How to Develop a Marketing Plan to Recruit Employees

Jack D. Deal

Your company can grow and prosper with the right employees without spending a ton on recruiting costs. To do this, you'll need a Recruitment Plan -- just like a marketing plan--but this is marketing to potential employees! The first step in developing and using a Recruitment Plan is to target your market (applicants). Ask and record the answers (involve as many of your current employees as possible to get the best results) to the following questions:

• What are our company/department objectives for the year? This is your mission statement or a paraphrase of it.
• What makes us attractive to potential employees? Ask your employees the following questions to stimulate the discussion: "Why would someone want to work here?"; "Why did you come to work here?"; "Why do you stay?"
• Who are our potential employees? Based on all you now know about the employees you need-- are they new to the workforce, retired, students, veterans, people with disabilities, teachers, salespeople, accountants? Think about what walks of life your successful employees have come from.

Once you identify who your potential employees are, ask:

• Where would we find them?
• What do the employees we need value and need? Ask your current employees what's important to them about their position and what is important to them about working for your company. It's likely to be the same things that'll be important to the employees you're seeking to hire.
• What are 10 benefits to them of working with us? When your employees talk about "work" with potential employees, they should have an inventory of things to discuss beyond whether they like it or not.
• Who is our competition for the kind of employees we need? You have competition from companies who have proactive employee recruiting programs. Because everyone should be involved in recruiting new employees, all of your existing employees should know who the competition is and what they do well to attract employees. Learn from your competition.

REMEMBER: to grow your company and be successful, you need to seek the employees you need all the time, not just when you have an opening!

Jack D. Deal