How To Win The Battle For Hiring Folks For Your Company

The most common thread in my conversations with glass shop owners: “How can I hire people when no one responds to my ads or signs? And when people do respond, they seem to want more than I can afford. What can I do to be more competitive in my hiring program?”

We in the glass industry are not alone. Just about everywhere I go I see help wanted signs. Yet, there are approximately 9.8 million unemployed folks in the U.S. How do you get some of these folks to come to your company and not to others around you?

Find out what the other similar companies are offering to their applicants. When you are interviewing potential candidates ask them questions about what they are looking for, such as: What is the pay rate you are looking for?  Get details about the benefits they are looking for.  Do they need medical or dental coverage?  What co-pay on the medical plan would they be comfortable with? Do they need a family or single medical plan? Does it need to cover the family or just the employee? What is the vacation schedule they are looking for? How much overtime do they want?  How many sick days do they expect? Do they understand what a profit sharing and/or a 401 type plan is?

Make a spreadsheet of all of your answers, placing your company’s offer at the top. In a week or so, you will have a solid picture of the hiring practices in your area. Where does your company fit in? My long-term feel is that the company with the better benefits will do fine in hiring. A company has to be competitive in wages but not at the top of the ladder. Long-term employees are interested in benefits as their key to joining a company.

It will cost you to give the benefits you need to attract good talent. But this cost is better to pay for the hiring of good people than to spend less on employees who will leave you when the next best offer comes around the corner.

I have a client in the Southern United States who gives a quarterly cash benefit based on the profitability of the company. The owner tells me that his profit-sharing plan keeps employees happy working there as they know their hard work does earn a payback from the company. My client still pays a top-end wage and gives excellent benefits. But in his case, it is that profit-sharing program that sets him apart.

The top companies in an area tend to be similar in salaries and direct benefits.  What will separate you from your competitors is your company moral and lifestyle.  Have a potential employee speak with one or two people in your company to learn more about your company.  The description of the type of company you are is equally as important as the wages you offer.

Be sure to answer every employee question now.  Don’t give the excuse that you will cover the topic of medical insurance when the employee becomes eligible.  I’m guessing you answer your employee questions? It hurts you in so many ways when you don’t take two minutes to answer a potential employee question.

Go to it. You will learn quite a bit about yourself and your company and you may just do better in your hiring.