Facebook posts, job boards, print media or job fairs – what is the best method to recruit staff for your cleaning business?
The question about the best methods to recruit staff for a cleaning business was asked on the Maid In Business Facebook page
Cleaning staff are the life force behind growing your cleaning business. You have no business without a team of hard-working cleaners delivering what you promised your client in the quotation. So, what is the best method to recruit staff for your cleaning business?
The cleaning business owner who asked the question had already run print advertisements in their local newspaper several times with no joy.
I would not recommend print media for several reasons
- Print media is expensive
- Print is generally only viewed by an individual once
- Print is in decline
A possible exception to this rule would be running a PR (Public Relations) piece in your local newspaper – A PR piece can be used by linking the online article to your website, socials or recruitment platform, as a PR piece will usually be written in the vain of good news for the local area. For example, “Local cleaning firm expands into a new geographic area” – in this PR piece, you are advertising your business, making your business name and brand known, and it can use as a recruitment tool too, hoorah! It would also create a good backlink to your sites (we will cover backlinks another day).
However, the great majority of people you are looking to attract to your business are more than likely online. Let’s look at other methods to recruit staff for your cleaning business that is more cost-effective and reach a larger audience.
1. Job matching websites.
I recommend the Government website “Universal Job Match” for UK residents, which is essentially the online job centre. It is free to sign up for the service and post, and your vacancy will be displayed in the local job centre area and online.
Another popular job-matching website is Indeed. Indeed is free to sign up for, and it is free to post jobs. Extra functions of indeed are a company page – where you can put directions to your office, pictures of your team, links to reviews from former/current etc, which is an excellent way to welcome and introduce potential staff members to your cleaning business. Another useful function, if you need to recruit in a hurry or are recruiting for more than one cleaner, is to ‘boost’ your advertisement – this means that you pay to feature your job ad at the top of searches and to make your job ad stand out. Typically costs around £1.50 – £5 per day, depending on how many people you need to attract to your business. Although boosting is a paid feature, it is still waaaay cheaper than print!
There are many other recruitment websites like fish4jobs and Monster, to name two well-known sites. It can be trial and error to find a platform that you like to work with, and in my business, I have had great success with Indeed.
2. On your website
(You really, really should have a website). I would recommend having a page dedicated to your cleaning vacancies. You can link to your Indeed vacancies through your website and embed a calendar for folks to book their interview slots. Snazzy eh? The other benefit of having a vacancy page on your website is it allows potential staff members to get a good feel for your business and what your services are, and it allows clients to see how you recruit ad what you offer your staff. It is easy to share your website vacancy page on your social media, in your newsletter or on online job boards, it will drive traffic to your website, and you may pick up some extra business as people click the link to have a nosey.
3. On Social Media
You have gone to great lengths to build a Facebook page or your Instagram or Twitter following, so use them! Create advertisements for your social media platforms to recruit cleaning staff. Someone who follows you may either be looking for work or know somebody who is. Ask your fans and/or followers to share your post. Share the post to your personal profiles and ask your family and friend to share the ads to their networks too. I recommend using Canva to create graphics for your website or social media. Canva has free and paid accounts and is very intuitive to use plus, it will resize your images to fit any social platform (pro account) correctly.
Another excellent use of social media is local job boards. Go to Facebook and search for job boards in your area to post your ad and find local people already looking for work, or search a hashtag on Instagram, e.g. #Manchesterjobs
4. People – Word Of Mouth
You have a lot of people in your network, both business and personal, that can spread the word for you as one of the best methods to recruit staff for your cleaning business. Here is a list of people who can spread the word and the best ways to use this resource.
- Other employees – Get other employees to share your recruitment posts on their socials. Ask staff to refer other potential staff to you that may be their friends or family. You could offer a referral bonus to staff members if they refer a potential cleaner to you and you go on to employ them. In my cleaning business, I would pay the staff member a referral bonus once the new hire had completed their probationary period with me.
- Your friends and family – They know people, right? They may know someone you hadn’t thought of or even know! Ask friends and family to share on their socials or talk to others they think may suit your cleaning business.
- Your local networking and business contacts – You could talk about your vacancies at a networking event, share your vacancy on LinkedIn and ask people to repost it or invite your contacts to share your social or website link to their networks.
- Your clients – put it in your newsletter or client contact page, saying that you are expanding and are looking for staff if they know of anybody. You could also ask them to share on their socials and offer a small incentive like a Costa gift card if you recruit from their referral
5. Recruitment Agencies
Unless you are in dire straits and it is end-of-the-world type recruitment, I recommend staying away from recruitment Agencies (I say this as a past recruitment consultant in another life). Recruitment agencies are expensive, Recruitment agencies are a business, and their business is people. You will have little to no room for a markup (profit) on their agency cost and probably end up running the agency staff member at a loss. Crikey!
However… There are not-for-profit recruitment agencies, government-backed work schemes, and independent training agencies you can work with. These organisations are free or have minimal charges and are packed full of individuals who are eager to return to work.
For those who like a video, here is a vlog to accompany this blog post:
What is your best method for recruiting staff for your cleaning business? Which of the 5 above methods have you used? What methods worked or failed for you? Do you have anything you want to add to this post? Let me know in the comments:
Do you have a question about your cleaning business? Send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram, and I will make a blog or vlog about it
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