What the most successful salon owners know about RECRUITMENT

Sit down and see what's going on with the Queen of Salons. Hair, beauty, and more successful tips for business owners. All on Build Your Salon. Hello, hello, hello my salon bestie. Your Uncle Phil here again, Queen of Salons, to help you on your salonpreneurial journey. How on earth are you doing? Here we are marching towards the end of January. How's it been for you? Has it been a wonderful start to 2023? I jolly well hope so. Or are we struggling a little bit? Perhaps January hasn't quite been the start of the year that we anticipated. Either way, your Uncle Phil is here to help you, darlings, so why not grab yourself a nice cup of coffee, blow the dust off the last piece of Christmas cake, and let's talk about salon recruitment. Now, this is a topic that always warms the cockles of my heart, because I have a natural affection for salon owners who recruit. I have a natural affinity with people who want to nurture and grow talent inside their businesses. And I'm talking to you now, and I'm talking to you now, not too far off the back of my goal-setting event for 2023. And there were a number of people there who were talking about plans for expansion and recruitment, which I think is a marvellous thing, especially with the uncertainty that seems to drift around the press and drift around our economy on a fairly regular basis these days, let's face it, my dears. So it's wonderful that people are taking the time and have the confidence to grow. But there is also a shortage of decent talent, and this isn't something that, I don't know if this is going to make you feel better or worse, my dear, but this isn't something that's local to your town. It's not even something that's local to your county, your region, or your country, even. This is something that's an international phenomenon. The recruitment of amazing talent seems to be a difficulty in salons around the world. So what do we do? What are the smart salons doing to make sure that they're recruiting the best talent? Well, I've got a few little pointers, some things where I think you might be going wrong, and then we'll talk about some of the stuff that you could be doing to make things right and get some better candidates in front of you. And I suppose my overarching message today is that recruitment is a marketing exercise like any other. And it's about getting your message in front of the right people the right way. And once we break it down into marketing terms, actually, I find recruitment much easier and, in fact, a lot more exciting, too.

And, of course, there's a whole shortlisting and interviewing process which needs to come off the back of that. We can talk about that another day. If that's something that will float your boat, my dear, then please pop me an email, phil at buildyoursalon.com. You know I love hearing from you. So where are people going wrong? Well, of course, I'm starting to get a bit of a reputation for nagging about this, darlings. Of course, we are obsessed with social media. And I'm not saying that social media shouldn't be part of your strategy. Of course it should. Of course we all need to be on social media. Not as much as you think, though, but we can talk about that another day. But my problem with social media is that we're using social media marketing to the exclusion of everything else. Now, social media doesn't work terribly well for salon recruitment. And there's a really obvious, very logical reason for this when you think about it. Because you've spent the last few years building your Instagram account or building your Facebook page to appeal to clients. So when we put a marketing message out there, of course it's not going to do brilliantly, brilliantly well. Because that's not the target market. The target market, unless you're recruiting your clients, which occasionally we do, let's be honest. Particularly for front of house and salon management positions. Some of my best candidates have been existing clients because they understand the culture and value of the business. But if we're recruiting beauty therapists, estheticians or stylists, there's not going to be many of them lurking on your Facebook page. Now, Instagram is a little bit different. You might have a few of them following your work. That seems to be a bit more common on Instagram. But the bulk of the people on your page are going to be your salon clients. They're not going to interact. They're not going to be sharing that post around and responding with direct messages. So the algorithm is going to push that recruitment message very, very low in people's feeds very quickly. So if you're going to use social media, we need to be a little bit smarter. And at all times, I would say 20% of your social media content needs to show what an amazing team you have, what an amazing place it is to work. It needs to be communicating your values, communicating your beliefs.

Because even if people aren't finding your recruitment message on social media, they're going to check you out. They're going to head over to your Facebook page or your Instagram feed and see whether they want to work for you or not. So if 20% of your content shows what an amazing place it is to work, we've got a little bit of social proof. We've got some evidence that you invest in training and that your team is happy in, that you bring cupcakes in on Betty's birthday. And I wouldn't be afraid to increase that percentage during times of active recruitment. So if you're actively recruiting, double it. Let's make 40% of that about the team and what an amazing space it is to work. Second place that I think people are going wrong is their ads are just awful. If your headline is, we are recruiting, well, I'm sorry, but you haven't really got to grips with this marketing message at all. You wouldn't put an ad out to your client saying, we are waxing or we are cutting hair. Why wouldn't you? Well, because it's not interesting to your client. Essentially, people are selfish. They want to hear about the things that are going to improve their lives or impact their lives or take away pain from their lives. They're not interested in what you're doing in your business. And recruitment is no different. And that's true across all marketing, not just recruitment campaigns. No one gives a toss about what you want, what you need or what you do. We've got to make the message appealing to someone who is thinking selfishly. So let's start thinking about what's going through someone's mind when they are thinking of applying for a position. What kind of frame of mind are they in? They need to be convinced that it's time to move because change is uncomfortable. They need convincing that change is actually worth that discomfort and that the grass could be greener the other side of the fence. So what kind of pain could that person be in in order to look at jumping ship and moving to your salon? Well, think about some of the things that you dislike about places you've worked in the past. For example, my very first experience in a salon was very bitchy. Oh, my dears. Those girls loved sharpening their claws on each other's backs day after day after day. And for a little while, let's face it, as an early 20s homosexual, I found it quite funny. But it does get wearing after a while and it does start to bring you down. And it does feel as though you can't trust people in your own workplace. So we've had some excellent success when we've been recruiting in the past with a no bitching guarantee as part of our recruitment.

And I wouldn't be afraid to make that part of your messaging, part of your headline. You know, if you're tired of the bitching at your salon, come to the friendliest salon in town. That's going to get you a lot more traction, a lot more interest from certain candidates than we are recruiting. Or due to expansion, we have opportunities. Oh, my God, I'm boring myself, dears. Or what if we looked at salons that perhaps don't invest in their teams? If you're particularly proud and your team has given you feedback that they're pleased with the amount that you invest in their training in their future. Well, let's put that front and centre. There's lots of salons that don't. So we could put a headline together around and being frustrated that there's no prospects or frustrated that you're not moving forward. Emphasise how awesome you are at investing in training and your appraisal and development programme. And that's going to switch a certain number of candidates on. Or what about a sweet and simple headline? Bored at work? Question mark. We could emphasise the fact that there's variety in the position with you, that you enter competitions, you help out at shows, you have photographic work in magazines and so on. Those are the messages that we need to be getting across, not we are bloody recruiting. And then I think the final thing that is making people a bit wobblier than they need to be is you're starting from zero every time. Let me explain. When we go through a recruitment process, on a fairly regular basis, we come across people who we might want to work with one day, but now is just not the right time. Or sometimes we get a CV through the door and we genuinely can't find room for an excellent candidate because we weren't recruiting at the time. We need to get those people to the stage where we can put them in what I call my little black book. Now, the little black book used to be a physical little black book. Now it's a small database which lives on my computer. And what I would do, if I've got somebody who I'm interested in working with in the future but not right now, have an interview. Don't make it sound like you've got a position if you haven't because that's just going to frustrate people. Be really honest. Say, look, I'm really impressed with your CV. I'd love to have a coffee and a chat, but I must be honest with you, we don't have a position right now. If that interview goes well, keep in touch fairly regularly. I would say at least once a quarter, touch base with that person, figure out where they're at in their career, figure out what opportunities they might be interested in.

Then, when you've got a position that needs filling, you've got some names to get in touch with straight away. And this puts you in a position of much greater power, particularly when we've got an unexpected vacancy. So if you've got somebody that you've suddenly decided has committed gross misconduct and needs to go immediately, it puts you in a stronger position. Or if you've got someone who's going on maternity leave and all of a sudden they've got to go on maternity leave earlier than you thought, it puts you in that stronger position. And I think it puts you in a stronger position when you're dealing with your team as well. If you feel like they've got you over a barrel, if you feel like they're blackmailing you into paying too much or they're getting away with more than they should be because they think they're irreplaceable. It will shift your attitude if you've got a few contact details. Now, when we get in contact with these people, of course, they've not been sat at home for the last three months waiting for your phone call. They've carried on with their lives. And sometimes they won't be able to come and work for you, even though they would love to. Now, here's the really interesting bit. At the end of that conversation, if they've already got a new position in a new salon and they're fairly settled, ask them if they still want you to keep in touch. And what I find fascinating is the answer is nearly always yes. And I think that tells you a lot about the state of mind of seemingly happy employees in your team as well. So let's flip the script a little bit. How can we get some good candidates in front of you? What are the best salons doing when it's time to recruit? My Salon Owners Retreat is a unique event where you get to create the agenda. This isn't a retreat of boring presentations in conference rooms without windows. The entire program is a mix of group coaching, mastermind sessions and one-to-one coaching with me, your favorite salon coach. There's also time built in for implementation. Yes, you're going to leave the retreat having actually got some important work done on your business with our support. Our spring 2023 retreat is now sold out, but you can be the first to hear about the next Salon Owners Retreat and get the very best early bird pricing by heading to buildyoursalon.com and joining our wait list. I can't wait to see you on Salon Owners Retreat. Don't forget your speedos. What are the best salons doing to make sure they've got the right candidates? Well, they're targeting effectively. They're not afraid to polarise in their marketing messages.

They're not afraid to switch off a certain number of people who might think about applying. And the reason we want to do that is we don't want a large volume of unqualified applicants or unsuitable applicants that aren't going to be a right fit. So if you can make your ad polarising, make it so that the right people are really attracted and the wrong people are actually repelled from your message, you're going to save yourself a lot of time and a lot of frustration too. The other thing that brilliant salons do regularly and particularly as part of their recruitment marketing is they're communicating what their business is about, their company culture, their values. Now, if you're of a certain age, if you're a little longer in the tooth like your old Uncle Phil here, this will be new to you because this isn't something that was particularly important when we were looking for positions in our teens and 20s. But younger talented employees will prioritise company culture and values. When they're choosing a job, they want to have something they can buy into. They want a cause they can get behind. And we've got to communicate what our business is all about. Now, this is something actually that I do think social media is good for. This is what I think we should be putting on social media is what we're about. What are our values? What do we believe? What is the company's attitude? What's our stance? What do we want the business to be about? Who's it for? And once we can communicate those missions and goals, once we've identified our values, once we've engaged with our employees and ask for their input on those values too, And once they're finalised, we need to get those values out in our recruitment marketing as well. Those younger people want something to buy into, something to get behind. And you'll see this a lot. Have a look at other people's recruitment marketing. Don't be afraid to poach a decent idea, darling. And have a look at some of the bigger companies that have consulted with recruitment agencies. And you'll see this again and again and again. They communicate what the business is about almost more than they do what the position in the business is about. And finally, they're using social media in a much smarter way. So I've dicked all over the idea of using social media for recruitment. Now I'm going to tell you to use social media for recruitment. What are you on about, Phil? Clarity in your talk, please. Well, we can do a better job with social media by getting the message off your page.

That means we've got to use your clients. We've got to phrase our job ad in a way which encourages your clients to help you get your message off the page. So instead of saying we are recruiting, we need to change that message to help us find. Ask your clients for help to get that message shared. Get it out into local groups, local communities on Facebook. In order to find you excellent candidates. So help us find the next superstar for our salon. And ask for their help in lots of different ways. We don't just have to do it on social media. Your clients used to go somewhere else. Unless they were literally born into your salon and have never been to another salon. They used to go somewhere else for their treatments. They used to go somewhere else for their hair. And they're probably still in touch with a lot of those people too. That's the way that social media works these days. We've got bits of old relationships hanging around our profiles for years and years after. So if we can get our clients interested in finding a brilliant beauty therapist, esthetician or stylist for us. Then they might be using their social media networks in order to find you some excellent candidates. You could even go down the path of rewarding them. We could actually pay our clients for finding us excellent candidates. Now I have offered this in the past. I can't say that I've actually recruited anyone as a result of it. But I have had some excellent interesting interviews. And people have definitely made it into the little black book off the back of client recommendations. So be bold about it. Why not reward them? Because the other alternative is that we could look at using a recruitment agency. Now I've had interesting experience with recruitment agencies. I found that it was a bit cutthroat to be honest. And they were starting to use a few tactics that made me feel a bit icky. And they were starting to use a few tactics that I was a bit concerned about the reputation of my salon. They were talking about sending people into other salons to get hair services. And then having a quiet whisper with people they thought would be a good fit. And that made me feel a bit uncomfortable, a bit icky. So I pulled the plug on this. But the recruitment agency, they cut me a special deal because it was a new relationship. And they were going to charge us £500 for a successful recruit. That was £250 on recruitment and then £250 after three months if they were still there.

So that's £500 that I could be spending in a different way. So if I went to my clients and said, find me an amazing stylist. And if we take them on, we'll pay you £200 or even £500 in hairdressing vouchers. Well, it's not going to cost me any more than it would have done with a recruitment agency. So I've got some budget. I've got some stuff to work with. And as I say, it hasn't worked for me in terms of getting a successful candidate so far. But we have got some really good little black book contacts out of it. While we're on that note, of course, we could be talking to our existing team about it. They went to college with people. They studied cosmetology or hairdressing with people. And I'm sure they're in touch with lots of people that were in the same classes. So why not reward them in the same way? Could we give them a little bonus for finding you a successful candidate? And this has worked for us in the past. We offered our team £200 if they put us in contact with somebody who then came onto the team. Now, the only thing I would be a bit wary of is in my salon, we have our zero bitching tolerance and make our no bitching guarantee as part of our recruitment ad. I don't like cliques. So you've got to be careful. If you're asking people to bring their friends into your business, we've got to be really careful that we're not sowing the seeds at the beginning of a little subsection of your team, a little clique starting to form. We don't want to turn into mean girls. I have, at times, handed out flyers in the street. Now, of course, it never rains, but it pours, doesn't it, darlings? And we've always found that we've kept our teams for a very long time, and then we have a small exodus. And one time, we had a very large exodus, and in fact, over half my team left in the space of three months. So I was doing all of these things and more. I was getting my team involved. I was getting my clients involved. I was using the recruitment agency. And one of the things we did was handing out flyers in the street. Now, I didn't stand outside other salons handing out flyers, but we weren't too far away, if I'm really honest with you. Um, and these flyers were not targeted at stylists. They were targeted at the general public. Help us find a stylist, and we will reward you. Um, and I was, yes, I was that irritating bugger who put stuff under people's windshield wipers as well. And then one little platform that I think everybody overlooks, which seems a bit ironic to me, is, for goodness sake, get a decent poster in the window. Um, they can be really eye-catching. If the messaging makes people smile as well, so much the better. But people gossip. You know, people will pass that message on.

And if you walk past a shop window that's recruiting, and you know your next-door neighbour's looking for work, well, of course you're going to have a little word next time you're gossiping over the garden fence. And the other thing is, if a candidate walks past and they've seen your poster, well, at least you know they can make the journey to work reliably. At least they know where the salon is. And let's face it, in these days, when people are applying for positions, it's so easy to apply for jobs. A lot of the time, they don't know what they're applying for or where you're physically located. So I think a poster can work extremely well. And then finally, you need to go where the people are. And the first thing I would do is type into Google, beauty therapy jobs in your town, and see what comes up first. And you're going to need to be there, because that's the Google search that your candidates are going to be performing. And normally, it will be one of the job boards. Normally, it will be somebody like Indeed will be one of the top search results. And with Indeed, you can put a free ad out there. I certainly wouldn't discourage you from doing it. We've had mixed results. We have better results with front of house and management staff, and much worse results when we're recruiting beauty therapists and hairdressers. But I would definitely put the message out there. If you're using the free version of Indeed, you're going to need to refresh that ad fairly regularly. I'll be looking at that once a week. Also, don't restrict your pool of candidates. So if you've got in mind that you're looking for, let's say, a part-time beauty therapist, put a part-time ad out there, but put a full-time ad out there as well. Because for the right candidate, if somebody was coming to you and they had an existing clientele they were going to bring, you'd make room, wouldn't you? You'd be daft not to these days, let's face it. And similarly, if you're looking for a full-timer, put a part-time job out as well. Because if you get two part-timers, we can fill those hours in a much more flexible way as well. So get as many ads out and as many different versions as possible. Change them regularly. I haven't had much better results by paying to boost my recruitment ad on Indeed, but experiment with it. You've got some budget to play with. It's a marketing exercise, so there should be a marketing budget attached. If you've had any success with any of these ideas, or you've got anything to add, or you disagree with anything, I don't mind. Ping me a line, phil at buildyoursalon.com. You know I love hearing about your amazing success and your beautiful stories. And who knows, I might even feature you in a future episode of this podcast. And if there's a topic you'd like me to explore, if you'd like the pearls of wisdom from the wise old crone of hairdressing and beauty therapy, then please let me know.

I would love to get some ideas that you guys have put forward rather than me just guessing what you need. Also, apologies today if I'm a bit throaty. It sounds like I'm recording this podcast in bed, which is a revolting mental image for you, I'm sure. But I've had the terrible lurgy that everyone's got, and I just couldn't wait any longer. You were going to miss me too hard if I skipped a week. So just seven short days until we're together again, my darlings. Until then, take care. Sit down and see what's going on with the queen of salons. Hair, beauty, and more successful tips for business owners. All on Build Your Salon.