Jackson Fires 5 ways to rind the right people for your franchise business

The news is full of stories about how challenging recruitment is currently. With a record number of vacancies being posted at the moment, there’s a lot of competition if you need to attract candidates to apply for a role in your franchise.

If you’re struggling to recruit it can be frustrating, potentially meaning that you might not be able to operate at full throttle until you can bring the right person in. Or it could mean that you (and perhaps your other employees) are having to go above and beyond to cover the position. That might be okay as a very short-term solution, but it isn’t sustainable. In these kinds of circumstances, the pressure is on but if you’re not careful, that could lead to a bad hiring decision for the sake of having someone to fill the gap, causing more problems in the long term.
The positive news is that there are things you can do to encourage suitable applicants to apply however. Here are some steps you can consider implementing to increase the chances of finding some great recruits for your franchise business.

1. Define what you need – but don’t create a massive wish list!

You’ll need to strike a balance here. It’s really important you have a clear view about what the right person has to offer, both in terms of the skills and experiences they have and also the personal attributes you need. It’s very easy however for that description to start drifting off into the realms of what you’d like – but isn’t actually all that fundamental to have from day one.

It could work against you if you end up excluding people who could have gone on to be a great fit. While you might need certain skills in place immediately, there are likely to be other aspects of the role that could be nurtured through training.

So be focused. Make sure your job description is precise enough to be a useful tool to recruit with, and to help jobseekers understand more about your role. But also ensure there’s scope to be flexible on some attributes which might be desirable from the word go, but are not absolutely business critical.

2. Capitalise on the benefits of a strong brand

One of the big advantages of taking on a franchise is the fact that you are far more likely to benefit quickly from brand awareness. And this applies to recruitment too – if your franchise business is part of a well-known company, this can help make your vacancies more appealing. So make sure you’re promoting the selling points connected to the brand itself through your recruitment marketing (job adverts, a careers page on your website, social media etc). For example, some franchisors will offer training not only to the franchise owner but to their team too and this could be a big draw for some applicants.

3. Broadcast the role’s selling points

What are all the great selling points about the job that’s on offer? These will vary for every position, but there will doubtless be many positives that you can talk about in both your job advert and other marketing materials: the variety perhaps, the key challenges in the role, how it’s a job with a real sense of purpose, the great culture and close-knit team within your franchise business, opportunities to work in a flexible way when it comes to location and hours… and so on.

Once you’ve articulated all the positives, be proactive in putting your advert in front of the right people. That will mean thinking carefully about where you might find them. A scattergun approach of trying to get it seen absolutely everywhere might superficially seem like a good plan, but you don’t want to end up swamped with lots of unsuitable applications. It’s better to have fewer applications of a higher quality.

4. Benefit from your franchisor’s experience

Talk to your franchisor for advice about the best way to conduct the recruitment process. They will have been through this many times with other franchise business owners, will be familiar with the recruitment market you’re targeting and will undoubtedly have some really valuable insights that can help you.

So get their views on the most successful way to run the process. Are there any job sites or job boards that have been particularly effective? Are there any interview questions they’ve found to be particularly revealing? Based on their experiences, are there any specific stages in the recruitment process (skills or psychometric testing perhaps or spending the day with one of your team) that tend to yield useful information in addition to interviews? Your franchisor might also have links to recruitment agencies who are familiar with the business and can help if you feel you could benefit from some expert support filling a particular vacancy.

5. Use all available materials in your franchise network

When you’re part of a franchise, you’re not alone when it comes to recruiting for your business. Your franchisor may well offer you direct help, such as job descriptions and advert templates, as well as advert placement and other support with promoting the vacancy.

Talk to other franchisees too. By pooling resources, franchisees can often help each other, sharing tips and advice and creating a mutually supportive network. They might even have materials that can help you as well.