Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2015 | Page 59

The laws of attraction For Maureen and Peter Moore, finding quality employees for their caregiver agency is a personal mission. When Maureen couldn’t find suitable care for her father when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, she took on the job herself. After her father’s death in 2009, she set out to help others facing the same frustrating dilemma. Her husband, who had retired from a 42-year career in international banking, joined the quest to find a provider of high-quality in-home care. The pair discovered BrightStar Care and a new career and life for themselves. (Coincidentally, BrightStar was founded by a couple confronting a similar problem: finding quality care for an aging grandparent.) To the Moores, nothing is more important than finding the right people for the job. “We are dealing with human beings, not with cars or hamburgers,” says Maureen, whose background is in banking and consumer relations. “When we put a person out in the field with one of our clients, the care has to be the best I believe the industry has to offer, because of the human factor.” The Moores are always looking to hire and largely turn to their existing staff for recommendations. They estimate 85 percent of their caregiver hires come from word-of-mouth employee referrals. “They want their co-workers to be as good as can be, as good as they are,” says Maureen. “The better the job we do, the better the word-of-mouth and the more cases they will be invited to participate in.” Finding the right fit While technology can make finding potential employees easier than ever, what a franchisee does next can make or break their recruiting efforts. “You have to take the time to research and understand what is out there and make decisions about what is applicable to you,” says Robinson. “Your recruiting systems are as important as your marketing systems. Until you get to the point of realizing that, you are always going to be behind the curve.” Franchisees looking to bolster their recruitment efforts should start by evaluating every part of the hiring process, including all job application and career sites they may use. Job descriptions should be clear and candidate questions and predictive testing job-specific. Pre-hire assessments and scripted interview guides can also help a company predict whether or not a poten- Adam Robinson tial hire will be successful, says Robinson. This begins with defining the ideal employee for the specific job and the culture of your business. “You have to go into the hiring process with a clear picture of what you’re looking for,” says Tropical Smoothie Café area developer and franchisee Michelle Shriver, who, with husband Kriss, operates six locations in Colorado and Nevada. Shriver, with 18 years of hospitality experience in the casino/hotel industry, always includes her best employees in the interview process as a way to create Hiring Process Checklist Technology is making it easier to find employees, but your process may actually slow down recruitment efforts. Consider the following checklist of questions from Hireology co-founder Adam Robinson to determine if your hiring process is up to snuff: 1) Does the career site reflect my brand, and will it attract the people I need to attract? 2) Do I respond to applicants within 24 hours of resume submittal? 3) Is an interview scheduled with a candidate within a week of the applicant’s resume submittal? 4) Have I established criteria to evaluate the recruit’s suitability for the job, or am I just winging it? a strong team culture and buy-in on the potential hire. “I think the most important aspect of building a great team is accountability,” she says. “You need to care enough about the entire team to ensure only the best employees make the cut—both in joining the team and staying part of it. You can’t retain employees who bring others down or don’t carry their weight on the team. If you do, you’ll lose your best employees and end up not having a team at all.” Hireology’s Robinson likewise urges franchisees to rethink how they view hiring based on what they need for their business. For instance, the best employees may not always be the most talented—nor should they be, necessarily. “You might want that superstar manager, but the superstar associate looking for a career path that never gets it is going to quit,” he says. “Maybe the job doesn’t need exceptionally high-quality talent. Maybe you just need folks who are steady, show up on time, and do good work. They aren’t superstars, but they will stay.” How to keep them Building the right team for growth also means keeping your top talent. Massage Envy franchisee Rick Davis says doing a better job up front of selecting the right person for the right