In today’s strong economy, it’s very hard for small business owners and employers to hire the right candidate (especially those who already know how to use plumbing software) for their posted job opportunity. In a recent survey conducted by MRI Network noted a highly candidate-driven labor market,“Candidates are in higher demand. There are more open positions than qualified, interested and motivated candidates to fill them.” Candidates have more job opportunities at their disposal to choose from due to new positions being created and an overall healthy marketplace.
All of this is especially highlighted within the plumbing industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a growth of 16% from 2016 to 2026. There are going to be more businesses sprouting and those businesses are going to be looking for the candidates you have on your radar.
So how are you going to make sure your plumbing business capitalizes on the qualified prospects in the labor pool before your competition does? Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of our 12 plumbing recruitment hacks to help you solve such a problem.
Recruitment hack # 1: Use the description to show the impact that will be made
Job descriptions are all too often a generic account of what type of candidate is being recruited, “A hard working, self-starter that can take on challenges as they arise.”
Yawn. Whether you’ve been a job-searcher or recruiter, we’ve all seen a description like this. Instead, what is the scope of work they will see? What type of revenue is your company currently experiencing? What types of growth within the company have other candidates experienced in the past?
Recruitment hack # 2: Interview like a professional
When was the last time you interviewed someone and “forgot” to send them their follow up rejection email? We’re all guilty of it. We don’t often think about the negative effects poor interviewing and follow up can have on our business. Many times, a rejected candidate will return back to their network and spew negative feedback on your business that can hurt your bottom line.
Recruitment hack # 3: Get to interview the “real” candidate
Interviews can often be high stress experiences, especially for the interviewee. Letting the candidate know every step of the interview process: how long each interview will be, how many interviews in the process, and showing them around the head quarters are some ways of reducing tension so you can see who they truly are.
Recruitment hack # 4: Have your current employees promote the business
If you have a base of employees that do great work and you trust, use them as referral machines. Often times your current employees will have a network of potential employees that can help fill your hiring needs.
Recruitment hack # 5: reach out to applicants of the past
Sometimes, a great match that never was can be chalked up to poor timing. This is true in your hiring efforts as well. Reaching back out to potential recruits that didn’t make the cut in the past can be a great way of hiring the right candidate of present. Maybe their skill base has improved since and now they’re ready to fill your void.
Recruitment hack # 6: reach out to employees of the past
At first glance this might seem like an unusual hack. However, if you had an employee who left on good terms for a better opportunity, maybe things have changed. Maybe they aren’t getting the same satisfaction from this new business or maybe you’ve grown enough to offer them a better payment package.
Recruitment hack # 7: Use an array of job boards
Different candidates use different job boards to find what they’re looking for. Using just one or two job boards might keep that perfect candidate in the dark. Try Craigslist, Linkedin, Ziprecruiter, Monster, and Indeed as online sources. Furthermore, use community trade shows and functions to promote your job listings as well.
Recruitment hack # 8: Grab the attention of passive candidates
A passive candidate is someone who isn’t actively looking for a new job. They may be looking to switch industries if the opportunity is right or they might not know that there are great opportunities out there. Using social media, referral marketing, content generation on your site and other means will help you attract the passive candidates in your area.
Recruitment hack # 9: Innovate your recruiting process
It’s important, with the excess of candidates in the labor pool, to not waste anytime. Often times you will get an over abundance of recruits for one position. Instead of the traditional CV process, is there a practical plumbing test you can have the recruit perform to judge their skill set?
Recruitment hack # 10: Increase brand image
One of the hardest facets of marketing is brand perception. Whether it be due to a difficult job or a negative review online, there are many elements that can further a poor brand image. By promoting positive review generation and positive referral marketing, you can help bolster the image of your business in the eyes of potential candidates.
Recruitment hack # 11: Not addressing candidate pain points in the listing
Sometimes, the candidate doesn’t know what you have listed is their optimal fit. Why? Because you don’t have listed their pain points they’re currently experiencing that you can help remedy. Maybe they’re making the industry average and you can do better. Maybe they don’t have the freedom they want and you can make that happen.
Recruitment hack # 12: Only hire if you absolutely need to!
This hack makes most of the small business owners the happiest when it’s fully understood. Often times, as your business grows, your immediate thought is to bring on more bodies to help scale the demand. Sometimes, as you grow, technology can be a less expensive friend in the hiring process. If it’s an administrative role that you’re looking for, is there CRM technology
that can help fill the void? If it’s an accounting and clerical need, is there payment & invoicing technology that can help remedy that bottleneck?
Often times, small plumbing businesses fall victim to their successes. What do we mean by that? One of the biggest mistakes an expanding business makes is that they don’t perform a well orchestrated break-even point analysis after their businesses expands. They end up bringing on too much new staff and their business cannot handle the new expenditures. Other key mistakes a business makes during times of expansion are:
- Hiring someone just because they’re family
- Using a generic job description
- Skipping over the technical test
- Focusing only on technical skills
- Overlooking the value of culture fit
But you’re not going to make those mistakes. You have the best strategy laid out here in front of you. So using this list of hiring hacks, go forth and expand your business so you can keep your customers and community running their lives as smooth as possible.
