Guide to Recruiting New Team Members

As a former Senior Sales Director with a major cosmetic company, my focus was recruiting new team members. New team members meant higher monthly wholesale production figures. My monthly wholesale production determined my pay rate and qualified me for director-exclusive company bonuses. Trusting my team to build my business had provided me with some skinny paychecks in the past. After a few months as a new director, I knew that in order to get the best quality team members and earn good pay, I had to rely on myself. Over time and with the help of other directors in the company, I developed a proven system. I created this guide to team-building and grew my organization in just a few months.

Monthly Goal

In order for team members to meet a monthly goal, they have to know what it is. Once you've decided on the number of team members you need in your small business, create a fun promotion. For example, if you need 8 new team members in April, you could call it "Spring Forward with Super Eight." Extend the monthly goal to last for a quarter if your team is new at recruiting. Write it out in black and white! Create flyers, posters and colorful emails to share the information with your organization.

It helps to choose a realistic goal. If your small business is weak on recruitment, starting with a large target may seem impossible. Pick something that is reachable with a little stretching. The best formula for team building is this one.

1. Know your numbers. How many interviews do you hold before you get a shiny new recruit? For example, if you held 10 interviews in June but only received two recruits, that means you recruit one out of five. If you held 20 interviews in April but recruited 10, then you recruit one out of two.

2. Determine how many interviews you will need to get the recruits you want. Work the numbers! If your small business needs five new team members next month hold as many interviews as you need according to your former statistics.

3. Publish the number. Enlist the help of your current team to grow a larger team. Divide up the required interviews among the current team. Get the team involved in recruitment. You may have to hold the interview, but a smart businessperson will extend her sphere of influence by proxy. The best recruits may come from associations with current members of your small business.

Contests

I mentioned promotions but contests are important too. Offer a glitzy prize for achieving the interview goal. Cash is okay, but in my experience glitzy gifts that a person wouldn't buy for themselves motivates better. Don't just offer one gift. Offer a gift to all the team members who meet the interview goal. Give a separate prize for people who are successful at adding team members.

Weekly Updates

Hold weekly meetings to update your team on the goal status. Give kudos to the team members who are bringing new recruits in or are holding interviews. At the meeting, spend some time educating your team on where to look for new team members. You may even wish to team them your recruiting method.