Transcript

Attracting and recruiting good talent is difficult for all businesses but for local businesses it can be especially challenging.

Hi I’m Carmen Sognonvi and it can be challenging for local business because very often the positions we have available are lower in pay or may not be very prestigious jobs like cashiers, clerks or receptionist.

So how would you manage to attract quality people at a salary you can actually afford to pay and make the interview process as painless as possible?

Well that’s exactly what this video is all about. By the way for more great tips on how to run a successful local business be sure to check out on my blog at Carmen Sognonvi.com

Now many of us local business owners turn to Craig’s List to post many positions that we have open.

Craig’s List is awesome because you get such a huge audience that you can get in front of but it can be awful for the same reason.

You can get absolutely bombarded with applications and it’s tough to sort through all of that and figure out which applicants are good and which applicants aren’t.

Here are some tips to help you make that selection process as simple as possible.

1. Specify the Salary in your ad

Don’t be coy. Tell them how much you plan on paying for the position because if someone isn’t willing to take a job on for that amount don’t waste your time with them.

2. Outline the Application Process

Have a very specific application process and make it clear in the ad that anyone who doesn’t follow the process will automatically be eliminated.

I will ask people who want to apply email your resume as an attachment and in the body of the email ask them to answer the following 5 questions.

I do this for a couple of different reasons:

One, this eliminates all of those people who are just copying and pasting their resume and cover letter to every single job that is out there.

Second, another reason is the questions pertain to the position. So I’m basically forcing the candidate to ask themself if they whether they are truly able to meet the requirements this position needs.

So for example I will ask.

“Are you available M-F from this hour to this hour, yes or no”.

Now if I get someone that says ya I am except for Wednesday when I have a class that starts at 2:00 but I can get there pretty quickly.”

If I get someone like that I automatically know that they aren’t going to work out because they can’t even meet the basic requirements that I am looking for.

Three, I know that in our business we have allot of specific process and systems that we follow because we want to ensure consistency and professionalism.

And if you can’t follow basic instructions like email your resume as an attachment and follow these 5 questions I know you aren’t going to be a good fit.

3. Make a group interview the first step:

In corporate america the next step would be a phone screen.

But I do things a little differently.

I use to do that and then set up a one on one interview.

And I realized that that’s not a good use of time.

Why? Because believe it or not only about 50% of people, in my experience, actually bother showing up for a job interview.

Yes, even in this economic climate.

So I’ve just found that a much more efficient use of my time so to gather the candidates who’s applications meet the requirements and tell them “Hey we are doing a group interview this date this time, can you make it?”

4. Present best and worst case scenarios:

I start of the group interview basically by doing a presentation to all of the candidates together.

I tell them about the company about all of the cool things we are doing where we are headed, our vision.

So we are really painting a picture of why this is a good place to work.

At the same time I’m painting a picture of the worst case scenarios what may come along with this job.

We work with kids so you are probably going to have to deal with pee, poop, and vomit and if you are uncomfortable with that this may not the place for you.

So I both trying to show them why this is a good place to work but at the same time weed out the people who aren’t serious about putting in the effort.

At that point then I’ll do very very very quick meetings 1 on 1 with each candiddate 5 min conversations which kind of takes the place of the phone screen.

5. Assign Homework:

After each one on one conversation I’ll give them an assignment that they have to send back to me in 2 days.

Again this is another way of eliminating the people who are serious about this position.

This all may sound like I’m making people jump through hoops and I am.

I want to find the people who actually want to be here, and are interested in this position and interested in our company and are not just looking for a pay-check.

6. Schedule interview and a sample shift:

Now for the candidates who complete the homework assignment I will invite them back for a more in-depth conversation with me and my husband and anyone else in the company that it makes sense for them to meet with.

We’ll narrow that list down to 2 or 3 people and invite them in for a couple of hours over the course of the next few days.

WE basically want to see them in action because people can interview well but fall down on the job.

So I want to see how they are handling things.I might throw them a couple of curve-balls see how they handle dealing with some pressure.

Put them on the spot a couple of times to see how they are going to adapt.

That gives us a good chance to have our other staff members interact with them so that they can get a sense of what they think of this person and can give us their input.

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Thanks for watching and I’d love to hear your tips on how you find good quality candidates or any horror stories or success stories you may have so please leave a comment below.

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