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Step #6 In Hiring The Right Person For Your Dojo
Attracting great applicants takes more than just putting an ad on Craigslist and hoping for the best. If you want to attract the best applicants, you need to apply a few basic skills and tactics.
Starting with...
How to Write a Great Help Wanted Ad
If you were writing an ad to attract new students, you'd probably follow one of the classic ad writing formulas, such as "Attention, Interest, Desire, Action" or "Problem -> Agitate -> Solve" or "Star, Story, Solution".
Well, writing a winning help wanted ad is no different than writing a great marketing ad, because in both cases you are trying to convince someone that you have what they want.
And before you even begin you need to figure out what your ideal applicant wants from a job opportunity. So, what does your ideal applicant want?
"So, How Much Does This Position Pay?"
Now, I know that the common response to that question is "great pay." But honestly, if that were all that we needed to do to attract the right applicant, every ad on Indeed and Monster would start and end with compensation.
However, if you've ever looked through online help wanted ads, you know that rarely if ever do companies list employee compensation in an ad. One reason is that they want to hold their cards close. Because, from a practical standpoint there's no reason to pay an employee more than is necessary to attract them to your company.
Even so, there's a much more important reason why those companies don't list compensation in every ad. And that reason is, they don't want to hire people who are just applying for the money.
Sweetening the Pot
Yes, you should offer competitive pay, and if you want to list that in your ad, go for it. However, the best way to sweeten the pot is to make your job opening sound exciting and rewarding.
Let's face it, everybody has to work to earn a living (well, 65% of us, anyway). So if you know you have to have a J-O-B, then doesn't it make sense to work somewhere with a fun atmosphere and exciting work?
Sure it does, and the type of applicant you want to hire is looking for that sort of job. They want to know that their work is making a difference in the lives of others, and they want to enjoy their work.
A perfect illustration would be people who choose to work with kids. Many people who enter professions in early childhood education, child care, and related professions do so because they believe they can make a difference by working with kids.
And often, they also see working with children as a career path that is exciting and fun. Now, isn't that the type of person you want teaching your children's programs?
Sure it is. So how do you attract that sort of applicant?
Well, tomorrow we're going to look at specific strategies for writing a great help wanted ad - the sort of ad that will bring in tons of qualified applicants. Stay tuned!
Until next time,
Mike Massie MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
P.S. - Pay is important if you want to attract the best applicants. And while not everyone is motivated by money, you still need to pay a living wage if you want to keep good employees around. Later in this series I'll talk about compensation, and we'll discuss how to make it a win-win for you and your employees. But for now, just be aware that you need to pay people a decent wage if you want them to stick around.
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