Staffing solutions can often be complex, but they don’t have to be. It used to be that all businesses were a near vital part of the local community. If you offer services to the local community as a restauranteur, builder, window cleaner, etc then they are your main customer base and also your main talent pool. If you’re a startup then these are the people you need to tap into right away to ensure they know about you enough to use you and to be applying for your open positions. These tips can help you tap into the local community in an unobtrusive way and in the process attract top talent from your local area.
Don’t Forget The Local Church
Many people wouldn’t think to look at a church for staffing solutions. You may have one in the center of the village or dozens dotted over your city. Although religion is failing in popularity in the western world, you still can’t forget how it’s a hub for the local community. Get involved, help where you can and you can get to know people, you can help word of your business spread better than advertising. Remember, churches are almost businesses of their own in this day and age and if you can help them it’ll reflect well on you and what you offer. Helping them find the right people for certain problems, like The Law Office of Dan Beirute, can garner respect and popularity and they may allow you to stick the odd poster up in and around the church. Don’t put everything into it, but just keep the local churches in mind if you really wanted to tap into the local community.
Get Your Reviews In
Reviews are extremely important in this day and age, just look at how Amazon utilized them. In the local community, they can make or break a business. This doesn’t just include online reviews, which are important of course, but reviews given by word of mouth. Your customer service needs to be on point, all of the time. Especially when you’re just starting out. If you give great customer service, you’ll soon start getting a lot of business on a recommendation. Ask the customers if they have time to post a review on your social media/webpage too. Reviews are powerful both ways, if they’re bad, people won’t bother with you, so keep the customer service at a high level at all times.
When candidates read positive things being said about your company in your community it gives them a positive impression of your business. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful staffing solutions that exists.
Help With Local Projects
You may have to do this at a lower rate and this can be tough as a startup. If you have the capacity though it can be well worth it. For example, if you’re in the catering business you can help with a local school project by providing some food, or if you’re a builder you can get involved with the hands-on stuff. You have to be creative with what you do and how you can bring it to the table. Once done, there’s no harm in mentioning it on your local website. If people like what they see there may be more work for you which you charge at the full rate. It’s important to get your business’ name out into the community and this is a way of doing that and also showcasing your company as a great place to work.
