By Megan Stanish
If youre looking to fill a position at your self-storage facility, you may be considering the use of social media as a way to drum up candidates. Twitter allows you to attract followers who match your company culture, generating better potential hires.
According to eMarketer, which provides research and analysis on digital marketing and media, and the Pew Research Center, a non-profit organization providing information on American issues, attitudes and trends, approximately 8 percent of U.S. Internet users were members of Twitter as of March. That number may not sound impressive, but theres a good reason to focus some of your limited employee-recruiting energy on Twitter: Company culture.
Article after article, study after study, and expert after expert declare that one of the top predictors of new-hire retention is culture fit. If you have an exceptional employee who doesnt match the cultural expectations and norms of your organization, its almost a given that his tenure will be shorter than that of someone who fits inoften by his own decision.
Your people are your culture. If you infuse positive staff into your company and ensure they stay, particularly in leadership ranks, their positivity will be mirrored throughout the organizationlikewise with other attributes, such as aggression, ethical behavior, negativity or perseverance. As management leans, so lean the employees.
Consider Employment Brand
A recent Cornell University study of 102,000 users and 129 million tweets over the course of six months (Happiness is assortative in online social networks, by Johan Bollen, Bruno Gonçalves, Guangchen Ruan and Huina Mao) revealed that Twitter users tend to follow others who have similar natures to their own. Positive, upbeat tweeps follow other positive, upbeat tweeps, while individuals of a pessimistic nature tend to follow others like them. Employers seeking great job candidates need to give serious consideration to their employment brandthe true heart and soul of their organizationsand if they are reflecting that brand in their companys tweets.
If you only tweet job listings and the occasional flat notice about an event, you may attract only serious, unemotional followers focused strictly on business. By that same token, if you seek to hire innovative individuals or lifelong learners, tweet about exciting ideas your organization is exploring or links to articles citing industry predictions. If you pride yourself on employee appreciation, demonstrate that publicly through your tweets. You get the idea.
As with any marketing effort, ensure your messages are market-appropriate and wont get you into a legal bind. If you cover these bases and make sure your message appeals to your candidate poolin tone as well as contentTwitter can greatly support and enhance your efforts to hire exceptional employees who are a great culture fit.
Megan Stanish, director of client services for Michaels Wilder, has been involved in recruiting and recruitment marketing since 1994. Her professional experience includes client support, operations and management. She provides guidance on recruiting and employment trends, recruitment marketing, and interactive tools and social media. Michaels Wilder is a marketing and talent-management services company delivering Internet, mobile, print and broadcast advertising solutions. For more information, call 800.423.6468; visit www.michaelswilder.com .
Hiring Tips for Owners
By Amy Campbell
When it comes to finding the right person to manage your self-storage investment, there are several things to consider. Because so many diverse tasks are expected of a facility manager, not everyone is right for the role. Here are three tips owners can use when evaluating candidates for employment.
1. A good resume. Look for people who have organization skills, sales experience and attention to detail. Is the resume riddled with grammatical and spelling errors? Or are there large gaps of unemployment? Is the resume clear and focused or disorganized and filled with information that has nothing to do with the position in which theyre applying? All of these could be red flags.
2. What to ask during the interview. The interview process is your chance to determine if the person in front of you is a good fit for your self-storage operation. Of course, you want a manager with a positive attitude; but also ask questions about previous job performance so you can get a sense of how hell perform on the job. Ask for examples of past accomplishments, how he handles stressful situations and what hes looking for in a job.
3. Conduct a background check. Unfortunately, there are shady people out there, and its your job to protect your staff, tenants and business by not hiring one of them. Your managers will have access to financial records, personal information and cash on a daily basis. Making sure theyre good citizens and not in a critical financial situation of their own is always worth the investment. You may also want to include drug testing.
