Developing a Recruiting Strategy
It is often said in business that employees are the most valuable assets of an organization. The club industry is based on relationships. It is extremely important to foster healthy relationships as member retention is directly related to employee retention. If your organization is struggling to recruit or retain quality staff members, it may be a good time to evaluate your recruiting process.
The first step to developing a successful recruiting strategy is to evaluate your current situation, creating some benchmarks. Someone in your organization needs to be responsible for this process. Determine if your problem lies in recruiting, retaining personnel, or both. Quite often, retention of employees is directly linked to the hiring process. If you are in the “ready-aim-hire” mode, you may be creating a retention problem through ill-conceived hiring decisions. Refine your hiring process:
Create a Managers’
Tool Kit Give them the tools to succeed. A good hiring tool kit should have six components:
1. Comprehensive job descriptions
2. Interviewing guidelines and questions (appropriate and inappropriate)
3. Compensation and benefit outlines
4. Employee handbook
5. Skills and assessment tests (as required)
6. Background check resources (becoming increasingly important).
Additionally, the team member responsible for evaluating the recruitment process needs to hold regular training sessions for all supervisors, in order to make sure that all parties are comfortable with their new “tools.”
Recruiting for the Next Generation of Health Club Personnel Finding great staff should become anobsession with your organization. We know the feeling when we look around our clubs and see staff not measuring up to the standards we have set. Where are they? Many are right in front of our eyes: members, relatives and friends of employees. When this pool of talent doesn’t fill our rosters, what’s next? Welcome to the Internet!
Why the Internet?
The Internet is the greatest resource for anything, especially finding qualified staff. There is not a more cost-efficient recruiting vehicle anywhere that reaches so many people so quickly. If you haven’t used the Internet to recruit, now is the time.
In this manner, you can really sell your organization, and tell a story that inspires people to want to work for you. By using the Internet as a recruiting vehicle, you can write a comprehensive ad without worrying about the cost per line. Try doing that in the newspaper: EXPENSIVE! Additionally, including specific job qualifications saves time and money during the hiring process.
Where to Place your Ad?
There are thousands of job sites on the Internet (these are usually referred to as job boards). Everyone is familiar with the giant: Monster.com. However, niche job boards may be a better value, and address the needs of the health and fitness industry more effectively. When choosing a job board to place your ad, there are many things to look for. Below is a list of “must haves” for your chosen job board(s):
• Specializes in the health and fitness industry
• Must have a great fitness-job-related domain name
• Has an established track record with over five years in business
• The site is advertised in industry trade publications
• Advertises on Google, Yahoo, and MSN (this is where the job candidates are!)
• Look for unlimited job posting packages which are extremely cost efficient
• Make sure the job site has a toll-free number, in case you need assistance.
Recruit like a Pro
Take your time to create a great ad. Remember, you are selling your club, company culture, compensation and benefits, community, lifestyle and career potential.
Use the local paper in CONJUNCTION with a job board. Place the minimum three-line ad in the paper and refer jobseekers to the job board that has your comprehensive ad (i.e. “For more details, see our ad on xyzjobs.com.”) This gives you the best of both worlds.
It is important to reply to all candidates’ queries in a timely fashion. If they are qualified, interview them quickly, so they do not accept another position. All candidates should receive acknowledgement for applying – they may be a future hire.
Recruit four times a year whether you need to or not. Just when everything looks great, several openings may come up. You should ALWAYS know where your next hire is for EVERY department. Your annual recruitment plan should be in writing, with specific timelines, just like your marketing plan. Eliminating staffing problems will accelerate your ability to create a healthier bottom line.
Alan Cohen is the Founder and President of FitnessJobs.com. He can be contacted at 800.259.4397, or by email at FitnessJobs@bigplanet.com, or visit www.FitnessJobs.com.
