Recruitment should be a constant process, regardless of the condition of your HVAC business or timing. Recruiting is especially critical, since you want to have multiple job candidates lined up when hiring. One candidate won’t cut it, and someone who lacks a history of staying power won’t cut it.
How do you source good candidates? You could use customer referrals, other organizations, schools, universities, retail, trade schools, or social media. Every employee on your team should be recruiting for you, too. It is also a great plus to get your customers to recruit for your company.
Holding an open house is also a great way to recruit and network. Here are some tips:
1. Hold the open house after-hours (but no too late).
2. Have staff members available to conduct on-the-spot interviews.
3. Place an ad for the open house in the classified ads, not the help wanted section.
4. Make sure that the ad is black with white letters. Put what position you’re hiring for in the ad.
5. Realistically explain the requirements of the job. This will eliminate unwanted candidates.
6. Interview all attendees: pass the best candidates to the second interview and thank the others for coming.
If there are any candidates that you couldn’t hire, keep in touch. You never know whom tomorrow’s customer or future employee will be.
Mike Moore is the HVAC Training Director at HVAC Learning Solutions, an HVAC industry expert in sales, technical, and business training. Visit Mike’s blog for more insights. Mike can be reached on Twitter @hvaclearning or on Google+ at gplus.to/hvactraining.