Personal Recruiting

April 13, 2006

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Personal recruiting is another way to target people who may want to work for you. Personal recruiting is just that — personally looking for, meeting with, or contacting people whom you would like to hire.

Referrals from people you know. Everybody knows someone who needs a job. Referrals can come from colleagues, present employees, and friends. You can also call people you know and ask them if they are aware of anyone meeting your qualifications. Hiring referrals from friends or acquaintances has several benefits. Referrals can bring in quality recruits and can create a pleasant work environment where employees support one another and work harder.

Hiring too many people that were referred by other employees has its downside, too. If you get too many employees who are personal friends in the office, it can result in a group that resists supervision, covers up for its members, socializes too much, snubs those not in the group, and causes problems in the working relationship if personal differences or conflicts arise.

If personal recruiting is something you want to try, a common way that small businesses can get involved in personal recruiting efforts is at local job fairs. Watch the Sunday classified ads for announcements about upcoming events.

Recruiting at schools. Whether it makes sense for a small business to engage in high school, trade school, or college recruiting depends upon several factors:

how many employees you need to hire
which type of employees you need to hire

One advantage to school recruiting is that you can often get an "ad" placed on a school bulletin board for free. Also, colleges and high schools are great places to find workers for the summer. If you need temporary summer help, ask the school's office/guidance office for permission to post an announcement at the end of the school year on the school's bulletin board. Summer workers are great temporary help. They are short-term, generally accept lower pay than other part-time help, and don't require benefits.

Warning

If you hire someone under the age of 18, make sure you're in compliance with child labor laws.

Bulletin boards. Most schools have a bulletin board area near the career placement or guidance office that lists part-time, temporary, and full-time job listings for students. Once you get permission from the school, you may be able to post jobs on that bulletin board.

The best time to post jobs on such bulletin boards is in the spring, toward the end of the traditional school year. That's when most students become available due to summer vacation or graduation.

Job postings must be written in the same way as a job ad. You cannot use discriminatory language nor can you have job qualifications that would tend to discriminate against one protected group of individuals. The only exception is the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) exemption.

Career services. Most large colleges and universities have a placement office or career counseling function that interacts with employers to place graduates. You might consider contacting that office at a local university and checking into when you might be able to recruit students. Often the office will put up a posting of your job and even set up an interview schedule for you.

Financial aid. Another resource you might check with at the local university is the financial aid office. Many students need at least part-time work to pay for college expenses. The financial aid office may be able to help put you in touch with students in search of work.