What do you leave with the recruiting sources you’re trying to develop when you make a recruiting call? Company brochure? A business card? Not too memorable is it?

It’s time to develop a recruiting source kit that works for you. What’s a recruiting source kit?

First, it’s packaged attractively and looks fun. It could be a colorful bag or box, perhaps with a company sticker on the exterior of it.

Next, it contains a number of your business cards, generic recruiting brochures, most recent job postings, recruiting flyers, testimonial letters, anything that could help develop your recruiting sources.

Don’t forget to include some ad specialty items: company mug, paper clip holder, T-shirt, pencils, etc. Perhaps even a few candies to sweeten the kit.

Remember, you want your recruiting source kit to be memorable. It should quietly scream – Send Me Referrals!

An important part of retention is showing concern for temporaries as individuals. By making temporaries aware that you care about their personal growth, they feel like a team member of your staffing service. An easy class to put together for your temporaries that shows concern for their personal growth is creative journaling.

The supplies you need include a journal and a pen for each participant and an instructor. Perhaps there is someone among your staff who currently journals that could lead the session.

I recently took a creative journaling workshop. We each received a journal, discussed what we wanted to accomplish by journaling and then did a couple of creative writing exercises to get started. Exercise one was a technical writing description of an outdoor landscaped area and exercise two was a poetic writing exercise describing a lake.

Your temporaries will complete the class knowing you care about them. They may also be on their way to acquiring new writing skills and have a new mode of self-expression. And it’s all because you showed concern for the personal development of your temporaries.

In the last few months I have participated in two 5K fun runs.  Prior to and after the race there were booths with food and literature passed out by sponsors.

Sponsor companies ranged from radio stations to shoes to cars and one staffing service. The staffing service involved was Initial Staffing. Initial’s visibility was limited to a listing on a sponsorship banner. No other staffing services were to be seen at this event. I also ran the Turkey Trot Race, which drew about 2,000 people and had booths. A staffing service was on the scene. Two Spherion staff people wearing their company shirts manned the water station at the end of the race.

While the staffing service was involved in the above events, the involvement was more of a public relations effort rather than a recruiting effort. My suggestion is don’t forget that these events are not only public relations opportunities, but recruiting opportunities as well.

Expand the effort and turn the runs/walks in which your participate into viable recruiting avenues. A few tips follow to get the most out of these events for your staffing service.

Check the Internet or contact local running/walking clubs to get a list of upcoming runs/walks in your area. Runner’s World magazine lists upcoming races.

Check the costs of a booth. Do you have an inexpensive ad specialty item to give out? Perhaps a nail file with your company name and phone number on it.

Check the costs involved of having your generic recruiting brochure and/or ad specialty item placed in the race packet. The Race For The Cure gave out a shopping bag of loot from coupons to a date book to the race t-shirt. Would any recruits have ended up at your staffing service if your generic recruiting brochure had been in the bag?

The staffing service that will win the race for recruits is the one that looks for new recruiting opportunities. Hit the round running! The race clock is ticking!

Consider the idea that perhaps recruiting is in-depth infiltration by an insider. Once before, I wrote an article on recruiting at college campuses with suggestions of where and how to recruit on campus. The new thought is this: why not hire an extremely well-connected college student to do your on campus recruiting? Find a student who lives on campus and is heavily involved in college activities. Imagine this individual distributing stacks of your service rep’s business cards, flyers on hot jobs, summer internship opportunities and after graduation opportunities. This person could constantly make rounds on the campus and go more in-depth that one of your service reps. Imagine some of the recruiting possibilities:

·         Visits to all fraternity and sorority houses.

·         Visits to all sports groups on campus and their coaches and cheerleaders.

·         Visits to computer labs, libraries and clubs.

·         Visits to dorms and student lounges.

·         Visits to on campus worship facilities.

·         Sporting events flyer and business card distribution.

·         Visits to all eating areas and workout facilities.

·         Visits to the band, choirs, orchestra, drama departments, newspaper and year book staffs.

·         Visits with all college personnel.

The list goes on! Basically your college recruiter would infiltrate every part of the campus, perhaps spending a maximum of eight hours per week depending on the size of the campus and college life. If you paid this person $8.00 an hour for eight hours a week, the return could be much more. If you put this individual on a bonus plan for each recruit that comes out of the campus, you would do even better.

The summer of '98, my two week vacation was in Costa Rica. I lived with a Costa Rican family while attending a Spanish Immersion School for four hours a day.

The first day of school was an orientation and welcome. The welcome began with the Director of the Escuela D'Amore asking the students to pick out a favorite color of magic marker. What we did with the marker was join the signatures of prior students on the outside of the building. We signed our names, the date and included where we were from. I thought it would be a great idea to have a graffiti wall in a staffing service. Why not have your qualified applicants join your staffing team by signing the team wall! You could have the applicants put their names, occupations and how many years of experience they have in their particular profession. This could also be a great icebreaker activity at your next party for temps. Also visualize the impact when a client stops by your office for a tour and you explain this interesting conversation piece - your graffiti wall!

  1. When an applicant calls in for an appointment, ask if they know anyone else that is available in their skill category. Do this after you have set their appointment. Why wait for the interview to ask when your need is NOW?  

   2. Ask for referrals again at the completion of the interview.

   3. After every job assignment is given out and accepted, ask the temporary for referrals.

   4. When you call the temp to see how the assignment is going, ask for referrals.

   5. When temporaries come in for paychecks, ask for referrals.

   6. When you host parties for temporaries, ask for referrals. Why not tell them to bring a skilled friend or two to the party? Why not host a skilled friends party? Don’t forget to ask the skilled friend for referrals, too.

   7. All correspondence to temporaries should ask for referrals. This includes your newsletter, paycheck stuffers and why not birthday cards? “If I had ten more people like you, we’d be in great shape. Know anyone else looking”?

   8. When you attend recruiting events such as job fairs, ask for additional referrals in the same skill category of the applicant.

   9. Ask every time a current temporary calls your office.

 10. When you call inactive temporaries, inquire not only about the inactive temporary, but also ask for additional referrals.

One night I stopped by Borders Bookstore to pick up a new CD. The store was alive with activity as a jazz trio played in the café while patrons shopped.

The jazz trio is just one of the many regular activities that the big bookstores of today feature. I picked up an information sheet and found that they have a children’s story hour, adult book clubs, author events and they also host some unusual events. Why not inquire and see if your staffing service could organize a community outreach program at a bookstore? Why not set up a table highlighting the bookstore’s job search and résumé writing books? You could be the career expert, give a short talk, review résumés, pass out business cards, etc.

The café would be a perfect place to leave brochures or perhaps on the store bookrack. The store bookrack is loaded with local free newspapers, why couldn’t your brochure be placed there too? Also, you could flyer the cars in the parking lot if the manager says it’s OK. Promotion would be done by the bookstore and if it works for your staffing service as a recruiting source, you might do this at each large bookstore in your city.

Cultural recruiting is a tremendous source of new applicants. Many staffing services have not explored this great source of people. Cultural recruiting requires a personalized approach to the different ethnic backgrounds of immigrants to the United States. Staffing services that celebrate the cultures of these potential applicants will open a new vast pool of people and satisfy customer requests.

How can you celebrate these different cultures? By going out into the different communities with generic recruiting brochures in different languages. Sure you want people who can communicate in English, but you are building bridges by having your generic recruiting brochure in a potential employee’s first language.

Look around the major cities and you’ll see a diverse workforce. Watch television and you’ll see that companies are targeting people of different cultures in their advertising. If your client’s customers are from different cultures, then you too must target different cultures for your potential workforce in order to provide diversity in the workplace.

Recently, I saw an ad in a Houston newspaper for a staffing service that needed people who spoke Asian who could telemarket in the Asian communities. The purpose was to have those called and change their long distance plans. Point number one is be specific and check out the cultures from which you’re trying to recruit. Who speaks Asian? There’s Vietnamese, Cantonese, Chinese, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Japanese and I’m sure others. Rather than advertise in the newspaper, this staffing service may have been better off passing out flyers on the cars at the Vietnamese grocery store, the Chinese cultural center or restaurants that specialize in Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipino or Thai cuisine. Perhaps trying the Buddhist Temples, Catholic churches and other religions where services are held at special times in these languages would have yielded enough temps to fill the assignments.

Another way to reach a specific community is by advertising in periodicals designed to reach a particular culture. And don’t forget world of mouth goes a long way in some of these communities. When you make one connection, the next thing you know you have a dozen referrals.

Cultural recruiting is the wave of the future and the future is now.

According to employee retention and development strategist Morris R. Shechtman, create a "values-driven" culture that speaks directly to employee needs – be the employer of choice.

"Investments in personal growth and development create a culture that ‘cares for’ its employees – one that embodies trust, honesty, integrity, opportunity and accountability," says Shechtman.

"Companies that ‘care for’ their employees challenge them to be the best they can be," Shechtman explains.

Shechtman says "Recognize and respond to employees’ ‘life’ needs, not just their professional requirements. Companies must give workers personal skills for life – like decision-making, conflict management and communication skills – not just for the tasks at hand."

At your staffing service, how about putting together a ‘we care’ program?

l What about a newsletter or handout that talks about truth, honesty, integrity, opportunity, accountability, decision-making, conflict management and communication skills?

l You may already offer educational seminars at your staffing service, but are you addressing any of the topics mentioned?

l Form a book club that meets in your office once a month to discuss a particular book on one of the topics mentioned.

l Pass out a roll of Lifesavers candy on payday with a note that says, "For all the times you’ve been a lifesaver on assignment. When trust, honesty, opportunity and accountability came into play and you hit a home run!"

What other ideas can you think of to be part of your ‘we care’ program? Remember it’s just not good enough to say your staffing service cares. You have to show how you care.

Two activities I have participated in have led me to believe that there are many groups or places that are not considered or even thought of as places to recruit!

A recent stay at a retreat center in Houston where at least 100 participants pass through the retreat center on weekends led me to believe that retreat centers are a place to keep a steady stream of brochures. Many times people on retreat are contemplating changes in their lives. Their work could be one of the areas they reflect upon on during the retreat. Your brochure could be the answer to a participant’s prayer. I imagine it would be as easy as a small donation and one visit to get your brochures into the retreat center lobby.

There are so many unusual groups that recruiters looking for applicants never approach. A group I encountered last year is The Becoming An Outdoorswoman (TBAO) program run by the parks and wildlife department in almost every state. The TBAO program consists of weekends where women learn how to hunt, fish, canoe, horseback ride, weave baskets, cook outdoors, handle falcons and other fun nature activities. Another good thing about the TBAO program is an offshoot program that sprang from the weekends, it is called Town. Town has monthly meetings so you can learn the skills on the weekends and have a group to go with later to pursue the activities.

The Becoming An Outdoorswoman program is just an example of groups you may be missing. I met one woman on the trip who was a geologist on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Another was a systems analyst. High wage positions if you place one of these women.

Find out about some new and different programs in your area and go and conquer them. Support the group. How about a group talk titled "How to Support Your Hobby." Recruiting is getting out into the community and approaching people. The more people you tell about the assignments you have open, the greater number of applicants you will have to fill the assignments. Recruiting is a numbers game. The one with most contacts wins!

Has your washer/dryer ever broken at home? Then the repairman can’t get out to you for several days so you head for the laundromat. If that’s been the case sometime in your life then it’s also the reason to head to the laundromat for recruiting. Depending upon the skill categories you service, your firm could possibly clean up!

Start out by looking in the phone book for laundromat locations that interest you.

Laundromats are located in all parts of your city.

Make a personnel visit.

Is there on site management?

If so introduce yourself.

Find out the busiest days and time of operation.

Ask if you can post flyers of job openings.

Inquire about the possibility of hosting a recruiting table on Saturday with free coffee and donuts or cookies and lemonade.

If you do host a recruiting table, make sure that you post flyers in the weeks prior announcing that you will be on site with possible job opportunities.

Also host a recruiting table on a regular basis. Perhaps the first Saturday of the month every month.

Recruiting at laundromats has its benefits. Usually people stay with their laundry and will welcome the opportunity to talk with someone. Who knows who you will meet? You might find your next "best" recruit at the laundromat.

Glancing through an old issue of staffdigest for recruiting and retention articles, I read the Success Story on Meador Staffing Services for a particular quote by Janice Meador, VP administrative services where Janice said, "Movie goers in Meador’s target recruiting area see the Meador name on eighty movie screens." I remember when I did the interview with the Meadors that I thought that was spectacular . . . 80 movie screens.

As a movie buff, I have noticed how movie theatres have changed in the last few years. We have the mega theatres with 18, 24 or 30 screens and huge lobbies with more games and food. The last few times I have gone to the movies I have seen tables set up in the lobbies for cellular phones, some type of cleaning gel and for gym memberships. Now what relationship do you think the movie theatre has with these outfits? More than likely none.

If you do as Meador Staffing Service does and you advertise on a particular theatre’s movie screens, why not see if you could have a recruiting table onsite on a regular basis. Or if you don’t do as Meador does, why not buy movie tickets for temps as a retention benefit and since you are making such a big purchase of over 100 movie tickets, that you ask if you can set up a recruiting table?

Plan your recruiting table at movie theatres to coincide with the release of big hits and high traffic days. Also don’t forget to have small giveaways on hand. You could do a promotion, "Come in and register with us and receive four movie tickets when you finish your first assignment." Or what about this one – Work for us and every Friday receive two movie tickets when you work a minimum of 32 hours in seven consecutive days." This might work well on harder to fill assignments where temps are just choosing between your service and Big Guy Staffing across the street. You may be able to negotiate a quantity discount on a large volume of movie tickets to lower the cost of the venture.

Following are the steps necessary for a complete recruiting call.

After you have identified a possible recruiting source, obtained a contact name and have a scheduled appointment, how do you proceed?

1. Arrive a few minutes early. It doesn’t hurt to have a friendly chat with a receptionist if there is one who is not busy.
2. When you meet with your contact person, begin with a great big "hello" and a "thank you!" Your contact person has taken time out of their busy schedule to help you. Show that your appreciate their effort as you start to establish rapport.
3. Offer a business card and ask for their business card also.
4. Tell the person you are on a recruiting call and that what you have to share should be beneficial to the community to which they are connected. (Community referring to their recruiting source pool.)
5. Now it’s time to share how you usually work with other sources in a joint recruiting effort. Explain what types of jobs you have open and outline the skill categories where you need people.
6. Ask permission to show your recruiting source kit. Find out what type of people they can refer to you and if the recruiting source kit would be helpful. Remember your recruiting source kit has business cards, generic recruiting brochures and other items for your source to pass on to prospects.
7. Ask if there are any ways that come to mind that would enhance your working relationship such as a possible job fair, addressing a group, etc.
8. Ask the source, "What’s the best way to proceed from here?" Go for a commitment. "When can I follow-up again?"
9. Ask for referrals. Stress how beneficial it is when a referral makes a great connection with one of your client companies. It’s not only the money back into the community, but family life is enhanced and the community benefits with a productive member.
10. Schedule follow-up contact of some kind, e-mail connection or permission to return within three months.

Every veterinarian I have gone to knows something about client retention. I don’t mean the four-legged clients of the veterinarian either but the two-legged clients. When I take my dogs to the vet and I walk into the exam room, I always stop at the collage board of client photos of dogs and cats. There must be 100 photos that pet owners have brought in. I imagine that each time the pet owner comes in they look to see if "Sasha’s" photo is still on the collage board.

The suggested retention tip is this: Purchase a digital camera. When you make customer visits, get pictures of temps at work doing a great job. Bring the pictures back and place them on the "Team Spirit" board in your office.

Another way to use your digital camera is on the sales side. Take client photos for a client board in your office. Part of your sales pitch to applicant, "These are some of the client company contracts you may be working with on assignment."

If you get photos of a client with say ten of your temps, you could make it part of your presentation with prospects on sales calls. "Oh, here’s Wanda Blake at Conglomerate International with ten of the temps we have working with them. We’ve been doing business with Wanda and Conglomerate for five years on numerous projects." People love testimonials and photos will only enhance your testimonial letters. Don’t forget the old saying. "A picture is worth a thousand words!"

The shortage of skilled workers now and in the future is a given. What may be new is how you react to your clients’ staffing needs. It could be time to develop an Apprentice Program that you sell to clients. Apprentices are those individuals that don’t have all the necessary skills needed for current assignments. Rather than sending apprentices out as full flying eagles and hoping they do a passable job, market these individuals as apprentices and turn their negatives into positives. Your Apprentice Program could include training the individuals to get them up to speed or working with the client to provide on the job training. Naturally, you would have to have some pretty stringent guidelines in order to make your Apprentice Program work. Guidelines could include: college graduate, Internet savvy, software experience, etc. Also, your pay and bill rates need to be adjusted since these individuals would be apprentices. Brainstorm an Apprentice Program at your next staff meeting. It may mean additional profits for your staffing service. Imagine the introduction of your IT Professional Apprentice Program to your clients.

Creating Recruiting Source Kits
By Paula Kutka, Editor-in-Chief

November 22, 2006

What do you leave with the recruiting sources you’re trying to develop when you make a recruiting call? Company brochure? A business card? Not too memorable is it?

It’s time to develop a recruiting source kit that works for you. What’s a recruiting source kit?

First, it’s packaged attractively and looks fun. It could be a colorful bag or box. Perhaps with a company sticker on the exterior of it.

Next, it contains a number of your business cards, generic recruiting brochures, most recent job postings, recruiting flyers, testimonial letters, anything that could help develop your recruiting sources.

Don’t forget to include some ad specialty items: company mug, paper clip holder, T-shirt, pencils, etc. Perhaps even a few candies to sweeten the kit.

Remember, you want your recruiting source kit to be memorable. It should quietly scream, Send Me Referrals!

Reactivation Blitz of College Students & Building Community!
By Paula Kutka, Editor-in-Chief

October 31, 2006

Consider the following as the holiday's approach.  College students will be available for work for about a month if you go after them now!  Have you done a reactivation blitz by mail to let these students know they can earn some extra cash?  When a student works for you and completes their work at the end of the summer, why not ask for a parent's number? 

Then, a couple of months prior to a school's winter break, you call the parent (who is more than likely footing some of the college bills) and say, "This is Donna with XYZ Staffing.  Anita said this was the most consistent contact number for her while she's at school.  She asked us to call about assignments prior to winter break.  If you have a number for her at school or would ask Anita to call me, I'd appreciate it!  We have some fabulous assignments available this holiday season that she would be perfectly qualified to fill.  She did such a fantastic job the last time she worked with us." 

Host a "Why I Love My Staffing Service" contest!
By Paula Kutka, Editor-in-Chief

September 11, 2006

National Staffing Employee Week is September 18-24, 2006.  It’s a great time to host a "Why I LOVE My Staffing Service" Contest with your field staff. I imagine you would get some great testimonials from your field staff.

Have your field staff submit a written essay of what I LOVE about my staffing service. Make the requirements no more than 200 words. Have prizes for first and second place. Take pictures of the winners and post them on your web-site with the winning essays. Imagine getting some pretty good material to use in upcoming recruiting materials. All you have to do is post the contest rules, wait for entries, read the essays, pick the winners and award the prizes. A contest like this will also let you know how you are doing with your field staff. Host your "Why I LOVE My Staffing Service Contest!" today! It’s a smart staffing service move!

Creating Recruiting Source Kits
By Paula Kutka, Editor-in-Chief

What do you leave with the recruiting sources you’re trying to develop when you make a recruiting call? Company brochure? A business card? Not too memorable is it?

It’s time to develop a recruiting source kit that works for you. What’s a recruiting source kit?

First, it’s packaged attractively and looks fun. It could be a colorful bag or box. Perhaps with a company sticker on the exterior of it.

Next, it contains a number of your business cards, generic recruiting brochures, most recent job postings, recruiting flyers, testimonial letters, anything that could help develop your recruiting sources.

Don’t forget to include some ad specialty items: company mug, paper clip holder, T-shirt, pencils, etc. Perhaps even a few candies to sweeten the kit.

Remember, you want your recruiting source kits to be memorable. It should quietly scream, Send Me Referrals!

Retention Means Constantly Re-recruiting Your Temporaries
By Paula Kutka, Editor-in-Chief

I read a press release on recruiting and retention of employees of IT service vendors. That press release stated, "The lack of skilled IT services employees required to fuel the proejcted double digit growth of most IT services vendors is leading to a feeding frenzy where each vendor tried to cannibalize the work force of its competitors." The survey also went on to say, "In this dog-eat-dog environment, only those IT services vendors that establish and adhere to a carefully constructed strategy to recruit, retain and motivate their employees will be able to survive."

The press release had serveral great ideas that could be used for staffing services regarding retention. One is that just because you initially recruit a temp, doesn't mean you never have to recruit or re-sell the temp fown the road on continuing to work for your staffing service.

Perhaps we should use the term "re-recruiting" rather than "retention". Retention almost makes you think your temps will be with you for quite some time. Realistically, when a temp finishes their "tour of duty" with your staffing firm, it's never been quite long enough!

Start to think of retention as re-recruiting and formulate yoru re-rerecruiting plan. This might include some career counseling for your temps. Also when a temp is eligable for a new benefit, even it it's their first paid holiday, why not call and congratulate them? Generate excitement! Tell the temp you are glad they are part of the XYZ staffing team!

Another idea is regarding referral bonuses. Referral bonuses were the number one source of new employees for the vast majority of participating vendors. Some of the IT serves vendors took the referral bonus one step further and provided an additional referral bonus one year later if the employee was still with the firm. Who better to nurture a new hire throughout their first year of employment than the person who referred them? This could work in your staffing service. The person who recruited your latest new temp would have a vested interest to re-recruit their referral to stay on the job. Look at your records and identify dropping off points with temps and come up with a time to award the re-recruiting bonus.

Ask yourself: where would your staffinhg service be without referrals? The answer may have you running to ask your service staff if someone is calling the person who is responsible for each and every referral to thank and congratulate the referring individual. If you make the call or send a thank you note, it's going beyond sending the referral check. Many times it's all about going beyond what's normally done that means winning additional recruits!

Until next time, re-recruit! It will solidify your staffing services.


A Vacation Bonus
Retention... what about a $50 vacation bonus once a year? The vacation bonus would be in addition to vacation pay already given to temps. Imagine your newspaper ad with the headline, "The only staffing service in town that give you cash to spend when you go on vacation!"