Recruiting ‘A’ Players: The Key to Business Growth

As club operators, a copious amount of time and money is spent chasing and increasing membership revenue. During that time, staff attraction and retention is often put on the back burner. What many seem to forget is that staff attraction and retention are the key in driving member attraction and retention. To improve the likelihood of staff retention, consider implementing the following recruiting techniques.

Build an ‘Employer of Choice’ brand

1. Produce staff yearbooks to celebrate staff culture.
2. Create a private Facebook group for staff to communicate to one another.
3. Contribute as a brand to the industry and/or community with a solid dose of social responsibility. This will expand their knowledge past day-to-day activities.

Generate leads — Continually search for new employees

1. Continue to advertise for new staff members. It is key to never stop building your funnel of candidates.
2. Offer a referral incentive to current employees.
3. Host information nights quarterly to share company updates with current employees. Make sure to ask current employees to share this information with potential new candidates.

Nurture leads — Keep in contact with potential employees

1. Begin an email drip to all interviewed candidates. This will allow a relationship to develop with the potential employee.
2. Invite candidates to attend social functions. The key is to keep potential employees informed as to what is happening within the company.
3. When a new role become available, ask the potential employee to apply via a direct phone call — make them feel valued and significant.

Present & close

1. Involve additional club staff in the interviewing process of a potential new employee.
2. Share a video with the potential employee with the brand’s story as told by the CEO and/or a senior executive.
3. Don’t be lazy! Call refences and use behavioral testing tools to be thorough during the interview process.

For many, staff turnover is a headache. It slows down the pursuit of revenue growth. The above process was created to help identify “A” list staff members, who will stay longer and develop a plan to further improve growth revenue.

Emmett Williams is the president of MYZONE. For more information call 312-870-4800 or email Emmett.williams@myzone.org.