April 2015 Management Minute
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
How do you recruit new employees?
If you’re simply placing an announcement in the want ads, you’re most likely only advertising to those who are already out of work. How can you instead make your opening known to people who are not only already gainfully employed somewhere else, but who are highly-valued and respected within their current organization?
If you wait for good people to come looking, you’re probably never going to find them.
When you ask yourself, “What kind of employee am I seeking?” and “What kind of employee is the rest of the team seeking?” and “What kind of person would fit in with the existing team?” The answer should be obvious, yet isn’t: “A person who my current team already knows, respects, and enjoys being around.” Your good people know who the other good people are, and they would like to have them on the team.
That said, why not incentivize your current employees to find you the next rising star—a diamond in the rough? The incentive should be significant; a $20 gift certificate won’t push your employees to push their connections to change. Also, there is substantial real economic value in hiring a truly exceptional employee, who will likely be immediately accepted and respected by the rest of the team, will be productive and content in the new work environment, and will therefore likely stay a long time. Why not offer some of that very real value back to your own good employees to find and attract more good employees.
To avoid abuse of the system, there should be a probationary period attached to the new hire, before which none of the incentive is paid, but after which the entire incentive is paid to the existing employee.
The old axiom holds true: good, productive, hard-working people want to work with other good, hard-working people, and they don’t want to work around slackers. This incentive system will give them the impetus to start bragging about your work place in order to attract people they know and respect who will come in and elevate the team.
For more information, contact Chris at 785-532-1672 or cdr3@ksu.edu.