Where to Find Awesome Hourly Employees in 2017

Hiring the right talent is not just also about knowing what kind of people your business needs, it’s about knowing where to find them. Recruiters shouldn’t be using the same methods and avenues they use for finding managers when searching for hourly workers. The employee profile is completely different.

First of all, what do we know about hourly workers? Here’s what TLNT research tells us.

We know that many of them are under the age of 30 and students. A large percentage, up to 80 percent, prefer to work within a five mile radius of where they live. Close to 60 percent, consider their jobs to be full-time careers, not part-time engagements for making some extra money on the side. However, almost 75 percent prefer to work no more than 30 hours a week.

When you are hiring for a management position, it’s much more of a process, and rightfully so. There are always several rounds of interviews and tests involved. However, hourly workers don’t want to have to go through all that. According to the TLNT report, the most important thing they look for is finding a business that wants to hire them quickly. They don’t want it to be a long, drawn-out process.

Another misconception about hourly workers is that they are not very educated. A more recent TLNT study showed different results. According to this study, more than 30 percent of American hourly workers have one to three years of college under their belts and one in four have either some college credits or a full degree.

So the first task, is defining the type of people you are aiming to hire. Once you have a good idea of that and you have a feel for what they are looking for out of an employment opportunity, it’s time to figure out where to look for them and where not to.

Where Not to Look

If you want to catch trout, don’t go fishing in saltwater. If you want to hire hourly employees, you’re not going to go about it the same way you would go about finding white collar employees.

LinkedIn is the perfect place to hire managers and get the all your salaried positions filled, but it’s terrible for hourly employees. Most hourly employees don’t even have a LinkedIn profile.

The same goes for places like Monster and other paid job boards. These options cost money, but aren’t really teaming with hourly employees. One other thing you have to consider is that even if your business runs on hourly employees, the recruitment budget for managers and salaried positions is probably bigger than the one you get to find the right hourly staff. That’s why you need to be smart and cost-effective when searching for them.

Go Grassroots

Sometimes low-tech and retro is the best way to go when trying to find hourly employees. Just because everything is migrating to the online world these days doesn’t mean that vintage methods are becoming any less effective. Why spend money on technology when you’re looking to hire people who are making under $20 an hour – especially if these technologies aren’t really getting your message out to the right people?

It’s a digital world, but that certainly doesn’t mean that retro recruiting techniques can’t work for you; especially if you’re implementing these strategies properly.

Referrals

Finding people through current employees and friends that you already trust is still the best way to go when looking for new hourly workers. You can even offer small bonuses to your staff members if they are willing to refer someone they know and trust.

By seeking out referrals, you are basically skipping a round of recruitment. If an hourly employee is recommended by someone you trust, you are not only forgoing one step of the search process, you’re also making the interview process a bit easier, since you already have some indications that you could be getting a trustworthy and skilled worker.

If you are asking trusted friends, business connections and workers to refer new employees, you are already on the right track. The fact is that successful and trusted people are not going to vouch for people who they don’t believe could do the job well, not even when referral bonuses are in play.

Referrals are a win-win any way you look at them. The chances of these employees working out for you are much higher, and even if they don’t work out, you’ve still saved a lot of money and time in the process.

Job Fairs

Here’s yet another great route to take if you want to shorten the process and make it more direct. If you’re attending job fairs, you are meeting potential candidates in person first. That means that you’re skipping the phase in which you find a way to get your job ads out, ask for resumes and then read a bunch of resumes before reaching out.

Job fairs are plentiful and they also tend to be very specific, so there’s no doubt there should be a least a couple being held in your area each year that are going to be tailored to your industry.

There is a bit of preparation involved in presenting your business at a job fair, but it’s definitely worth it. Not only do job fairs enable you to get out there, reach your target demographic and talk to potential candidates in the flesh, but you’re also able to work on your business’ branding, getting the word out about your company and also networking and seeking out new business connections within your industry.

Local Colleges

Remember the statistic we mentioned earlier about hourly employees wanting to work close to where they live? That’s why college campuses are great for recruiting. At local college campuses, you have a huge choice of high school graduates who want hourly jobs. Not only that, but you also have a huge demographic of people who aren’t sure what kind of career they want yet and simply want to get a job that is close and enables them to make money.

Get in contact with the career centers at your local colleges and talk to the people who work there. They have access to a huge pool of perfect hourly job candidates; not just students, but also graduates and even alumni who have been out in the real job world for a while now.

Local colleges hold job fairs and similar types of events all of the time. Make sure that you are keeping a close eye on the community and try to get in and mingle with the student body whenever you can. Most colleges also have job boards where people can come to post flyers when looking for employees. There are tons of opportunities on campus for you. Make sure that you’re staying on top of this option and putting in the legwork to get your business noticed by the student body.

Job Hotline

Hourly employees are looking for convenience in the job application process above all else. People who are looking for hourly employment are usually very busy and don’t necessarily have the time to go through complex processes when it comes to getting their applications in to you.

Also, many have classes and other tasks to take care of during the day, which might make it hard for them to apply for a job or come to your establishment seeking information about a job during your regular business hours.

A good way to make it incredibly easy for people to apply is to install a 24/7 job hotline. It doesn’t have to be complicated. All you really need is a good answering machine message that lets people know what positions you are looking to fill and allows them to easily leave their contact information so that you can get in touch with them later.

Savvy Online Recruiting

Recruiting online is still a great way to find hourly candidates, you just need to make sure you know where to do it. As mentioned earlier, LinkedIn might not be the best place to look for hourly workers, but that doesn’t mean that other social networks and online job boards aren’t fantastic starting points.

Your website and social media channels are also great places to spark interest from potential candidates. Above all, you need to make sure that you are making it easy for people to find you and even easier for them to apply.

But first, you need to make sure that you are looking and advertising in the right places.

Craigslist

Most job boards are fairly expensive and ineffective for hourly hiring. Why spend money and time on creating and posting job ads on expensive sites that your key demographic isn’t even looking at?

Craiglist, on the other hand, is both free and full of great potential candidates for hourly jobs. It’s a high traffic website, especially for younger demographics. While you might be getting a lot of bad candidates, it’s still a better plan to use a free service that’s going to give you tons of prospects to wade through than using a paid service that’s going to give you minimal results.

Using Craigslist is easy, it gets your job ad out to hundreds of locals and it doesn’t require you to go through some type of recruitment service. It’s a perfect place to reach tons of people looking for hourly employment. Just be ready to put in a more serious amount of time to separate the good candidates from the bad.

Facebook

LinkedIn might not work for hourly employees, but that doesn’t mean that all social media is inherently bad. You simply have to be logical about it. Go to where your key demographic hangs out the most: Facebook.

If you’re going to pay to get your job ads seen online, pay for Facebook ads. This way, you’re getting the most bang for your buck because you’re able to target the right demographic on a social media website that most of them use religiously.

Facebook is also the perfect place to show off your culture and offer potential candidates a real look into your business and what makes it an appealing place to work. Use it to actively document life in your small business. Flaunt your strongest attributes. Show off your great location, let them see your employees, let them understand your work culture and values.

According to a recent study, people tend to trust bands more when they are active on social media. Facebook gives small business owners the perfect opportunity to create a strong web and community presence and strengthen their brand.

Facebook is also very customizable. You can create a page within your business’ Facebook page that is completely dedicated to career opportunities within your organization.

And not only is it a perfect place to post your job openings, it’s also a perfect place to field questions from potential candidates and encourage interaction. Showing that you are open to answer questions and discuss issues and questions with potential candidates can have a huge impact on the image and general appeal of your organization.