Finding Great Employees: A Top 10 List of Recruiting Tips From the Trenches

For most multi-unit franchisees, the need for dependable hard-working employees is paramount to creating a successful unit. Face it, without top-performing employees, there's really no chance of having a top-performing unit. This makes recruiting employees a top priority. Yet many multi-unit operators still struggle with finding, hiring, and retaining great employees. But there's hope - and at least 10 proven ideas you can try.

At the recent Multi-Unit Franchising Conference in Las Vegas a roundtable luncheon and discussion was conducted. Dozens of multi-unit operators with years of experience had the opportunity to discuss some of their tried and true methods for recruiting great employees. The conversation was candid and spirited and the franchisees seemed eager to share their recruiting successes - as well as failures - in an attempt to spread the wealth of winning recruiting strategies.

All of the ideas were collected and a top 10 list was compiled during the meeting. The idea was to create a top 10 list of the most common recruitment themes shared among the franchisees. Here is that list:

1. Create a respectful culture.
2. Referrals from current employees (paid).
3. Recruit employees from competitors/similar businesses.
4. Profile, screen, use personality testing, online apps to find and rank ideal candidates.
5. On-the-job "interview" - pay good candidates to spend a day on the job (with pay).
6. Offer competitive salary and growth path.
7. Recognition - annual awards, banquet; daily pat on the back for job well done.
8. Recruit from within; ask your A-players to bring in friends to create all-star team.
9. Frequent reviews, feedback - every 90 days, more frequently during first 30 days.
10. Social media as recruiting tool (LinkedIn, YouTube).