Sign on bonus for new employee

[knoxclean]

It's getting close to a year and I have not been able to find a good replacement yet for an employee who left last September. Anyone tried using a sign on bonus? How did you set it up?

I've tried, word of mouth talking to friends, family, people at my church, Facebook, cruising stores for friendly clerks and handing them my card , Craigslist even staking out Stanley Steemer and Serve Pro vans and approaching the techs.LOL!

 

[dealtimeman]

Like no one is applying?

Or some have applied and weeded themselves out?


What is your process?

 

[Desk Jockey]

I have heard of that, I think that old cleaner/restorer Steve what's his name???? Toburen, yea that's his name.

He had a program where he gave money for anyone that was hired and another bonus if they lasted 6-months.

Something like that........where is he?

 

[knoxclean]

I have a few that applied (maybe 6) but if I didn't sew their name on the shirt they couldn't remember their own name.

 

[Desk Jockey]

LOL

Name tags can serve a dual purpose.

When I was in the Jaycee's we would have a new guy take the oath and about half when told repeat after me, would say "I state your name" without inserting their name.

 

[Ron K]

Try hiring a Temp from an agency and see if they work out this way they do some of the vetting and you can always let them go if they don't meet your standard.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Good question david, was thinking same thing.

How much are you thinking? $500, $1k ...

Have to think we need to spread it out over a month or 2 though?

 

[Joe Appleby]

Let's see your ad in Craigslist.

 

[WillS]

We hired someone last week using craigslist. We asked they send a picture with resume to make sure no tats up past the neck or below elbows that can't be covered up. You shoulda seen the responses we got. You would think not wearing a tank top with a big tattoo "No Regrets" and a frown look on your face would have gotten you the job. Out of 45 apps we received in less than 6 hours of posting it, probably 2 to 3 were worth interviewing.

 

[knoxclean]

Joe I use the ad that was talked about at MF word for word and set up a google number for it. Not one call and ran it 3 times. Went back to a more basic ad but still little response.

Ron I tried temp places before was told they are not allowed to enter residential homes for insurance reasons.

 

[knoxclean]

I'm going to try $500. $100 after 30 days $200 after 90 and $200 at 6months

 

[dealtimeman]

That could work well and promote a good envirement for a positive attitude for growth within your company.

Please let us know if it works well.

 

[Joe Appleby]

With all due respect, the ad talked about at MF isn't one I'd use. As I remember it tests you to cut and paste your resume or something like that. I couldn't do it nor could 1/2 the guys who work for me.

The ad needs to attract as many prospects as possible. Make it read like it's a fantastic place to work. There's competition for good people. Why have a boring ad that filters potentially good prospects?

Put the max you pay when they're trained, not what they start at. Lists your benefits, vacation pay, med., attendance bonus, 401k etc..."We supply vehicle, equipment, uniforms and training". "Hiring 2 crew chiefs", looks better than 1.
"Steady Full time work". Get the picture.

You're not going to find an Allstar
until you get at least 75 resumes ( our average response) emailed to you. Market prospects as if they were potential customers.

 

[Mikey P]

If you stated in your ad that you are a fan of the Bee Gees you may find a more caring and passionate type of applicant comes calling.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBw25CrUS-o

 

[knoxclean]

Good info Joe I'll try that. Doubt I'll get 75 responses but anything is better than what I have been getting. I don't think I have had a total of 75 replys from dozens of ad's placed over the past 10 years combined.

 

[Brian H]

Dave,

How big is your customer base? Have you tried approaching them with an offer to have them recruit for you? Here's what I wrote several years ago when I was frustrated with traditional forms of recruiting. If I remember correctly, I mailed it out to about 500 customers and hired 2 excellent employees. Thankfully I have not had to recruit in several years but if I did, I would email it to my entire customer base.




WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM!


So many people want Hagopian value that we can’t serve them all! Oh, we have the trucks and equipment, but we need more quality people.

AND WE’LL PAY YOU $250.00 TO HELP US FIND THEM!*

Here’s all you have to do. Tell you’re friends and family about the exciting career opportunities available at Hagopian Cleaning Services and if we hire them

[h=1]WE’LL PAY YOU $250.00!*[/h]
Why are we doing this? It’s simple; we need to hire quality people. We could put an ad in the newspaper, but we would rather have referrals from our customers. You know~ the kind of people you would want in your home.

This is a full time career position working Monday through Friday and most Saturdays. Plus the voluntary overtime is almost endless! We are a drug free workplace, so a pre-employment drug test is mandatory. A pleasant personality and good work ethic are a must along with an excellent driving record.

We offer an industry leading compensation and benefits package, including choice of medical and dental plans, Vision, 401 K retirement savings plan, Dependant Care Account and Health Reimbursement Account. We are one of the largest cleaning companies in the country so our people have many opportunities for advancement.

*If you know of a quality-orientated person looking for a great career with a winning team, give them my name and have them call me at (248) 399-2323 and after 90 days of employment, I’ll send you

$250.00!

Sincerely,



Brian Hanna
Location Cleaning Division Manager

 

[Joe Appleby]

I love it Brian!

 

[Mikey P]

Brian I'd like to schedule an appointment for an interview as soon as possible.

 

[Shane Deubell]

With all due respect, the ad talked about at MF isn't one I'd use. As I remember it tests you to cut and paste your resume or something like that. I couldn't do it nor could 1/2 the guys who work for me.

The ad needs to attract as many prospects as possible. Make it read like it's a fantastic place to work. There's competition for good people. Why have a boring ad that filters potentially good prospects?

Put the max you pay when they're trained, not what they start at. Lists your benefits, vacation pay, med., attendance bonus, 401k etc..."We supply vehicle, equipment, uniforms and training". "Hiring 2 crew chiefs", looks better than 1.
"Steady Full time work". Get the picture.

You're not going to find an Allstar
until you get at least 75 resumes ( our average response) emailed to you. Market prospects as if they were potential customers.

100% with joe, have to change our mindset to thinking of it like prospecting for customers. Multi-avenue approach, over the long term.

Scrapped the system i set up last year because it was too expensive and we ended up with hundreds of resumes from people who just wanted to collect the unemployment check. They jut used us to verify they were looking ..

The plan now is to think of it like joe laid out, kinda like a sale with a longer lead time. Working on a careers page for our website where i have the room to explain everything and make the position sound a whole lot better. Plus with a qualifications section hopefully we can weed out a couple people. The plan is to then leave short description on job sites then a link to the career page to 'learn more".

My problem with the job sites is they dont give enough flexibility to explain fully and sell the position. Fine, we will just view them as lead sources then and link to the "sales" page.

Trying to come up with about 5 different online sites to set up at.
Also trying to keep it affordable

 

[rhyde]

Craigslist sucks! I got two good employees but when they started charging for job adds in my area it seems things went to shit.
I got nothing but the unemployable and the one that was somewhat wanted more money with no experience and
said to me oh yeah " I can start next week but I need two weeks off next month"... in the middle of July! He was more
interested about his pay, vacation time and health benefits than the actual job.

Temp agencies are marginally better with a high percentage of felons, drug issues, and dead beat dad's
trying to skip on palimony & child support. Mixed in there are some good workers look for... young high school grads
with no other job prospects which is how found my current lead tech. I have since employed three of this tech's friends
one didn't work out but the other two have.

 

[bob vawter]

Brian I'd like to schedule an appointment for an interview as soon as possible.

where else can you catch a fish while waiting in a traffic jam......

 

[Brian H]

Brian I'd like to schedule an appointment for an interview as soon as possible.

We don't hire people with prior cleaning experience. Too many bad habits to undo. We might make an exception for you though.

Currently of our 25 full time crew leaders the newest has been with us for a little over 10 years, so you will have to get in line. After 3 or 4 years, you might get a chance to fill in as a leader here and there. Maybe even do some solo night work.

 

[Steve Toburen]

We don't hire people with prior cleaning experience. Too many bad habits to undo. We might make an exception for you though.

You really don't want to do that, Brian.

Steve

PS Remember how just one bad apple will spoil the rest of them. Mikey would sow destruction through Hagopians. He wouldn't even mean to do it. That is just what he does and who he is.

 

[Joe Appleby]

I'll take 100 crappy resumes to get 3 good ones. The delete key is my friend.

 

[PrimaDonna]

We hired someone last week using craigslist. We asked they send a picture with resume to make sure no tats up past the neck or below elbows that can't be covered up. You shoulda seen the responses we got. You would think not wearing a tank top with a big tattoo "No Regrets" and a frown look on your face would have gotten you the job. Out of 45 apps we received in less than 6 hours of posting it, probably 2 to 3 were worth interviewing.

Be careful. Could be illegal and grounds for discrimination to ask for or require a photo of anyone prior to them being hired. There was a time I worked at a company that took photos of people that interviewed as a way for the interview team to rember who was who. (Tough to do when you had a full day of interviews think 10-15 people interviewed by more than one person and you wanted to debrief and share thoughts prior to second interviews). They got in a lot of trouble for doing this. Be careful and know the laws.

Check out the very last paragraph from the eeoc website. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/

 

[knoxclean]

Thanks Brian. I sent out your letter to 2000 customer emails. I have tried this once before but my email was very boring. I like yours and hope it brings in a few referrals for a new employee.

 

[Brian H]

Thanks Brian. I sent out your letter to 2000 customer emails. I have tried this once before but my email was very boring. I like yours and hope it brings in a few referrals for a new employee.

It's been 12-15 years since I last sent it out and that was with regular mail. Keep us posted to let us know how it worked via email.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Be careful. Could be illegal and grounds for discrimination to ask for or require a photo of anyone prior to them being hired. There was a time I worked at a company that took photos of people that interviewed as a way for the interview team to rember who was who. (Tough to do when you had a full day of interviews think 10-15 people interviewed by more than one person and you wanted to debrief and share thoughts prior to second interviews). They got in a lot of trouble for doing this. Be careful and know the laws.

Check out the very last paragraph from the eeoc website. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/

Meg is right except her "could be illegal" should probably be changed to "Is illegal". Just to be safe I personally would take down the CL ad but that is just me. (There are a lot of disgruntled losers out there just looking to file unfair hiring lawsuits/complaints and even more hungry attorneys. So I am ultra-conservative when it comes to toeing the line on hiring practices.))

Steve

PS Brian, either you or Ken (I can't remember which) shared your "paying customers for referring employees" letter with us years ago and it has a permanent place in our SFS Operations Manual. Many of our graduates have used this idea successfully and we thank you guys. (Gonna be hard going back to Vegas in September without seeing Ken.)

 

[Brian H]

PS Brian, either you or Ken (I can't remember which) shared your "paying customers for referring employees" letter with us years ago and it has a permanent place in our SFS Operations Manual. Many of our graduates have used this idea successfully and we thank you guys. (Gonna be hard going back to Vegas in September without seeing Ken.)

Ken shared it with his SFS class. I gave him a hard time for claiming as his own!!

It's been hard here every day not seeing Ken.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Dave,

How big is your customer base? Have you tried approaching them with an offer to have them recruit for you? Here's what I wrote several years ago when I was frustrated with traditional forms of recruiting. If I remember correctly, I mailed it out to about 500 customers and hired 2 excellent employees. Thankfully I have not had to recruit in several years but if I did, I would email it to my entire customer base.




WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM!


So many people want Hagopian value that we can’t serve them all! Oh, we have the trucks and equipment, but we need more quality people.

AND WE’LL PAY YOU $250.00 TO HELP US FIND THEM!*

Here’s all you have to do. Tell you’re friends and family about the exciting career opportunities available at Hagopian Cleaning Services and if we hire them

WE’LL PAY YOU $250.00!*


Why are we doing this? It’s simple; we need to hire quality people. We could put an ad in the newspaper, but we would rather have referrals from our customers. You know~ the kind of people you would want in your home.

This is a full time career position working Monday through Friday and most Saturdays. Plus the voluntary overtime is almost endless! We are a drug free workplace, so a pre-employment drug test is mandatory. A pleasant personality and good work ethic are a must along with an excellent driving record.

We offer an industry leading compensation and benefits package, including choice of medical and dental plans, Vision, 401 K retirement savings plan, Dependant Care Account and Health Reimbursement Account. We are one of the largest cleaning companies in the country so our people have many opportunities for advancement.

*If you know of a quality-orientated person looking for a great career with a winning team, give them my name and have them call me at (248) 399-2323 and after 90 days of employment, I’ll send you

$250.00!

Sincerely,



Brian Hanna
Location Cleaning Division Manager

Thanks for sharing that again, definitely going to use it somehow.

$250 seems high at first but after 3 months we should know and it is a pretty good incentive.