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6 Free Ways to Find Employees
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For restaurants in Charleston especially, hiring is a huge problem right now. If you own one, I’m not telling you anything new. If you’re running a business in town in another industry - construction, retail - you might also be experiencing this.
First of all, I have no idea why this is such a problem and offer no long-term solutions. Pretty sure addressing the economic repercussions of a rapidly evolving workforce is beyond the scope of marketing, having more to do with accepted labor norms and other big picture things than anything we can snap our fingers here today to fix. I’m also aware you didn’t come here for my not-very-well-versed opinion on all that, either.
What I can offer are some ways to make sure that those looking to work for your restaurant, retail store, construction company, hotel, or other small business know that you’re hiring.
At Creativ, we find that many who ask for our help to put out job listings often forget several tools available to them. Unfortunately, throwing up a post on Indeed just doesn’t work as well anymore, but that doesn’t mean don’t do that, too.
Like anything else you want to communicate about your business, you have to get a little more creative these days to attract the attention of those your message is intended for.
// MAKE IT HAPPEN
(For Free!)
Use Facebook Jobs
Within the world of Facebook, there’s a whole section dedicated to job posts. People can apply directly through the platform and you can set it up to receive an email notification each time one comes through. You have options to qualify candidates, ask them questions like when they’re able to start, have them include resumes or past experience, and more. It simplifies the process for the candidates by populating most of their info and has the added benefit of them not having to leave a platform you are already active on.
Post that you’re hiring!
Have you posted this on your social feeds? Created a job listing from your personal LinkedIn profile? Do this! We don’t always love text on images posted on your Instagram, but this is an exception. Post a graphic that says “We’re Hiring” and use relevant hashtags like #chsjobs to extend your reach.
Is there any mention that you’re hiring on your website?
This is a big one. If I went to your website right now, would I know that you’re looking to hire? A good candidate will research companies when they’re looking for a job. Even if they see a social post, most will take a beat to find out more about you. One of the first places they’ll land is your website. Add a hiring page or create a post on your blog. Even if it’s a page you hide from your menu's navigation, candidates can easily get there with a “we’re hiring” link in your footer.
Employee Referrals
Do you have an employee referral program? There’s a number of ways to start one, whether you give cash incentives to an employee that brings on a friend that lasts a certain amount of time or employees are rewarded with being able to choose desired shifts for a week or otherwise.
Use Facebook Groups
There are several Facebook Groups dedicated to employment opportunities in Charleston. Once you’ve created your Facebook Jobs post, copy that link and paste it into a post to share in any of these relevant groups.
Link up with surrounding colleges or organizations relevant to your industry.
Do you have a specific demographic you’re looking for? Maybe you’re looking for college students for part-time work. Reach out to college career centers and ask how they communicate job openings in their town. Reach out to your Chamber of Commerce or local organizations like Lowcountry Local First or one relevant to your industry to see how they can help.
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Sapphire's Note To Guests
DETAILS
Sapphire's Bar and Grill in Goose Creek, one of the many restaurants experiencing an extreme staffing shortage, posted a notice to their guests yesterday asking for their patience during their visit.
WHY IS THIS COOL?
Right, wrong, or indifferent, what a restaurant guest sees and what a restaurant team may be experiencing during service hours can often feel like two completely different worlds. For decades, this has been intentional. Even if the kitchen is going down in flames, a good team will do everything in their power to never let the guest know. While that's obviously great for giving the guest a better experience, which in turn could mean more tips for the front of house, this kind of duality that exists in restaurants everywhere can backfire in some unexpected ways.
It often manifests itself subtly -- at worst, it creates an entitled customer that just doesn't understand why their experience might not be perfect, why their service is slower than usual, why they can't sit at that table that is very obviously unoccupied. Now, I'm not saying restaurants need to explain all these nuances to their guests nor am I saying that guests would even care. However, sometimes complete transparency is rewarded by an understanding that a restaurant guest never had the opportunity to have.
Sapphire's took a bit of a risk putting this notice out to their customers. While it might seem very obvious to many of us that there's an extreme shortage of staff in restaurants, to most people who aren't familiar with how one is run, this would never occur to them. Why should it? Usually, there's only one or two people they actually interact with while they're dining out. Sapphire's opened the curtain to what running a business like theirs is actually like, to people that never had a reason to give it a second thought beyond what happens to them personally while they're there.
Most of the time, problems that affect someone's dining experiences are only addressed on the backend after a guest leaves a bad review or complains to a manager, if they're even addressed at all. By preempting this and getting ahead of complaints their team knew they'd likely face, Sapphire's gave their customers information they'd otherwise never know they ought to consider. It's not something we see a lot of in an industry where "the customer's always right", but maybe it's a step in the right direction.
See their post and how their guests responded here. |
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PIXEL THIS
You know how you feel when you get an email that's supposed to be serious but the font they chose to convey their words is Comic Sans and you can't put your finger on why there's a disconnect? I don't want that person to ever be you, so here's a quick design tidbit from our Creativ Director, Ashley.
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When talking about hiring, we can be laser focused on a job description and all of the words that describe what an awesome company you are to work for, but don't forget that attracting employees visually is as big a factor in their decision!
Make sure any posts you put up are staying consistent with your branding, colors, fonts, etc. Also, use beautiful imagery! Whether it's your most mouth-watering food item or your beautiful showroom, make sure they can see the kind of environment they'll be working in. Here's another idea. Do you have a star employee that wouldn't mind doing a little video testimonial about what it's like to work for your company? Even if they just share a few favorite things about being an employee at your place, hearing from a potential future peer can make all the difference for a candidate.
Add some of these things to all of the places you post and your job listing could be one step above the competition.
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THE WORD
Nobody likes a know-it-all, especially when their use of buzzwords like these run rampant. Don't overdo it with adding these words to your daily vernacular, but now you know.
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reach [ree-CH]
Reach is a common metric across all social media platforms that measures how many people saw your content. It's often confused with impressions, which measures how many times your content was delivered to someone's feed.
Just because content was delivered to someone's feed doesn't mean they actually saw it. That's because of algorithms. Even more confusing, just because they saw it doesn't mean they actually engaged with your content, but sometimes that's ok, based on what your goals are.
Social media metrics can be confusing, but reach and engagement are two important ones that let you know how many people saw what you put out there and whether or not it resonated with them enough for them to take action.
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Facebook Job Listing
Are you hiring, too? Head over to Facebook Jobs and publish your open positions. Make sure you include a few benefits of working for your company in addition to what you're looking for in a candidate. It's an easy way to stand out right off the bat though I'm not sure why. Wouldn't you want to know why your money is worth more than your competitor's if you were in their shoes? ;)
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