IT'S ABOUT PEOPLE: Go to the Source

Finding great people to join your organization is one of your top priorities and should receive the same attention and effort as your sales and marketing program, making a profit and ensuring client satisfaction.
 
Sourcing, the next major step in building your organizations’ recruiting program, involves reviewing the origins of potential employees and developing these sources so there is a continual stream of potential job candidates.
 
Remember, we just don’t turn on the tap and suddenly people appear at your door. Recruiting people requires having a steady stream of possible candidates always under review and consideration.

Step One. The first thing I suggest doing is to review your organizational chart and look at your employees. Now determine the source of each of your employees. Some were referrals from other employees, others were walk-ins and some responded to a newspaper ad.

Step two. Determine where your winners and where your low-performance employees came from. This will help identify some sources that work and ones to avoid. Do you see any patterns with regard to the quality of the hire and the source where they came from?

Step three. Determine your winning sources and see if you can do better. See if you can develop two or three additional sources to start prospecting for future employees.
 
There are two commonly used resources and one is seeking internal candidates first. Before you try and find someone from the outside, look inside first. If we look inside first then we don’t cause internal strife by skipping a good internal candidate. Doing so can exact a hefty price in disgruntled, disappointed and discouraged employees.
 
Do you have someone internally that could do this job? Is there someone who can be transferred from another division or location? Can someone be developed, cross-trained or groomed for this position? Consider moving that person into the position and their newly vacant position becomes the targeted to fill with a new hire. Granted, you still have a position to fill, but you didn’t lose a good employee by running out and filling the position.
 
Many larger companies advertise internally and go through a qualification  process along with interviews. If an internal candidate is not selected then they are provided with an explanation why along with some developmental objectives so they know what they need to do for future consideration.  
 
The other resource is collecting referrals from existing employees. When you looked at the sources of your employees hopefully this was your number one source. If it wasn’t then we may have a whole other set of issues that we need to deal with. 
 
Create awareness of the need with field and office staff. I have literally walked from a staff meeting to the receptionist and asked if they were aware we are looking to hire. Remember, these are you first line of recruiters. 
 
And be specific with employees about the criteria you are looking for in a candidate – drivers license, supervised people, from a service business background and other such areas. 
 
Offer referral bonuses as an incentive for people that are hired from an employee referral. Pay enough to attract the attention of your recruiting force. I  suggest  $50 to $100 for a laborer, $250 to $500 for a foreman and   $750 to $1,000 for a supervisor. Pay 50 percent on hire and 50 percent following a 90-day orientation period
 
It’s a good idea to set a deadline and increase the payout to help get things moving forward. This price may seem high, but isn’t it more costly having the position unfilled and having to suffer the lost opportunities associated with not delivering your service. Now that is really expensive, trust me. LL

Bill Arman is a 32-year veteran of the landscape maintenance industry and is a founder of The Harvest Group, a national landscape business consultancy. He can be reached at 949/466-8837 or people@gie.net.