Mr. Ferrara

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

Seven Tips to Finding the Right Recruiting Mix in a Tough Economy

By Jason Ferrara, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, CareerBuilder

In this challenging economy, any kind of decision-making can be difficult, as the pressures to maintain your staff and profitability can be strained in ways you may not have expected. While keeping your budget low and your revenue high could have seemed easier to achieve in past years, the current recession may have you scratching your head on how to keep it all balanced.

As a leader, some of your decisions regarding budgets have to do with your marketing strategies. Chances are you're trying to do more with less and figuring out how to spend the money you do have in the most efficient and effective ways possible. To do that, you have to create the right marketing mix.

At the same time you are sitting down to figure out the crucial elements of your marketing mix, you should be having another essential conversation: enhancing your recruiting mix. How can you best display your employment brand? What are the best ways to capture the right job seekers for your hotel? The concept of marketing mix and the concept of recruiting mix are fundamentally similar.

Identifying top talent and making an effort to keep them is more important now than ever. You can't afford to have the "C" players when you need the "A" players to provide the best service as possible to your guests and ultimately drive your business. The silver lining of the hiring slowdown is that, although decision-making may be increasingly difficult, you can step back and figure out the strategies to find the best talent possible. The first step is finding the right recruiting mix.

How do you find the right recruiting mix in a tough economy?

When you need to find the right recruiting mix for your property, and your resources are strained due to the economy, it may seem like a daunting task. Despite the difficult times, the current recruitment environment allows for you to select the best quality talent out there, upgrade your workforce due to more top job candidates looking for work and take the time to figure out what recruitment methods are most efficient. Having the great people is monumentally important to your business - your people make your property what it is.

The following recruitment solutions can be beneficial on their own or paired with any number of the options. The key is figuring out what is best for your hotel and your talent needs.

1. Employee Referral Programs
   
   Employee referral programs are incredibly important to your recruiting mix and should be one of your first points of discussion. Recent industry research has shown that anywhere from 20 percent to 30 percent of hires come from referrals. Therefore, tapping into your employee base to find your next great worker is a great way to find top talent.
   
   When you have engaged employees who can act as brand ambassadors for your property, you should put recruiting into their hands as their friends and acquaintances are most likely to be as engaged as they are. Also, remember that if monetary compensation is the carrot, make sure the stick is sufficiently long for payout. For example, don't offer the payment reward until the referred employee has been with your hotel for at least three months.

2. Employment Branding
   
   I'm not referring to investing more dollars into your consumer brand, which focuses on the messages presented to the people you want to have filling your rooms. Rather, I'm discussing making an investment in your employment brand. Questions to ask you: Do we have an employee brand? Do my employees and will job seekers know what it is?
   
   Employment branding keeps your most valuable people engaged and attract the top tier of available talent, provides many benefits. Unfortunately, some leaders struggle with establishing a strong employment brand because they do not go after it with the same vigor that they do when they are marketing their property to potential customers.
   
   A strong employment brand can also help shape expectations around the company's vision, mission and employee experience and give you an edge in not only preserving existing talent, but attracting those candidates that will thrive in your environment.
   
   A plain job description posted in five different places online is not likely to deliver the highest number of applicants. But, postings that express your company's personality and brand will do much better.

3. Career or Job Events
   
   Career and job events should also be part of your recruiting mix this year. For example, a job fair or career fair in your major market cities may be a great way to create a larger brand presence - especially as we see more and more job seekers turning out for career fairs across the country. The large audiences that are currently attending job seekers means you can reach out directly to candidates that fit your talent needs.

4. Online Recruitment Sites
   
   As recruitment budgets tighten, more employers are leveraging the Internet as a vehicle for finding potential employees. In fact, One-in five plan to increase their recruitment spend on online recruitment sites this year according to recent research. Why are so many employers using online recruitment sites?
   
   Online recruitment sites allow companies to quickly find candidates at a lower cost than many other recruitment methods; and what business doesn't want to operate more cost-effectively right now? Also, their resume databases provide companies with a large, qualified and diverse talent pool right at their finger tips. That database access also gives employers the ability to quickly find candidates when they need them another cost-saver as it reduces the time-to-hire cycle.
   
   Online recruitment sites are also seeing record numbers of job seeker traffic. comScore, a digital measurement company, has reported that job search currently ranks as the fastest growing U.S. online category. That means a whole lot of qualified candidates are searching online - and you want to be there with your jobs and employment brand to capture their attention.

5. Social and Professional Networking
   
   Social and professional networking has blossomed as part of the recruiting mix. Using FaceBook, BrightFuse.com and others to gather information on those people you are thinking about hiring for your hotel is absolutely a good idea for your recruitment mix. These sites are a window into the personality of your prospective employees. And, it is all public based upon the individual's security setting of choice. You may feel like you are snooping, but you aren't. The fact is, the information is out there and you should use every bit you can find.
   
   CareerBuilder's BrightFuse.com is a fairly new professional networking site for the masses. BrightFuse.com has turned into a great place to network with professionals and where job seekers are going to discuss opportunities.
   
   Social and professional networking is not a fad. Whether it is BrightFuse.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, or any of the other networks that seem to pop up every day, you should be embracing social and professional networking in your recruiting mix. With more than 175 million users currently using Facebook, and more and more joining each day, why not be where your potential hires are? Getting online and using social networking not only allows you to connect with candidates, but you can also use it to project your employment brand by creating a company page. The opportunities to capture talent are endless.
   

6. Freelance or Contract Hiring
   
   As the nation waits for the economy to bounce back, employers are turning to freelance or contract workers to help support their businesses. Nearly one-in-three of employers anticipate hiring freelancers or contractors in 2009 according to recent CareerBuilder research.
   
   Ask yourself: Can your hotel use some freelance or contract hires to help round your staff needs? Freelance and contract workers can be an excellent answer to bringing skilled labor aboard for a more affordable cost. At the same time, freelance and contract workers may turn out to be star employees, wherein you can secure that talent and bring them aboard full-time when the economy turns around.
   

7. Make the Most of What You Have
   
   For some executives, your recruiting mix in 2009 is going to be a mix of whatever you can manage. While securing the best talent possible and attracting top tier candidates is always essential to a successful hotel, sometimes you may have to make difficult decisions. Sometimes, those decisions may involve reducing your recruitment spends. Do whatever you can to maintain a successful recruitment plan in this challenging economic downturn. And when things turnaround, you'll be armed with the talent your property will need to prosper.
   
   Therefore, when you think through your planning for the remainder of 2009, take the necessary time to discuss your recruiting mix. Did last year's plan work for you? If so, keep some of the most effective pieces and try some new things. Were you unhappy with last year's recruiting efforts and communication? If so, rip up last year's plan and start fresh.

Inevitably, the economy's impact on your business will play a part in your recruiting plans through the rest of 2009. Stay focused on your people and your talent goals. Regardless of your situation, you'll need a mix of activity to truly maximize your efforts and satisfy your company's recruitment needs.

Jason Ferrara leads the development of strategic marketing for the Corporate Marketing team at CareerBuilder.com, the nation's largest online job site with over 22 million unique visitors each month and over 1.5 million jobs. Focused on the recruitment needs of employers, Ferrara is responsible for business-to-business strategy including communications, advertising, promotions, e-commerce management, customer lifecycle and loyalty, and sales support. Prior to joining the company, Ferrara worked as Director, Online Marketing for SPSS, Inc. He holds a MBA from Kellogg School of Management. Mr. Ferrara can be contacted at 773-353-2601 or jason.ferrara@careerbuilder.com Extended Bio...

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