big pool of candidates, use SEEK.com.au. While it costs a bit, the response is usually immediate. It’s worked for us.
I could have added – let your employees know – but didn’t because it’s often better to employ people who don’t know each other.
The wider the net you cast for your search for a new employee the more you are likely to catch.
Crucial to success are: a good ad promoting the role, a good job description which makes it clear what you are looking for and agreement among all involved in making the hiring decision.
I am sure there are more ideas than those noted here. Add any you can think of…
Make sure you speak with other businesses around you. Ask them if they know of person ABC, often you will get more from them then the referees. At least you will get the blunt truth. Ask all your references the right questions, 1. If you had a vacancy, would you hire this person? If they say “no”, then that should tell you everything you need to know. Move on. We have had to let a few people go because of stealing, but have not prosecuted, spent $7K persuing one prosecution and decided too expensive and too time consuming. Just to make it plainly clear, we have lost a few employees that were wonderful and would re-hire them in an instance. And yes, I have had phone calls from new employers (of the bad ones) and I had to get them to ask me the above question, and they were not hired based on my answer. So be careful with staff from other newsagencies, go to their last employer (ask the potential employee at the interview if you have permission to contact their last employer – their answer here should tell you a few things too) and ask the magic question… If you had a vacancy, would you hire/re-hire this person?
As far as I’m aware, all legalities are covered with this question and with any closed answer (ie. Yes/No).