Who Is Your Recruiting Champion?

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Almost every tree service owner has a difficult time finding new employees, yet most don’t actually do anything to improve their recruiting situation. But that’s not because they are lazy, no, it’s quite the opposite, something always comes up that takes the owner’s time and attention away from recruiting efforts. Because of this, every tree care company needs to designate a Recruiting Champion within their organization. 

What is a Recruiting Champion? This is the person who takes responsibility for recruiting new employees to your company. They have the authority and dedicated budget to spend a certain amount of their time on recruiting activities. This position can be filled by anyone within the organization, however for the position to be successful there has to be clear expectations of what the specific roles that the Recruiting Champion must fulfill. 

There are three main roles the Recruiting Champion must accomplish within your tree care company. 

1. Understands the staffing needs – The Recruiting Champion must be involved in strategic planning of the company to understand where the company is headed and therefore anticipate what the staffing needs will be in the future. Planning for the upcoming busy season is the most immediate need that the Recruiting Champion should consider. How many people do we need in the next 6 months to hit our growth goals? You also should paint a broader picture for the Recruiting Champion as to what the company will look like in 3 – 5 years so they can help with the potential development of current employees or the need to hire for different skill sets in the future. 
2. Creates and executes the recruitment strategy – Creating a recruitment strategy consists of identifying what your target employee looks like (the profile of characteristics, not physical looks) and learning where they interact so you can be present and offer career opportunities to them. Developing a visual Career Path is an essential part of the recruitment strategy so when you do get an interested employee you can show them how they are able to have a lengthy career within your organization. The Recruiting Champion is also responsible for attending the career fairs and hiring events that were identified in the strategy.
3. Screens and helps on interviews – The Recruiting Champion should not be responsible for all of the hiring activities, but they should be involved in the screening and initial interviews for potential employees. This will help them gain a better understanding of the recruiting efforts that they have embarked upon and how they can adjust the strategy to improve their results. You have to be careful of bias that the Recruiting Champion may impose upon their preferred candidates and therefore be part of the hiring team and not the only one performing the hiring process. 

Remember that recruiting activities do not produce immediate results, however, we all know what you’ll get if you don’t start doing it. After you identify a Recruiting Champion within your company, start by dedicating just 5% of their time to recruiting activities. That equates to ½ of a day for every two weeks worked. Trust me, even that small amount of time will return great dividends in your recruiting efforts. 

If you are struggling with recruiting new employees and want help creating a Recruiting Champion within your company, sign up for our Thrive Hiring & Recruiting package today or contact an ArboRisk team member to learn more!