Making Your Recruiting Practices Red–Hot

By Mark Toft
Staples Editor

Even though the economy has cooled off, recruiting top talent is still challenging.

"I have to be part marketer, part sales manager and part creative writer," says Steven Baraban, Employment Manager for Staples I.S. and Staples.com.

Going beyond convention is the best way to attract great employees. What's needed is an aggressive, but strategic approach, one that builds on traditional recruiting methods while exploiting new ones.

The Internet

The Internet has quickly become one of the most important staffing tools for small and large businesses alike — and not only for entry– and mid–level positions. According to Exec–U–Net, 44% of executives looking for new job opportunities use the Internet in their search. Similarly, passive job seekers — those who are employed and only mildly dissatisfied — often start by trawling the Internet during lunch breaks.

The three general methods of recruiting online are posting on top–tier Web sites (such as Monster.com or Hotjobs.com), second–tier sites (sites that specialize in a particular field) and on your own company's Web site. As the volume of Internet listings continues to expand, businesses have to find ways to set their listings apart.

In what he calls the "competition for eyeballs," Steven Baraban has found that subtle innovation can lead to significant results. In addition to listing job titles in all caps, Baraban converts generic titles into miniature job descriptions. Rather than Programmer or Software Engineer, both of which will have thousands of online listings, he'll post VB/ORACLE–RETAIL. And rather than using the text just for the job description, Baraban promotes the company and its mission.

Since a majority of employees cite a friendly work environment and a clear, participatory corporate mission as more important enticements than salary, the opportunity to sell the company is perhaps more crucial than selling the position.

Employee referrals

Sound employee referrals are vital to an effective recruiting strategy. The reason is simple: there's no better way to tap into reservoirs of talent than to draw on the connections and interests of already–employed talent.

To become a reliable staffing resource, employee referrals must be actively encouraged. An effective enticement is offering compensation from $1,000 to $5,000 for referrals that lead to hires.

If these blandishments seem excessive, think again. Agencies charge 25% to 30% of a placed recruit's salary. For an executive hired at $100,000, that's $25,000.

A corollary to employee referrals is promoting and staffing from within (sometimes through training and re–training). While filling a vacancy in this way creates another vacancy, it's not a zero–sum scenario. Staffing from within may preempt losing that employee to another company.

Agencies

Though recruiting through an agency can be costly, it's sometimes the best way to fill specialized positions or ferret out exceptional talent. Ultimately, it's more expensive to leave an important position vacant than to pay agency fees.

Temporary agencies and freelancers

Using temporary and freelance staff often makes more sense than hiring people permanently, especially if you need last–minute help to meet an impending deadline. When selecting a temp agency, ask around for referrals. Other methods of confirming the strength of an agency are to check how long they've been in business and whether they're affiliated with the National Association of Temporary and Staffing Services (NATSS). Temp agencies often specialize in certain staffing needs, from clerical to technical, financial or industrial. Choosing the right kind of agency begins with identifying the particular needs of your business.

The most common way of locating talented and capable freelancers is through employee referrals and word–of–mouth.

The great advantage to using temporary and freelance staff is that the expense of paying them is considered ancillary and non–fixed, which means that it doesn't count against your budget (or P and L, profit–loss).

College recruiting

During lean economic times, some businesses abandon their college recruiting programs. While this may cut recruiting costs in the short term, it can hamstring recruiters in a tight labor market. Companies need to think of college recruiting as their 'farm system,' a place where young talent can be acquired and developed. However, luring gifted college students takes more than high salaries. Polls taken by www.wetfeet.com indicate that college students first look for a company with a challenging, but friendly work environment.

On–campus career counselors will help your business arrange informational sessions or meetings with small groups of students. When courting students for internships or full–time work, small business owners should consider talking about the advantages of working for a small business, such as greater responsibility and the potential for helping shape the future of the company. Conducting a small, on–campus informational session is usually free. College recruiting and information sessions need to be creative. As several recruiters have found, free pizza is a good place to begin.

Larger, on–campus job fairs (or "career nights") are either free or cost less than $500. Career nights usually take place early in the academic year and require registering through the career center.

The alumni connection

Most college career centers have programs in which alumni can list themselves as a career contact. It's a good idea to encourage each employee to register at his or her alma mater's career center.

When conducting an on–campus information session, send an alumnus if possible. Students are more likely to trust what an alumnus has to say about your company. In addition to sending a recent graduate, Marie Gleary, a career counselor at Boston College, recommends sending someone from upper management. "It makes a big impression on students," she says.

Print ads

Newspapers, magazines and billboards are excellent promotional outlets, and company promotion feeds directly into recruiting. Steven Baraban estimates that his print ads used to be 75% public relations and 25% recruiting. Now the split is 50/50.

Jay Dietz, Senior e–Commerce Recruiter for Staples.com, recommends running print ads in trade magazines instead of newspapers. Trade magazines enable you to direct your ad to the intended audience and may only need to be run for a short time (which will ultimately save you money).

Job fairs

Job fairs usually provide the lowest yield for recruiters. The five hours it takes a recruiter to leave the office and set up a booth could probably be directed elsewhere with better results. Job fairs present similar problems to job seekers. Nevertheless, they can still uncover a few gems, and for this reason periodic participation is still worth it.

Poaching and employee retention

Poaching employees from other businesses may sound dirty and unfair, but it is commonly practiced and accepted in both good and bad markets. Recruiters call this "direct sourcing."


For most companies, however, the concern is not so much poaching as it is protecting against poaching. In an article for www.erexchange.com, Dr. John Sullivan recommends implementing team–retention bonuses and stay–on incentives. Dr. Sullivan, who's been dubbed by Fast Company as "the Michael Jordan of hiring," also stresses that retaining the best employees starts with identifying the companies that are most likely to poach. Other methods he endorses include counter–poaching and spending 25% of the cost of poaching to fight against it.

Perks

The most popular recruiting incentives are job sharing, telecommuting, profit sharing, flextime, and compressed work days. Of course the incentives don't end there. Stock options are common; day care is a rare, but highly appreciated perk.

Final thoughts

Recruiting is intimately linked to branding and marketing. This point can't be stressed enough. Successful recruiting begins at every desk at every level of the company. The more profitable the company, the more recognizable its brands, the more positive its image and the happier its employees, the easier it is to recruit.

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The information contained in this article is only an overview of the subject matter made for general guidance to the reader, and is subject in all cases to limitations and disclaimers set forth in Staples' Legal Terms and Conditions.