First step as a franchisee: recruiting

Recruiting the already employed

You’ve found that franchise that was the perfect fit for you and your future goals. You have signed the FDD, you’ve begun training, and now you’re ready to officially get your business up and running. But to do so, you need good workers.

If you are a new franchisee struggling to find good help, you may want to try some non-traditional recruiting methods. We have come up with some out-of-the-box strategies that we find to be particularly helpful for trades franchisees looking for experienced tradesmen, with special attention to recruiting the already employed!

Recruiting should be the first step in your franchise journey, simply because without a team, and without workers, you cannot do the job. You may have the proven systems, you may have the business experience, the managerial skills, and the plan and budget for success laid out, but if you don’t have a skilled team to do the actual work, how much does the rest of it truly mean?

Recruiting is particularly important if you are opening up a trades franchise. Great, experienced trades workers are not easy to come by. As a new trades franchisee, you likely have experience in business, sales, maybe even accounting or finance, but you may not have any construction or trades experience, and that’s ok! However, in order to produce the work and your final product, you need a skilled crew.

We learned through our experience in recruiting our crews that good help in the trades industry, comes from recruiting the already employed! “I realized after some time of hiring and firing, that the best source of prospective employees was the ones that were already working,” said Brothers Gutters Richmond, VA Franchisee. “In tapping that source I have established an awesome conscientious crew that reflects and meets the quality and expectations every client deserves,” he said. By recruiting experienced tradesmen, these workers will also already know how to handle working outside in various weather conditions, which is very important. The perfect candidate to recruit that is already employed would be someone working within the trades that is overworked and underappreciated. Those that are already employed are unlikely to leave their existing job, unless you can offer something they are lacking at their current position.

At The Brothers that just do Gutters we have come up with something we call a Skills Ladder for our field workers, franchise wide. Within this Skills Ladder, there are outlined skills, training, and education that needs to be completed at each stage before advancing to the next level on the ladder. Having a Skills Ladder, in writing, clearly indicating when, and how each crew member can move up, in pay and position, is not common in the trades industry and helps to eliminate the “I’ve heard this before” feeling that comes from empty promises. In the trades industry, many workers continually hear these promises of promotion but are treated unfairly by their employer and they find these promises to be empty. By recruiting these experienced tradesmen who are feeling underappreciated, you can provide them with a unique experience and work atmosphere of appreciation they are likely craving, while also recruiting a skilled team that can help elevate you and your business to success.

Interested in opening your own The Brothers that just do Gutters franchise location? TAKE THE NEXT STEP