Advertising

In a labor market where employees are hard to come by, recruiting becomes essential. It is no longer possible to just post a ¡§help wanted¡¨ sign and expect the unemployed or underemployed to line up at your door¡Xespecially if your business is computer-related or service-related. Many service managers say that they are now in the position of constantly recruiting, even when they don¡¦t have an immediate opening.

The first step to effective recruiting is to fully understand the type of employees you need and what skills and knowledge your employees need to succeed at your business. Skills are those abilities needed to perform the job while knowledge is what the employee needs to know to perform the job.

The second step is to identify potential employees who have the necessary skills and knowledge. It is important at this point that you think beyond the traditional employee groups from which you have always hired. Yes, graduating students and workers with experience in your industry is one place to draw from. But with an ever-shrinking market and with an increasingly competitive economic environment, you need to draw people in from outside your traditional pools. Consider some of the following categories:

„h Former employees

„h Volunteers

„h Homemakers

„h Students

„h Family members of present employees

„h Legal immigrants

„h Military personnel and their dependents

„h Older workers

„h People with mental or physical disabilities

„h Ethnic minorities

„h People looking for a new career

„h People new to the community

„h People looking for part-time or telecommuting work

„h People currently on welfare or assistance

Now you have to determine how you will reach the people in these groups and let them know about opportunities at your business. Don¡¦t ignore traditional methods such as job postings or classified advertising, but be prepared to expand beyond this¡Xespecially if you are trying to reach groups of people who have NOT been reached through your...