If you have started (or are about to start) hiring employees for your cleaning company, you’ll quickly realize the unique set of challenges this process carries:
Your inbox is filled with unqualified applicants.
Applicants don’t pick up the phone for their phone interview.
Applicants don’t show up for their in-person interview.
Applicants ‘pass’ the interview process but don’t show up for the first day on the field.
Just when you think you’ve found a candidate, they text you after the first week saying “Sorry but this job is too much for me, I won’t be returning. So sorry!”
Yeah, I’ve heard them all, unfortunately.
What if I told you many of these challenges could be mitigated by a great deal on the front-end?
In other words, attract our ideal employees and weed out the bad ones? Pre-qualify all applicants and make them jump through strategic hoops so only the winners make it to the end?
(...which ultimately means less headaches and time wasted on your end?)
I’m here to tell you that this is possible.
I am going to share with you the frameworks for the strategic hiring ads I’ve helped implement for my clients.
Common Mistake #1: Rushing through the ad
If your hiring ad only took you a couple minutes to write, the quality of applicants will reflect this.
It's difficult enough explain in great detail what the job entails, speak on your company's values, list qualifications and have a unique selling proposition that gets people to apply.
...Now do that in 90 seconds? No way!
Applicants can also sense this.
If your ad is lacking detail, it comes off as fishy.
Then, you risk the possibility of repelling prospective applicants, even if they are interested in a cleaning position!
I believe all good hiring ads need brainstorming and note taking before coming into fruition (more on this later!), so please don't rush this.
Remember: When you rush, your applicants rush!
Common Mistake #2: Failing to set expectations
Most job posts are not transparent on the position’s challenges.
After all, cleaning is hard work!
I understand when you are short-staffed you want to try and get as many applicants as possible. By listing the un-sexy challenges you might worry about scaring off candidates.
But this famine mindset is something you'll need to ditch, especially if you’re already wasting hours each week screening through unqualified candidates!
Listing the challenges is smart because it deters the people that are absolutely not fit for the job and sets proper expectations.
It’s actually pretty simple to do this.
Think back to all the cases where you faced employee turnover and write them down.
(If you don’t have experience to document this, check out the Facebook groups where owners of cleaning companies hang out. Every week, there’s bound to be a couple posts where business owners share the exact reasons why their employees left.)
Once you have a list of challenges, you can turn them into qualifications.
We’ll take one of the leading causes of employee turnover, and thus a good qualifier: Physical demand.
Bad example: “Don’t apply if you’re not in good shape.”
Good example: “Make no mistake about it, this job is physically demanding and requires you to be on your feet all day. If that’s no issue for you, you may be excellent for this job!”
Both examples are qualifiers, but the second option is much more welcoming and casts a better tone on the company.
Common Mistake #3: Objective analysis
Doing an honest, third-party assessment of your hiring ads is absolutely essential, yet often avoided.
Before you hit the ‘publish’ button on your hiring campaign, ask yourself, “Would I apply for this job?”
It’s easy to nod your head and skip this part. I’m serious though - DON’T SKIP IT.
Put yourselves in the shoes of your applicants...
What about your ad will stop someone in their tracks and apply to your ad first?
What will keep your company top of mind in their head, praying that you’re the first company to offer them a position?
You want your candidates to have an emotional tie to your position, even if it’s small. The good news is we all have the capability of capitalizing on this!
Once you’ve crafted your perfect hiring ad, I would recommend this:
Copy & Paste your ad copy in a doc.
Find 4-5 of your local competitors’ hiring ads by visiting Facebook Jobs or Craigslist (try to select the most intriguing ones you find) and paste them in the doc.
Get a couple friends/family members to read each ad and pick the one that stands out the most to them. After they choose, ask them why.
This will give you valuable insight on how you compare, without having to worry about judgement bias.
The Applicant Transformation Journey
It's important to map out the transformation one experiences by working for your cleaning company.
Employees want to feel wanted at a job and see it as an opportunity for personal growth. Do your hiring ads reflect this?
If not, let's dissect this together.
Stage 1: The Starting Point
First, identify who the market we’re serving is.
In this case, our market is unemployed people.
What emotional challenges do they face in their daily life?
Make a long list of bullet points. The longer the list, the better.
The next step of the exercise is to now expand upon each bullet point. Transform these emotions into a practical challenge they may face.
Original example: “Do you experience a false sense of security?”
Transformed example: “Is the constant worry of not being able to find a job that truly compensates you for your hard work, haunting over you?”
Original example: “Do you lack motivation/drive?”
Transformed example: “Are you ready to flip the same, monotonous routine of everyday life on its head and find a career that actually excites you?!”
^ Do the same for each bullet.
Eventually, you will have a solid chunk of content to work.
Remember, these are supposed to be emotional! Reading them over should create a little sting in your heart.
Do not worry if it seems like overkill to you now. It won’t when you write out the whole ad.
Worst case scenario, you can always dial it back when you’re ready to launch your ad. However, it is better to overdo this process than to underdo it!!
Stage 2: The Promise Land
Now that we’ve listed our target audience’s emotions, transformed those into practical situations, it’s time to bring them to the promise land.
How will our job opportunity solve their issues?
Most people only focus on this component with their hiring ads, albeit poorly.
Let me show you an example.
*Insert photo of compensations from hiring ad*
We know what the pay is, what the hours are, and have an idea of the physical demand required. It’s a good first step, but now we have to remind our applicants why these are important to them.
My tip for this is to finish each value proposition with, “...so you can ____ without ____.”
Example:
Original value proposition: “Earn up to $900/week!”
Transformed value proposition: “Top performers may earn up to $900/week, so you can be compensated fairly without worrying about your hard work going unnoticed!”
Original value proposition: “We offer flexible hours.”
Transformed value proposition: “We offer flexible scheduling so you can say ‘goodbye’ to the days of clocking in at an office everyday.”
Do the same task for all your value propositions.
By the end of this exercise, you will have all the pieces of a highly-effective hiring ad for your cleaning business.
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