The newspaper career advertisement shows a motherly, middle-aged woman smiling serenely into the camera. “Experience,” reads the caption. “It's one of our best assets.” Another advertisement shows a mother and daughter hugging. “We offer flexible 4-hour shifts to provide an ideal work/life balance.” These advertisements are the latest attempt by one BC company to target a specific demographic for recruiting potential employees, and it seems to be working.
“It's really too soon to tell the long-term success, but certainly our volume of resumes is increasing and we’re receiving a higher caliber of resumes than usual,” said Kathy Neeves, Human Resources Director for Custom House, a global foreign exchange company headquartered in Victoria.
As good workers become increasingly difficult to find in BC's hot economy, companies are recognizing the need to try new things to attract the right people. For Custom House, the idea of targeting a specific demographic — in their case back-to-work mothers and mature, experienced workers — came from a customer's email suggestion.
Why not aim for back-to-work mothers who have the skills, life experience and commitment that companies like Custom House seek? “Our management team supported this great idea and our HR Advisor Kristina Wright spearheaded the endeavor,” said Kathy.
Custom House decided to test the idea in White Rock and Surrey through newspaper advertisements and posters in community centres. They announced the recruitment of “retail sales consultants” to work the front lines in the retail operations side of their business. “We often have trouble finding people in Surrey and White Rock because of the generally-low unemployment rate in these areas,” said Kathy.
Like most companies, Custom House wants to hire people who are the right fit for the job. Their website states that they want the “best and the brightest — people who are motivated, customer-oriented, and passionate about providing our clients with the very best."
Kathy is hopeful the advertisements will pay off. “When you think retail, you often think high school students. But there's always a demand for mature, dependable, calm people who have different perspectives and talents.” Of course that's not to say they’re excluding any demographic. “We get value from the collective experience and knowledge of everyone who works here,” said Kathy. "We hire for the ‘best fit."
Ultimately it boils down to treating potential recruits like customers. “Recruiting is about sales. What we're really doing is selling a product and the product is the ‘right fit’ for the employee.” Targeting recruitment efforts encourages people with the right fit to respond to your career ads. Hopefully, the application and hiring process becomes more efficient and the quality of employees improves.
A tight labour market doesn't necessarily mean less opportunity to hire the people you need. It means changing recruitment efforts and adapting until you find what works. “It's not good enough to look at what other companies are doing,” said Kathy. “We have to think about how to do things better. We need to think about how to shine.”
