Once you have identified the skills
needed for the positions you want to fill, there are many sources
that can help you recruit job applicants.
Public Services
Each State has an employment service (often called Job Service,
Public Employment, Unemployment Bureau, or Employment Security Agency).
All are affiliated with the
United States Employment Service, and local offices are ready
to help businesses recruit employees. The employment service will
screen applicants with aptitude tests if they are available for
the skills you specify.
Fee-Based Searches
Employment agencies specialize in finding industry or skill-specific
employees. The primary advantages are the professional screening
services provided by such agencies, including background checks
and aptitude tests. Employers typically pay a considerable fee to
the agency for its services.
Online job sites such as Monster.com
are still the fastest growing method for employer-employee matchmaking.
These specialized sites, along with the online classified sections
from major newspapers, often provide the largest pool of prospective
employees. However, most online sites do not offer the professional
screening services offered by employment agencies. Additionally,
businesses advertising on such sites are often inundated with applicants.
Interns
Colleges and universities usually have a distributive education
program in which students work for you part-time or volunteer as
interns while they learn about your business. Interns typically
expect to learn skills or useful information relevant to their chosen
field of study. Prior to contacting a school regarding interns,
make sure that you have a clear idea of how an intern will benefit
from working with you. If you're looking for someone to do clerical
work with little or no opportunity for learning on the job, it's
generally best to hire low cost help instead.
"Help Wanted"
If you have a traditional storefront and are seeking generalists,
one of the oldest and most reliable recruitment tools is a simple
sign in your window. The most obvious advantage to this recruitment
method is that it is free. There are serious disadvantages, however,
including attracting unqualified applicants with a vast variety
of skill sets, and the difficulty of talking to prospective applicants
while conducting business.
Alternative Staffing Solutions
How do you cope with unexpected personnel shortages? Many businesses
face this question because of seasonal peaking, inventory, special
projects, several employees simultaneously on sick leave, or an
unexpected increase in business.
Entrepreneurs must also cope with the rising costs of employee
benefits, as well as all the payroll record keeping required by
local, state, and federal government. This section discusses alternatives
available to meet these staffing challenges. Options include temporary
help services, employee leasing, and service contracting.
Temporary Help Services
Most businesses need extra help sometimes, and temporary shortages
are especially difficult for smaller businesses. A temporary personnel
service hires employees and assigns them to companies requesting
help. The service is responsible for payroll, bookkeeping, tax deductions,
workers' compensation, fringe benefits, and all other employee costs.
Most national temporary personnel companies also offer performance
guarantees and fidelity bonding at no added cost.
Workers supplied by a temporary service firm are quickly available.
Usually they can start the day after a request is made, and sometimes
the same day. Although the rate paid to a temporary service firm
is higher than that paid to a permanent employee, the costs of recruiting,
record-keeping, training, overtime, and idle periods are much less.
Evaluate temporary personnel services using these factors:
- Reliability: Is the service well established,
with a history of success and financial stability?
- Recruiting: The firm with an aggressive recruiting
program is more likely to have the most skilled and reliable employees.
- Testing and evaluation: How does it test and
evaluate personnel?
Training programs: Does the company train personnel in modern
office methods, word processing, records management, and other
important skills?
- Quality control: Does the company check the
quality of work of its temporary employees?
A temporary service will ask for information about the department
the employee will be working in, duration of the assignment, working
hours, dress code, smoking rules, and other important information.
If possible, send samples of the work. Be sure to give the exact
location of your business, transportation available, parking information,
and the name and title of the person to whom the temporary employee
will report.
Temporary help services are not appropriate for all needs. Businesses
needing a temporary worker for six months or longer should hire
a full-time employee. For jobs that require extensive supervision,
it may be cheaper to pay overtime to a regular employee than to
use a temporary worker.
Employee Leasing
Employee leasing is similar to employing temporary personnel, but
involves permanent employees. An employer transfers employees to
the payroll of a leasing firm that, in turn, leases them back to
the employer. The leasing firm becomes the legal employer and is
responsible for payroll and leave; record-keeping; benefits and
services; and participation in hiring, evaluation, and firing.
Advantages:
- Savings of time and money
- Improved employee benefits
- Help with personnel policies and employee handbooks
- Records uniform and easily audited
Disadvantages:
- Leasing company exercises certain controls over employment policies
- Employer retains responsibility for productivity and conduct
- Termination may be more difficult
- Labor union contracts or state law might keep certain employers
from leasing certain employees
- Most leasing firms require the value of one full payroll in
an escrow or trust account in addition to regular payroll costs
Service Contracting
Because of the infrequency of the need or the specialized nature
of the work, many business needs are better met by contracting for
the service rather than hiring permanent employees.
Services often contracted include:
- Security
- Janitorial
- Waste management
- Equipment/mechanical maintenance
- Merchandise delivery
- Payroll accounting
- Printing
- Data processing
- Messenger
- Grounds upkeep
- Interior decorating
- Building upkeep (remodeling, roofing, painting)
- Specialized services (installation, servicing and cleaning of
appliances, carpeting, and furniture)
In these situations you enter a contract with a business to perform
specific services, during a specific period or at a specific time,
for a specific price. The terms of the contract cite responsibility
for providing any materials or equipment necessary to perform the
service and other requirements for successful completion. It is
the contracting firm's responsibility to provide staff, pay them,
and supervise them.
When contracting for services, it is wise to require:
- References from other companies that have used the contractor
and will comment on the quality of contract performance.
- Certificates of insurance demonstrating that the contractor
has adequate liability and other coverage for its employees.
- Copies of required licenses for performance of certain services.
- Appropriate warranty or guarantee on the quality of the work.
- Clear payment schedule including possible retainage (holding
back of a portion of payments) pending satisfactory completion
of a project.
Proposals for services usually are presented and detailed on standard
forms designed by the contractor. It is wise to have your legal
counsel review the terms of the documents before you sign them,
to avoid any misunderstanding of your obligations. Such a review
also may suggest amendments benefiting you that are also acceptable
to the contractor.
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