Finding Employees
Public Services. Every state has an employment service with local offices to help you recruit employees. The office will screen applicants to see if they have the skills you want.
Fee-based Searches. An employment agency will be able to perform background checks and aptitude tests. Another recent development is online job sites such as Monster.com, which provide a large pool of prospective employees, but unfortunately do not offer the screening services that employment agencies do not have. In exchange for these services, the employer will pay a fee to the employment agency.
Interns. Colleges and universities usually have a program where students can work part time or volunteer as interns in order to learn about your business. When you contact a school, you have to have a clear idea of the benefits your intern will receive by working with you. However, because of the nature of the intern program, if you are looking for someone to do solely clerical work, you should probably hire low-cost help instead.
“Help Wanted”. Putting a sign in your window is one of the oldest and most reliable recruitment tools because it is free. However, it can also attract unqualified applicants and make it difficult to talk to prospective applicants while conducting business at the same time.
Alternative Staffing Solutions. Most small businesses will have to deal with unexpected personnel shortages, so entrepreneurs will need to look at alternative staffing solutions, as detailed below:
Temporary Help Services. If you hire a temporary personnel service, they will hire the employees and then assign those with the necessary skills to your company. The service will also be the one that does the payroll, bookkeeping, taxes, workers’ compensation, and all employee costs. The advantage is that workers are quickly available because they can start the day after you request workers and sometimes even the same day. You have to pay more money to a firm, but you will save money recruiting, record-keeping, training, and overtime. It is not appropriate for a business to use a temporary help firm if they need a temporary worker for six months or longer or for jobs that require extensive supervision.
Employee Leasing. This refers to activities that are similar to employing temporary personnel or to a co-employment arrangement of professional employee organizations.
Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) or Co-employment. The PEO will co-employ your current work force and will become a legal employer who is responsible for payroll, record-keeping, benefits and services, and also participates in hiring, evaluation, and firing. Using this type of system will save you time that you had been spending on employment-related paperwork. It will also improve your access to employee benefits and create uniform and easily audited records. Additionally, you will get professional advice on human resource issues. However, there are some disadvantages. For example, some employers may be under a labor union contract or in a state with a law that prohibits you from using co-employment arrangements. Additionally, if you use this type of service, you are often required to have the value of one full payroll in an escrow or trust account, which can be difficult for a company that has cash flow problems.
Service Contracting. If your business does not need work frequently or if the work is very specialized, it may be more economical for you to contract a service instead of hiring permanent employees. These types of services include security, janitorial, data processing, etc. Using this type of service involves into entering into a contract with a business to perform specific services. The contracting firm will provide the staff, pay them, and supervise them. When you are looking for a company, you should ask for references from other companies that have used the service, certificates that the service has the proper liability and coverage for its employees, copies of any required licenses, a warranty or guarantee on the quality of the work, and a clear, detailed payment schedule. You should also contact your legal counsel to review your documents before signing. |
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