You’re Hired!
“Many hiring processes take too long,”
says Walstrom. “Technology can help
expedite the process because you need
employees now and job seekers need
jobs now.” Done correctly, he says, “In
most cases there’s no reason you can’t
have an applicant walking onto the job
within 72 to 96 hours from the time the
application is submitted.”
In-person interviewing
is still a critical component
of hiring right, but it can
be difficult to execute well.
Walstrom and others rec-
ommend using a thorough,
concise series of open-ended
questions. The goal is to get
the candidate to open up
about previous jobs, work
experience, and personal-
ity traits.
“I recommend using
what I call a five-part interview question,” says Walstrom. “Rather than just asking How did
you like your last job at Burger King? ask
things like: What kind of work did you do?
What did you like most about the job? What
did you like least about the job? Describe
working with your manager.”
Beyond developing a well-thought-
out list of interview questions, Walstrom
suggests that multi-unit operators should
have one really good interviewer at each
location. “Not all franchisees know what it
takes to succeed in every position in their
units,” he says. “Find in-
dividuals on your crews
who know the jobs and
provide them with the
tools, resources, and
freedom to do the in-
terviewing.”
Best practices
“Hiring right means taking the guesswork out,”
says Monet. When hiring
key employees, franchisees cannot be subjective in their approach,
Automating Tax Credits
Automating the hiring process has a number of benefits for multi-unit franchisees, from speeding the hiring process to helping identify higher- quality candidates. But don’t overlook technology’s ability to help find
tax credits along the way.
JobApp Network was one of the pioneers in screening for tax credit eligibility
during the job application process. CEO Blake Helppie says JobApp is still the
only hiring solution that, by virtue of its phone-based application process (
provided along with its core web product), can screen individuals who don’t have
web access for tax credit eligibility. He says individuals eligible for tax credits
are about twice as likely to apply by phone as those not eligible. “This is what
one would expect, quite frankly, given that most tax credit eligibility ‘buckets’ are
highly correlated to economic factors, like recipients of food stamps and other
government assistance,” he says.
Snagajob offers a tool that not only captures the federal HIRE Act and Work
Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) programs, but also screens for more than
172 state and local hiring incentive programs that can put money back in your
pocket. Here’s how it works.
As part of the job application process, candidates complete a tax-screening
questionnaire that varies based on the address of the candidate and hiring location. Eligibility results are then displayed for the hiring manager, along with the
pre-populated tax credit forms. The hiring manager then has the eligible new
hire sign the forms and submits them.
Another benefit is maximizing your potential tax credits. Since 100 percent
of candidates completing the online application are presented with the tax credit
questionnaire, the system can also easily capture lucrative retroactive credits from
the beginning of the year.
Joe Bocian
There’s
an App
for That!
Hiring by phone just got a lot easier. Snagajob recently launched a new iPhone app
that lets franchise hiring managers find
and hire new hourly employees on
the go. The Snagajob ForEmployers
mobile Hiring Manager app provides
hourly employers with easy access to
detailed information on applicants
and lets users instantly filter to the
best candidates on a simple, streamlined dashboard—right in the palm of
their hand—and then call or email job
candidates directly from the phone.
“You don’t
want your store
managers making
rushed decisions
when it comes to
hiring.”
—Joe Bocian
Helppie recommends developing
interview questions by specific job position and the needs and requirements
of each. He says these questions should
be used consistently with every candidate. In addition, hiring managers can
use candidate-specific probes based on
assessment results to investigate any areas of potential concern and to confirm
areas of strength. “While automated
hiring solutions can pre-screen to get
you to the top 20 percent of candidates
