No matter if your business is large or small, it is important to have a steady flow of great candidates coming down the pipeline, even if you don’t currently have an open position to fill.
That is because no matter how hard you try to retain your employees, vacancies are inevitable from time to time. And, nothing is worse than scrambling to fill an open spot, which can lead to making a bad hire out of pure desperation.
To keep this from happening, here are a few strategies for keeping great prospective employees in your back pocket.
Start an Internship Program
An internship program can be a great way to forge relationships with top-tier fitness and operations professionals. The benefits are two-fold. Through interns you get some help running your business, whether it’s at the front desk or on the fitness floor, and the intern benefits by earning valuable experience that will help them in their future career.
Who knows? Maybe that future career will be at your company. If they were a great intern, you can make a safe bet that they’ll be a great full-time employee too (to a degree), if a position opens.
Keep Job Postings Up (Even if You’re Not Actively Hiring)
Although this might seem odd, it’s good practice to be collecting resumes on a continual basis. Because for every 10 resumes you get, it’s likely only one or two will catch your eye. Take these one or two and file them (by position), until you have a full portfolio of promising candidates to pull from when the time comes to hire.
Make Your Employees Raving Fans
A great source for prospective employees is none other than your current staff. If they love what they do and take pride in their work, they won’t hesitate to let friends and family know when a position opens up at their place of work. Recommendations from staff can oftentimes lead to a great hire that might not have happened without that connection.
Network
In fact, networking in general is another good practice, whether it’s with your staff’s connections, or your own. Thanks to social media, this is easier now than ever.
For example, LinkedIn is an especially good tool for connecting with a variety of fitness and operations professionals looking to get their foot in the door at great companies. When a position opens up at your company, post about it on LinkedIn and your other social channels. You never know who may see it as a result.
Use these strategies and more to keep great candidates at your fingertips. That way, the next time a position opens up, you won’t be as stressed trying to fill it. In this particular endeavour, due diligence really can go a long way.
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
