黑料社区

In a customer-service focused indus­try, the right employees are the key to success, and many truckstop and travel plaza operators are on a constant quest to find the right talent and en­gage employees.

“You need a system designed to find the right people,” said Darren Schulte, vice president of member­ship at NATSO. “So many of us have a system to find people who will work for a certain amount of money but they aren’t always the people who are the right people.”

Here are eleven recruitment tactics that operators are using to help find the right hires for their locations.

1. Create A Strong Brand
Operators spend a lot of money, time and effort attracting customers to their locations, and they should be thinking about hiring the same way. “Just as your brand is important for your customers, you want your po­tential hires to perceive your travel plaza as clean and safe and welcom­ing,” Schulte said.

Job seekers are like consumers. “They’re going to look you up and check you out just like you’re check­ing them out. They’re tapping into the same things a customer would,” Schulte said.

Your online reputation could be hurting your recruitment efforts. “You have to monitor what’s being said about your company. Respond to social media posts and reviews in a timely manner,” Schulte said.

Locations could also solicit reviews from happy employees and customers and create social profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. “Roll out positive content and pub­licity on a regular basis,” Schulte said. “Use social media always to tell your story about your company even when you’re not hiring because people will get to know your name.”

2. Turn To Social Media
Cindy Knight, human resources manager at Ro­chelle Petro, uses Face­book when she has several openings or a specialized job to fill. “There are a number local groups and pages we can post to in addition to our own Face­book page, so it is seen by thousands versus newspaper or specialized job re­cruiting sites,” she said, adding that ev­eryone is on Facebook. “Someone who may not be job searching will still see our posting and might know a friend who is looking. They will ‘tag’ them, creating a domino effect of even more people seeing our post.”

Knight said this has worked better than posting on recruiting sites. “With recruiting sites, only people who are actively looking for a job are on them. Also, we find that recruiting sites are mainly for highly specialized jobs or jobs that require college degrees. Most of our needs are entry level, so the peo­ple looking around on the recruiting sites are overqualified and looking for high salaries,” she said.

3. Use The Company Website
Perception is every­thing and a useful place to start is the company’s own website. “Make sure it is appeal­ing, especially on the about us sec­tion. Make it concise and something people will read,” Schulte said.

The website should also feature a career section, which could include employee profiles. “Showcase the career path of someone who has been with you or do a day in the life. It gives people a peek under the hood and it is an opportunity to spotlight your employees. It lets job seekers know you value your employees,” Schulte said.

Do a slideshow to capture a team in action or create a video with em­ployees talking about why it is a great place to work. “It makes you look like a modern, innovative place to work,” Schulte said.

Within the careers section, op­erators can post information on open positions or list the qualities they are looking for in potential hires. “You can share information on how to apply and list job oppor­tunities with specifics details. That will improve your applicant qual­ity,” Schulte said. “Write an ad, not a job description.”

4. Make It Easy To Apply
Rochelle Petro has a per­manent “application sta­tion” in its main build­ing hallway where people can fill out applications and drop them in a locked box at all hours of the day every day of the year, and Knight said it is her best tool. “That way people can apply when it’s convenient for them, and I usually have a supply of apps to pull from when an opening occurs,” Knight said. “We have done this for many years now and refer to it in any advertising that we have done, so the word is out there that this is available.”

5. Hire For Attitude
Kevin Paul Scott, author of “8 Essential Exchanges” and a key­note speaker during The 黑料社区Show 2017, recommended opera­tors put a system in place to help the business find the right people. Scott, who has worked with Chick-fil-a, shared three tactics a Chick-fil-a owner operator used when hiring.

First, when potential employees walk into the restaurant, the owner meets them at the door, introduces himself, walks quickly to the furthest booth in the room and checks to see how quickly the person followed.

The owner has paper and a pen sitting at the booth. Once they start talking, the owner tells potential hires he is going to share some im­portant things and he looks to see if they take notes.

Then, he accidentally knocks something on the floor and look to see how quickly applicants will pick it up. “He said, ‘I need to know if they have the initiative, how quickly they move and if they have a servant’s heart to help oth­ers,’” Scott explained.

Coffee Cup Fuel Stops strives to hire employees who have a genuine interest in people and looks to see if employees can create a two-minute relationship. “Some people think we have good sales people because we hire them, but we don’t. People who are genuinely interested in those two-minute relationships become good sales people because they are genuine­ly interested in people who they talk to,” said Ericka Schapenkahm, direc­tor of human resources and special projects for the company.

When potential leaders come in for an interview, Schapenkahm purpose­ly waits about four minutes before ar­riving to see how well the person can engage with the existing team.

Schulte advises operators to look beyond the resume. “A resume is de­signed to dazzle you and put your best foot forward but there are oth­er things you can look at,” he said. “Look for trends. Have they moved upward? How do they express them­selves? Rate their etiquette and po­liteness factor. Do they have a pol­ished and professional appearance?”

Operators can also check candi­dates’ social media profiles and be­havior. “If you see something that is disturbing to you, that is a red flag,” Schulte said.

Employee turnover in the hospitality and retail industries is a challenge, and there can be pressure to hire someone because the location needs to fill the next shift. But hiring the wrong person just exacerbates the problem.

6. Be Visible
To try and attract tal­ent, Coffee Cup Fuel Stops makes sure it is involved in the community and tries to be visible. “We want to make sure we’re a place people want to work,” Schapenkahm said. “Every interac­tion I have with every person I meet is about selling us as a place they might want to work someday.”

Schulte said ongoing marketing can help operators tap into passive job can­didates. “Not all prospects are actively looking for an immediate opportuni­ty, but studies have shown that most job seekers feel that companies with a strong reputation and familiar brand have an edge over the competitors,” he said. “Once those passive candidates   start looking for a new opportunity, you want them to think of you.”

7. Give Candidates A Look Inside
Hosting an open house or a hiring event can give potential employees a chance to see the business in action, which can be particularly attractive to the mil­lennial generation.

“Millennials want to see a nice, cool, modern place. They like open commu­nication because they’re used to being able to communicate and share what they think,” Schulte said, adding that often times, millennials will take less compensation if they know there is a path for training and advancement. “They’re ambitious and they want to know there is a career path.

8. Get Creative
Knight said she keeps her eye out for creative recruiting opportuni­ties, especially those that let her get in front of a targeted pool. When Knight needed to hire tire techs and truck mechanics, she set up a table and tent at a local Big Rig Show that was taking place in the area. “I not only marketed our location to truck drivers attending, but also talked to people about the job opening. Usu­ally mechanics go to these shows since they work on trucks,” she said.

Rochelle Petro has also worked with the local junior college that has a diesel mechanic program and hired students in the program part time while they attended. Knight has also offered paid internships trying to attract future full-time employees, but she said it’s not always successful because some will go to dealerships that are only open week­days and close for holidays.

9. Engage Current Employees
One way to help find the best talent is to engage current employees. Those already within the location can pro­vide referrals and many businesses have found success with employee referral programs.

Once potential candidates have been identified, it can be useful to involve key players in the hiring process. “It lets employees feel val­ued. They can form an opinion and they may have amazing insight into the type of candidate the position needs,” Schulte said.

“There is a simple formula for suc­cess,” Schulte said. “Competence— are they capable of performing the job? Enthusiasm—do they want the job? Cultural fit—are they a good fit for your company?”

10. Retain Existing Employees
Creating a successful work environment can help keep employees onboard and reduce turnover. Plus, engaged em­ployees deliver a better customer experience, which improves cus­tomer service and, ultimately, im­proves revenue. Successful employ­ee-supervisor relationships, career development opportunities and recognition can all add to a com­pany’s culture.

“People will stay if they’re happy, so focus on making it a great work environment,” Schulte said. “What’s your workplace vibe? Are your em­ployees energetic and passionate or stressed? Don’t ignore low morale.”

Creating an open-door com­munication policy can help make employees feel valued. Schulte said employees also value peer-to-peer recognition. “If you can do em­ployee of the month or send out a text and talk about the star of the month, it really works and makes employees feel like they are a part of something much larger,” he said.

11. Track Hiring Techniques
To get the most value out of recruiting, it is helpful for operators to track what they spend on recruiting as well as where they found new employees and, if possible, the success of the new hire. “Always know where your dollars are the best spent,” Schulte said.

Schulte also recommends opera­tors treat their candidate search like a good customer service experience. “Make use of technology and give them a window of when they’re going to hear from you. Be honest upfront and communicate it,” he said.

Photo credit: Brittany Palmer/NATSO

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