Good place to get retail staff?

Susandublin

Hi guys - just wondering if anyone knows a good place to find retail staff - good qualified retail staff or even a store manager?
I tried the websites where you post the position and facebook etc but quality of candidate is not great. A recruiter is crazy money - 15-20% of annual salary which seems mad.
Thanks

drunkmonkey

See one you like somewhere proposition them. Serious lack of candidates as opposed to a few years ago.

pedronomix

drunkmonkey wrote: »

See one you like somewhere proposition them. Serious lack of candidates as opposed to a few years ago.

This the ideal way to recruit such talent is in their existing work environment. You get to see them in real life action. demeanour, helpfulness, personality and ease with people, 100 times better than the contrived interview situation. Pay over the going rate...still cheap for great people!

Mrs OBumble

Susandublin wrote: »

good qualified retail staff or even a store manager?

What sort of qualification are you looking for?

I know the supermarket chain have management training programmes, but surely they don't apply to non-managers.

antoinolachtnai

If you don't know where to find them, ie you don't have a wide circle of contacts in the industry then it sounds like you need a recruiter. Retail is just an expensive business to be involved in unfortunately.

Hiring people you meet in shops might work but you will have to invest a lot of time. I don't see how you will come off as credible to your prospects unless your brand and location is fairly well known.

A good sales person or manager moving from a secure job in a structured environment to your shop is taking a big risk. Why should they?

I would suggest taking weak and inexperienced staff and training them up. Many of them will move on from you when they are up to speed but them' the strokes. If you need a really good manager to help do this, get them, but be prepared for it to be expensive.

pedronomix

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

If you don't know where to find them, ie you don't have a wide circle of contacts in the industry then it sounds like you need a recruiter. Retail is just an expensive business to be involved in unfortunately.

Hiring people you meet in shops might work but you will have to invest a lot of time. I don't see how you will come off as credible to your prospects unless your brand and location is fairly well known.

A good sales person or manager moving from a secure job in a structured environment to your shop is taking a big risk. Why should they?

I would suggest taking weak and inexperienced staff and training them up. Many of them will move on from you when they are up to speed but them' the strokes. If you need a really good manager to help do this, get them, but be prepared for it to be expensive.

I would not disagree with your points but would add that there are a lot of short hour contract employees out there, especially in retail, where full shift may well appeal.

Every salesperson that came to present to me was actually attending an interview, though they did not know it. The great opener is to ask them if they know of someone that may be interested in a position that you have open. Quite often they would say no, but on occasion, might be interested themselves!!

My experience of recruiters was poor, once the person was there a year they would typically call them with new opportunities. I packed in using them a very long time ago, for this and cost reasons.

newacc2015

May try find people on linkedin who worked in shops with high quality customer service? I worked retail and it was easy to tell who worked in a premium store versus who worked in a Spar quite quickly. I think the most important thing is having a shop that people actually want to work in. There is a certain premium supermarket in Dublin 2, where the staff literally never leave. The managers and owners are amazing. Whereas I have heard from people working in other premium stores that the managers are horrible and the owner over works everyone and pays minimum

IMO treating employees well is as important as finding good staff. I know I quit my retail job after the manager left and I had to deal with an impossible owner directly