Recruiting Today’s Hourly Workers — It’s Different. And It’s Not.

Editor’s note: This article is part of a series highlighting speakers at the upcoming ERE Recruiting Conference. Click here to view other articles in the series.

With 20 years of recruiting experience under my belt — both in-house and on the agency side — you’d think I would have seen it all, right? Well, joining MaidPro three years ago as its first talent-acquisition manager was an eye-opener for me.

MaidPro is a franchisor (that was a new word for me), which means it grants a license to third parties to conduct business under MaidPro’s rights and trademarks. Our 200+ independent owners across the United States and Canada provide premium residential cleaning services to customers.

I had never worked with a franchise company before, let alone one whose owners were hiring workers who were in demand by such other companies as Amazon, Walmart, Target, Uber, Lyft, McDonald’s, and major hotels. And unlike my prior experience in recruiting, my role at MaidPro is to coach our owners/hiring managers on recruiting and retention of hourly house cleaners, whom we call PROs.

Hiring is what keeps these owners up at night, because if they cannot hire and retain PROs, they can’t grow their businesses. Indeed, in many cases, they are turning down new customers because they can’t serve them. That’s painful to these passionate and skilled entrepreneurs.

So within a month of joining MaidPro, I quickly learned that we had to look at recruiting differently. In an industry where the demand for many workers exceeds the supply, savvy recruiters must think and act differently when it comes attracting qualified candidates. Just reviewing best practices wasn’t enough. Our owners/hiring managers had to adopt a marketing mindset about recruiting, just like they did for acquiring new customers.

Now, this was challenging for some, since MaidPro’s owners have different levels of recruiting expertise. Some owners believe that “post and pray” will be enough to find workers. Others believe in a sophisticated, well-thought-out hiring strategy, flawless execution, and constant measurement of results.

Regardless, to support all our owners, we developed an approach that focuses on six key areas: awareness, engagement, transparency, assessment, training, and retention. Owners who subscribe to our six-focus approach have confirmed that they have moved the needle on recruiting and retention, with better hires and increased retention.

None of this is rocket science. It’s just the result of a lot of conversations with our owners, their willingness to expand their perspective and try new approaches, and sheer persistence. I’m excited to share this journey with you at the upcoming ERE Recruiting Conference Hope to see you there!

Interested in learning more about recruiting hourly workers in hyper-competitive environments? Come see Tom and network with tons of other great speakers and attendees at the ERE Recruiting Conference in San Diego, April 15 – 17. Use code ERESD10EXTRA to receive 10% off your ticket price.