Convention speakers offer advice on hiring A-players
By Mary Tackmann, AVB Inc.
Hiring the right people for your team is indisputably one of the most important things an independent retailer can do. The question isn’t why it’s necessary; the question is how to do it.
Hiring A-players was the topic of a session at the recent 2024 BrandSource Convention, led by Daniel Abramson, managing lead of HRSource, and Steve Fowler of BrandSource partner CareerPlug.
Tall Order
The toughest positions for independent retailers to fill are technicians and drivers, especially when unemployment is low, Abramson said.
“Hiring A-players is a hard job,” he said. “No one goes to college to work in the appliance industry.”
The easiest way to find the cream of the crop is by offering referral bonuses, paid after the new employee has a few months on the job.
“Good people know good people,” he said. “Reduce your risk of hiring strangers.”
How To Hire
Fowler, from recruiting partner CareerPlug, gave examples of best practices for hiring A-players.
- Contact the applicant within 24 hours
- Schedule the interview within 48 hours
- Be prepared to hire on the spot
- Hire within seven days
- Continue communicating with the new hire
The way you communicate is important too, Fowler said. Texts are opened almost five times more than emails and receive seven times more responses.
Smart Posting
Three important tips for posting jobs can help you find the best prospects, he said. First, keep the posting concise. Don’t post the entire job description; keep it short and engaging.
Next, make it searchable. That means use keywords that job searchers would use.
Finally, drop confusing job titles that don’t make it clear what the job really is.
Abramson added that employers should hire on attitude and teach technique, but most of the time they do the opposite. It’s an expensive strategy, he said, because it costs three times more to hire and train a new employee than it does to retain an existing one.
“We used to have a job for life; now we have a life of jobs,” he said.
Mary Tackmann is GM of human resources for YSN publisher AVB BrandSource, the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.
