Find good employees

Today, one of the largest small business challenges lies in finding quality employees. How do you compete for great employees in today's tight labor market? Well, just read on for some tips that will help you find, quality employees to grow your business.

• It's not staffing, it's marketing... You have a marketing plan for your business, right? That plan identifies your target customers, describes where you'll find them, how you'll reach them and lays out a proactive strategy to raise your target customer's awareness of your unique attributes. Well, guess what? You need to do the same thing with your staffing efforts.

• Define your target candidate: Look at your best employees. What skills and qualities do they have? Be specific. Write down the attributes of your best employees. Use this information to create a description of your target employee. When you're done, you should be able to describe the education, work history, job skills, professional affiliations, and personal interests of the employees you want to target.

• Where will you find these candidates? Once you've described the qualities you'll be targeting, think about where employees like this can be found. Again, start with your best employees. Where did you find them? Newspaper advertising? Professional societies? Employee referrals? Internships? Whatever the source, describe the top three or four sources you want to focus on to get your message in front of your target employee audience.

• How will you reach these candidates? So far, you know your target candidate and where you're likely to find them. The next step is defining how you'll reach these people. What methods are most effective in delivering your message? Flyers? Radio advertising? Job postings? Recruiters? Personal recommendations? Which options are most credible to your target audience? How much do they cost? How will you allocate your recruiting time and dollars between these different channels?

• What makes your job unique? This is vital. Think about it? If you can't quickly, clearly and confidently answer this, why would a quality employee choose your opportunity? You must take the time to write down what your opportunity has to offer to your target audience. Best pay? Most flexible hours? More responsibility, sooner? Advancement and growth opportunities? You need to understand what your target candidates want, how your opportunity provides this and then, sell the candidate on your position.

It's important that you do your homework in this area. Great employees deliver profits. Poor employees deliver headaches and reduce profits. So, change your recruiting efforts to employee marketing efforts. You'll be glad you did!