Do you need to hire more staff for your business? There’s a lot of intricacies involved as I’m sure you know. Here are some innovative tips to make sure you make a better hire.

1.         Make a Viral Video Ad

If you choose to post a job ad on Gumtree or another similar site you will have to pay for it, so why not invest some money in a creative recruitment video on Instagram and Facebook to see what happens. A 15-second video ad that you watch go viral is a good place to start. If it fails to go as you had planned, it will at least help build your brand awareness and drive new customers to your business.

Instagram and Facebook combined have more than 3 billion active users monthly and can serve as great platforms for helping you reach out to the best candidates for recruiting as your new hospitality staff.

The targeting functionality offered by Facebook based on location, gender, interests, and age will help you get the ad in front of the most relevant audience, thus ensuring that you only attract the best people to apply for the hospitality job opening you have.

Video advertising has really taken off in the past few years, as evidenced in the launch of features and apps such as Facebook Live and IGTV, and creating a 15-second quirky commercial can really benefit your business.

It is advisable to include attention-grabbing visuals, a compelling story, and a catchy jingle to increase the chances of a potential candidate remembering your ad, potentially sending in an application, and increasing the word-of-mouth.

Sell your business and employer brand i.e. make the candidates want to work for you. Upon completion of your masterpiece, share it on YouTube and Facebook and throw several dollars on it.

Pro Tip: Make a great landing page for the job ad, include a link to the video ad, and start watching the applications roll in.

If you need cool ideas for your quirky video ads, you can try the following ideas:

–           Videos of hospitality staff sharing the reasons why they love to work for you

–           A selfie-style vlog that showcases the hospitality staff, work environment, and culture

–           A Day in the Life of Alvin, a <<insert company name>> bartender

Ensure that your ad is as memorable and awesome as possible… you never know, it just might go viral. Keep in mind that, with a HD camera in your pocket i.e. smartphone, and a computer, it does not have to cost an arm and a leg to create good videos.

There are some very amazing video editing tools and apps that you can download straight to your phone or your laptop such as iMovie or Shakr.

2.         Use Fun Treats to Incentivize the Existing Staff

It might not be such a unique idea, but you probably have not tried to incentivize using donuts as a bonus. Here are some ways to get your staff to help you find new recruits:

Have your hospitality staff share your job ad on social media.

Social media can be an amazing tool for discovery of talent that may not necessarily be searching for a new job, but may be attracted to your business if you pitch it as being exciting.

It is impossible to undervalue the power of social sharing and it will save you money on advertising. If just 5 of your staff share the job ad on Facebook, you have probably increased the ad’s reach by not less than 2000 people or more.

A few fun facts about employee referrals:

–           Referred employees accept 15 percent more than non-referral candidates

–           Referred employees perform up to 15 percent better than other types of hires

–           Referred employees have a 25 percent higher retention rate than other types of hires

That’s a great deal of compounded cost savings for your business if you consider the time and costs involved in recruitment, training, and onboarding.

3.         Hand Out Recruitment Cards

Attitude is one if the biggest factors that defines the quality of service of your hospitality staff. It is understandable that it isn’t easy to find good hospitality staff with great personalities and skills. So, this next creative recruitment strategy might just help you attract and recruit the best hospitality staff possible.

Print special business cards for all current employees, with the same contact details, business, as well as the words “Now Hiring” on them.

Ask all employees to have such cards in their possession wherever they go, and if they ever come across a hospitality worker slaying behind the counter, encourage them to hand out a card and tell them that your business is looking for superstar staff members to hire.

It does not matter where you actually meet them; if they made an impression, you should ensure that you get them on your team. The approach attracts a wide variety of diverse candidates with the experience and industry knowledge you are looking for.

The great thing about this approach is that you have already seen your hires in action, which means that you are sure that they are capable of doing the job to your satisfaction. This is something the best recruitment companies, such as PSR do

4.         Search Facebook Groups and LinkedIn

You might be surprised to learn that numerous Facebook groups are solely dedicated to the recruitment of hospitality staff. It is advisable to search for and join relevant recruitment groups specific to your area. Look out for groups with active discussions and lots of members.

The secret to finding great hospitality staff on such groups is actually being an active user. It means that you should not only troll the group discussions in search of people looking for jobs, but also post your own job ads – perhaps even make your 15-second ad and post it on the group to attract the most suitable candidates.