25 Great Ways to Find the Right People and Not Break the Bank

Are you trying to hire dozens of hourly workers or a senior executive? Where do you look and how do you get the word out? There are many ways to find the right people besides placing want ads.

Here are 30 innovative and inexpensive ways to expand the pool of potential applicants. Pick and choose the ones that "fit" your company and your budget.

Place ads on TV and radio, in the movie theater, at bus stations and airports, etc.

Recruit a more diverse workforce by setting up booths at minority fairs and events.

Maximize employee referrals through a well-publicized bonus and reward program.

Work with the chamber of commerce to post positions and inform you of new arrivals.

Hire and train entry-level workers through "Welfare-to-Work" and other federal programs.

Track applicants who went to another company and re-contact with them at periodic intervals.

Search out and woo non-traditionals - men, minorities, retirees, ex-military, career changers, etc.

Tell everyone you know - accountants, bankers, clergy, boards, even hairdressers -about openings.

Use internet employment sites such as monster.com, myjob.com, etc. Post positions on your own website.

Stop in at community centers, churches, etc. - introduce yourself - and say, "I'm looking for workers."

Start a speaker's bureau and speak at church job clubs, high schools, college campuses, military bases, etc.

Begin internships or apprenticeships for high school and college students to introduce them to your company.

Cultivate relationships with community organizations such as churches and clubs and ask them to refer promising applicants.

Ask your best people to give you the names of three other first class people they know who might be persuaded to come on board.

Contact career transition firms, relocation companies, real estate agents that come in contact with spouses looking for positions.

Create a first-name relationship with state welfare and job service officials so that they will remember to refer job seekers to you.

Network at trade shows, work the crowd to identify possible candidates, and then maintain contact with the best until an opening comes up.

Track local companies' announcements of layoffs, relocations out of the area, mergers or shutdowns. Work with the company to set up a recruiting fair.

Place recruitment ads at civic, church events, fire departments, high school sporting events, senior citizen centers, shopping malls, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.

Ask new hires which people they would recruit from their former companies and colleges, because talented people tend to recognize other talented people.

List open positions on job hot lines and websites of professional associations as well as with outplacement firms who counsel a variety of job seekers.

Stop limiting your recruiting to "the best" universities and big company candidates. Many of the best hires can be found at state colleges and at smaller organizations.

Ask current successful employees what they do in their leisure time. If you find that many of them have similar interests outside work, set up a booth at those events.

Train managers to capture the names and email addresses of impressive people they meet at conferences. Over time, create a talent database and send them a regular email newsletter.

Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job - to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management.

Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks - resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs - fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

More resources:

RELATED ARTICLES

Employee Surveys: a Strategic Tool for Positive Change
Do you want to measure your workers' level of satisfaction? Or change policies and procedures to make them more effective? Or find out if your supervisors are stuck in out-dated ways of managing? Good Idea! But how do you make sure you are getting reliable information to make sound management decisions?When it comes to conducting quality research, a pound of prevention is worth much more than one ounce of cure. Here are five steps to turn your employee surveys into a powerful strategic change management tool.

Safety Policy Sample Outline
Writing a safety manual is a tough job and most larger corporations outsource such jobs or they have someone on staff with the proper credentials in risk management. Imagine writing the safety manuals for NASA? I had the opportunity to be in the unique position of being able to imagine just such a thing when writing our company safety manuals.

Weaknesses of Wishing
When you're starting a business, you might wish for a lot of things, like having more than enough customers or not having to do marketing. But wishing is weak willed, having no momentum behind it.

Follow Up: It Makes A Difference
A while back the headlight switch on our minivan quit working, so early one Saturday morning we took it to the neighborhood repair shop that has been mailing postcards to us the past three years. They said it would take 90 minutes to check things out.

Human Resources: The Misidentified Subject
Interest in the field of human resources has exploded in recent years due to the promises it offers for a better understanding of human beings at work. The term is now as ubiquitous as it has once been obscure.

In Leadership, The Critical Convergence Drives Great Results
The Leader's Fallacy lives! We subscribe to the Fallacy when we believe our enthusiasm over a particular leadership challenge is automatically reciprocated by the people we lead.If ignorance is bliss then leaders going around blithely adhering to the Leader's Fallacy have cornered the market on happiness.

Five Ways to Influence Change in Others
Because of my work as a consultant, trainer and coach I deal with change and people's reactions to it all the time. When a Client decides to work with us, they are recognizing that some sort of change is needed.

4 Simple Steps to Successful Delegation
Last month, my featured article was about creating a "Stop Doing" list. Hopefully, if you followed my suggestion, you now have a list of tasks that you are looking to delegate away.

Making Assumptions - A Critical Communication Mistake In Business And In Your Personal Life!
We draw conclusions about people through observation, their behavior, past experiences, other people's comments, etc. We assume who people are, what they think/need/want with such speed we fail to recognize how our own viewpoint colors the way we connect with and relate to people and situations.

How to Create a Positive Work Atmosphere
Positive versus Negative WorkplacesWe have all worked in places where we grew to dread getting up in the morning, and a few of us have had the pleasure of working for a boss who makes us feel like we can do anything. Let's take a look at the differences between a positive and a negative work environment.

Enhancing the Motivational Climate of Your Workplace
It has been well documented that employees' productivity and job quality increase when we are made to feel welcome at work. In other words, when the motivational climate is enhanced to meet their needs they produce quality work at the 100% rate.

The Do's and Don'ts of Giving Feedback
Being able to give effective feedback is not just a good skill to possess in business, it is a great life skill to have. Because when you are masterful at giving feedback, not only can you help your employees to sustain continuously improving performance, you can also improve the performance of the baseball team you coach, the cleaning lady at home, or the performance of your own children on completing their chores.

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 5th C: Control Issues
A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.The 5th C: Control IssuesWhen control is in the picture it is a lose/lose proposition.

Innovation Management: The Power of Emotional Attachment
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation.

Creativity and Innovation Management: Specialisation or Generalisation?
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

What Cross-cultural Training Can Do for You
International business is more complex than ever before. Success in every sector is now seen in global terms.

Lead to Succeed: The Seven Essential Steps to Work Leader Success
In my book "You're In Charge?What Now?" I use a mnemonic to describe the seven essential steps to work leader success. The mnemonic is "L.

Critical Success Factors - Next
The Critical Success Factors Focusing on the things that make the biggest difference to your future prosperity. (Note, although this article was written in early 2002, it is totally relevant.

Creating A Vision - Bringing Your Dreams Into Reality
Do you have some goals you want to achieve or dreams you want to fulfill? A useful tool in reaching the outcomes you desire is the creation of a vision, which can be short or long-term. I recommend writing down specifics to add clarity and focus.

Solving the Problem Solving Problem
The meeting started like a hundred others before. There were five people sitting around the conference table, like they always did, trying to solve a problem that had popped up in the last few weeks.