Employment, how do you find great people?

Unemployment in today’s climate?  It’s like a Chinese puzzle box. Just when something fits and locks into place, other bits jut out in the wrong direction, and still the right buttons to push remain a mystery. Or do they?  

We all know the news is overcrowded with stories of layoffs and closures. We sit and wonder where it all will end, visualizing the soaring unemployment and wondering if these people will ever find work amongst the many others that are looking. We gloomily ponder what the resultant effect on their families will be, on their personal morale and the communities they live in.

But the other side of the coin reveals another story that has yet to be told, a story of employers that are unable to find suitable people to run their profitable and thriving businesses. I, for one, know this with over 160 women on the payroll and a business than runs to almost the four corners of the country. It is getting harder to maintain the levels of highly motivated, highly skilled stylists that we search for 365 days a year. You will almost hear the fireworks like a Chinese new year when we find great women who leap at the training and benefits we offer, and the limitless advancement possibilities.

I know it must be true for so many other retailers as I've seen so many woefully inadequate people in positions that I'm sure wouldn't be there unless their recruitment process had gone into damage mode. For many, if they don’t find the staff, they simply can’t open. There are just as many that will tell you they have run adverts for weeks and had no one apply, so relatively unskilled roles sit vacant or they face the barrage of hopeful immigrant CVs that flood in for anything and everything via digital platforms.
Rather than succumb to paranoia as to where these wonderful girls have gone that I used to find like cherry blossom in spring time, and refusing to employ those that will never achieve results or fit the company culture (I am proud for all our team to fly the Stretton flag), I’m driving change because for the time being at least, traditional models of recruitment just don't seem to work any longer.
It has been my experience that Trade Me and Seek in many cases appear to yield nothing but the perennial lookers, the grass is always greener types that are always moving on in the hope of something better.

So I’ve looked to a new approach and so far it’s working. I’m back advertising in the small weekly community papers, yep they ones that go out for free, hang around for a week and get read by so many in cafes, homes, waiting rooms, at your place and mine. These papers certainly haven't felt the impact of the technology shift which has led to lower readerships of the city papers. They also talk community news in a wonderfully positive light. Who doesn't want to read this stuff? We all do!

So, small run-on adverts - the equivalent of a good chat over a cup of tea, warm and personable. And they have yielded some wonderful results.

 Maybe it is just that my customer isn't the digital native that everyone would have me believe, maybe she's not even looking for a new role - she's just reading her local news to connect and there I am with a wonderful opportunity!

 I've also started to look at my customers, surprising that it has taken me so long really. These wonderful women that are huge lovers of my brand, surely some of them might want to work with the frocks they love and covet so much? And in fact, they frequently do join us now. It isn't too hard for them to attain strong sales results as they love the gear. They almost sell by osmosis.
Rather than suffering at the hands of the mainstream recruitment platforms, I have finally found my solace in the tried and true. Maybe just like food and fashion and the many other parts of our life that have returned to what we loved in Granny’s time, is exactly what I had found with regards to recruitment.What will future recruitment trends bring? We will all have to look into the tea leaves on that one!