Grassroots Hiring
I recently had a client tell me they had a record number of job openings in their organization. They saw this as a burden, whereas I saw this as an opportunity to benefit from what I’m calling my Grassroots approach to hiring. This is where you involve employees, from the ground up, in your recruitment efforts. By doing so, you’ll have a bounty of talent coming to you regardless of the economic climate.
Here’s a real life scenario: Last month I met with an executive who told me that he thought his organization could benefit from my expertise in bringing in talent. He then went on to tell me about the hundreds of job openings his company had, and how many of them were in the talent acquisition department.
Let’s be real here. If you’re expecting your HR team to fill dozens or hundreds of jobs, when they can’t even fill their own jobs, then you’re basically waiting for a miracle to happen. Now imagine how different the outcomes would be if everyone, from the ground on up to the top, was involved and had a stake in the hiring process.
Here’s my tip: Create a big splash with your employee referral program. Employee bonus programs are a great way to pull in talent, but most programs are best kept secrets. Consider doubling employee referral bonuses, for a limited period of time. Offer quarterly contests to keep the program top of mind (e.g., every time an employee makes a referral, their name gets entered into a drawing for a prize such as box seats at a baseball game or front row seats to a music festival, Night on the Town, etc.). If resources are too tight to do this, offer extra vacation time, that can be taken during slow periods in your business.
The idea here is to start a movement. You want to get everyone excited about finding awesome talent for your growing organization. I’ve got lots more ideas on this topic, so if you’d like to discuss how you can exponentially increase your hiring results, reach out to me at Roberta@matusonconsulting.com.
