National Lumber's Blog

“Rebuild Your Team” by Steve Linsky

At some point in the near future (we hope!) you may need to add new employees to your team. It’s been so long since most companies have had to recruit employees that sometimes the skill set to get back into that groove may have eroded by the layoff of your HR folks, or actual recruiter, in the past.

Okay, what’s next? Here are a few ideas from an old recruiter (me) below. Note that I am including Social Networking to find folks as well as the old tools.

1. Look at past high quality employees that may have left you and go back after them. They’re your best bet, since there would be little training needed.
2. Network through your own employees for recommendations for folks they know in your field (maybe give a cash incentive, as well.)
3. Use your LinkedIn account to see who your present connections are linked to within your industry to find targets.
4. Place a note on your Twitter account that you are looking for help, in 140 characters or less, then re-tweet it a couple of other times over the next several days to hopefully show up at the right time on a prospective hire’s timeline!
5. If you have a Facebook business page, and you should if you don’t now, place a note on your status of your openings. Hopefully, it’ll get liked and shared by others to spread the word. You can also place a Facebook ad on your home and profile page to show when anyone opens it.
6. Use Craigslist. Great tool! You can customize by location and by using a couple of different job category placements. You do need to keep updating the advertisement to keep it current, but it’s worth the effort.

Lastly for today, place definitive ads that clearly state the qualifications you require to eliminate the unqualified “tire kickers” who will apply to anything. Remember the TV ad series that showed a guy applying for everything, including Brain Surgeon and Nuclear Scientist?

Good luck! We hope the day comes soon when your biggest problem will be hiring more people!

Steve Linsky
Marketing and Sales Specialist
Green Initiatives Coordinator
Past HR Director at National Lumber
National Recruiting Manager at Wickes Lumber
www.national-lumber.com