After a recent speaking engagement, an audience member approached me to discuss the challenges he had in filling some open store positions. During our conversation I asked him to name five reasons great people want to work for him. (You can see the irony in the question, since it seems that people don’t necessarily want to work for him.)
I stipulated great people because most companies can find people to hire. There are rarely times when absolutely nobody applies for an open position. However, if you’re going to be a great company you need to hire great people. You know the kind. The ones you get so excited about after the first interview that you want to offer them a position on the spot. The people that make you want to call your friends to tell them about the most amazing applicant you just interviewed.
The audience member’s top five reasons great people want to work for him was very interesting, and not necessarily in a good way. There wasn’t anything unique on his list. Although his wages are competitive, they aren’t above market. He sells nice products, but nothing that can’t be purchased elsewhere. Like most owners and executives, he said his company is a great place to work and his people are treated well. That may well be the case, but doesn’t everyone say that?
At the end of our conversation I came up with three ideas he could work on. They might apply to you, too.
1. Identify one or more distinct benefits of working for your company. This one is important, because the top five lists of most companies are pretty similar. I’ve always liked offering paid days off for community service; something Timberland has been doing for twenty years. You can also do something as easy as giving people a paid day off on his/her birthday. That’s fairly unique, and it says boatloads about how a company’s top management views their employees.
2. Be specific. Again, almost every company will tell you they’re a great place to work. Why are you a great company to work for? What do you do that makes people feel they’re treated well? Do you strive to honor requests for days off so employees don’t miss important family events? Besides a great discount program, do most of your employees win excellent products and company “bucks” in contests throughout the year? The more specific you are, the better.
3. Do a better job of communicating the top reasons for working for your company. People are the most important differentiator for the specialty retailer, but we don’t always do a great job of marketing our stores to potential employees. Most companies have room for improvement in this area.
Do you have a “Careers” or “Work for us” page on your website? Does it communicate what a rewarding place your company is to work? Does it feature some current employees and possibly some quotes from them? Do you link to that page from Facebook? Do you have a quality brochure that customers and staff can share with others, or applicants can take with them?
Remember, those great people you want working for you probably already have a job. The better you are at identifying and communicating your five reasons why they should work for you, the better your chances of attracting and hiring them.
So let me ask, what are the top five reasons great people want to work for you? Hit reply and share your five. I’d really like to know.
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Doug Fleener is a proven retail and customer experience expert that helps companies dramatically improve their customer experience and their results. Visit our website or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you create an extraordinary experience and results.
Doug,
Greetings from Billings, Mt. Here are five reasons people want to work for us:
1) Yes, you do get your birthday, or another day that month off as a paid bonus day. Our owner is considering changing that policy. I hope that as a result of the Contrarian, that he will rethink this benefit.
2) Because we belong to a co-op, the owner runs the business, and along with our management team, makes the decisions. We don’t have to call back to Chicago to get approval to try new things.
3) We get to live in Montana!! When I’m having an average day, and somebody says “How’s it going”, I always try to answer “It’s another day in paradise” to remind myself what a great area we live and work in!
4) There are promotion opportunities for bright and ambitious people. One of our high school sweep boys went on to become a store manager before moving on to a computer company in an IT role, and one of our PT cashiers is now an assistant manager at a store, and on the career ladder.
5) Instead of a summer picnic, where people have to bring a dish, and somebody has to cook, we host everybody in the organization, and their families for a night of minor league baseball with the Billings Mustangs. They have a special area for groups, all the food and non-alcoholic refreshments are provided by the team, and if you don’t like baseball, you can sit in the shade on a beautiful summer Montana evening and just visit and enjoy the company! Also a great way for associates who work at different branches to meet and get to know each other.
We have a lot more reasons to work for us, including the chance to do community service, membership paid to service clubs, Fourth of July parade float (Second place in the best float contest, for filling up 10 thirty two gallon trash cans with water, and squirting the crowd with water on a 99 degree afternoon), and the fact that one of my cashiers also holds the position of “Vice President in charge of fun and parties”
The bottom line is, if it isn’t fun, what’s the point!
Jim Lee
Kings Ace Hardware
Posted by: Jim Lee | August 09, 2012 at 06:14 AM