CareerPlug Update: A Closer Look at Recruiting, Hiring and Retaining Employees

For those who didn’t have a chance to hear my message at Reunion (and even for those who did hear it!), I want to give you a quick overview of what I shared.A week or two ago, Mary Kay and I got a call from a close friend. He had just been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The last time you probably saw this was more than five years ago with the “Ice Bucket Challenge” that went viral to build awareness and raise research funds. More than $115 million was raised for ALS that year.

Sports fans will remember the story about Lou Gehrig’s speech on July 4, 1939, when he called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth”. Just a couple months before, he took himself out of the lineup after playing in 2,130 straight games – a record that took over a half a decade to break.

What people don’t remember is in less than two years later, on June 2, 1941, Lou Gehrig died at the age of 37. There was nothing he could do. We are afraid this will be the same for our very close friend. Basically, there is nothing we can do.

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the 50^th Anniversary of man landing on the moon. Many years ago, I learned the story behind the story. That flight to the moon was offline 95 percent of the flight. The engineers, however, only had to make minor adjustments to put the flight back on the right path – before it veered, once again, for its targeted path. 95 percent of the time offline!

I think this is similar to what is happening with so many Neighborly franchisees using CareerPlug. I believe the goal is to use CareerPlug to recruit, hire and retain employees – but there is room for improvement.

• Let’s look at what is included with basic plan vs. the PRO plan:

The Basic Plan is FREE. Nothing. Nada. Zero cost.

Yet, 803 franchisees have opted to do NOTHING and not even sign up. Does this bother me... ABSOLUTELY! Look at the eight components in the image that you can get for free to help with your recruiting. (Yet, 803 choose not to take the time to sign up.)

• If you are one of the people who hasn’t signed up, you are way more than five percent off track - unless you don’t think you’ll need anyone at all this year or next.

Let’s look and see what you might be missing – especially if you are on the PRO plan:

1. Fast Track. This is based on whatever questions you use as “knock-out questions”. Obviously, you are not going to be interested in everyone who applies. What will immediately knock someone out of contention? No driver’s license? Felon? Under 18? Can’t work in the U.S.? Use four or five questions that will automatically disqualify someone. If someone passes the questions, they may be a good prospect. You will, then, get a message from CareerPlug immediately telling you that you’ve received an application and what they score. This is Fast Track.

What is next? What will get us back on track to where we NEED to be?

2. Time to contact. CareerPlug recommends contacting a candidate within 15 minutes of a submission. How are we doing at Neighborly? Our average is not 15 minutes; not even 15 hours. Our average is four days. Yes, days! I honestly think, should I say HOPE, that this is simply because we aren’t completing the information online. I can’t image saying, “I really need help” and then taking four days to get in touch with someone who wants to go to work for me! This can’t be the truth, can it?

A year ago, CareerPlug introduced something that simplifies getting in touch with someone:

3. Text messaging. The text messaging service only costs 33 cents a day - $10 a month. How many franchisees take advantage of this? Sixty-two. Yep! Only 62 of the 1500+ who use the basic or PRO plan get this service. Remember these facts:

• • • • Text messages are opened 5 times more than emails
      • Text messages receive 7.5 times more responses
      • Text messages are responded to 60 times faster than email

Most importantly to me, they are the first step to encourage an applicant to stop applying other places! It is great when one hears that a company is interested in them. With fast track and texting, this can happen in 15 seconds; not 15 minutes or four days.

Entrepreneur Magazine listed the four most important stages of a hiring process as:

• • • • Attracting the right candidates
      • Keeping those candidates engaged
      • Assessing and selecting the best candidates
      • Sealing the deal with your top-choice candidate

4. Assessing. CareerPlug has a great assessment tool where you can quickly have some complete an assessment. The largest Window Genie franchisee has an applicant complete a 5-10 minute assessment before even doing a phone interview. Why? He simply wants to see if they’ll follow directions before spending the time for a phone interview or an in-person interview. Time is money. He also believes that if applicants won’t follow directions BEFORE they come to work, they probably won’t be a good fit on his team. The franchisee can contact the applicant in less than a minute, provide a link to take the assessment, and see if they complete it before he spends ANY TIME with them. How? Simply by using the Fast Track option and using texting.

We are just getting started. Next month, we will look a few more ways of getting back on track 100 percent when it comes to recruiting, hiring and retaining.

Again, make sure you are:

• • • • Using the PRO Plan
      • Using the Fast Track Option
      • Immediately getting in touch with candidates
      • Spending $10 a month to use texting and be the first to respond to an applicant
      • Providing an assessment

There are real challenges like our friend has. History shows there is little he can do. Just like the engineers who guided the rocket to the moon even though it was off track 95 percent of the time, there is a great deal you can do to keep your hiring program on track.

CareerPlug offers great tools to help you get your recruiting, hiring and retaining program where it needs to be. And, we haven’t even covered what can happen next!