As a spa owner, we always struggled with these things! Tell us what works for you.

Referrels definitely - followed by therapists who have done some research and either walk in or call to learn more about us.

valM

Tough one, because sometimes I think it's just the luck of the draw!

With ads, for example. They don't work well for practitioners, but can work great for front desk staff! But then other times, not work for front desk staff. Because they are either hot or cold, you've got to look at the expense (which is a lot!) as disposable money. There's no predicting results.

Referrals are best of all because one will often find an interested worker before they've hit the street looking. It's the same for the employee: The best jobs are filled before an ad is placed.

Ay-yay... the things I've done to land employees! Here are some of the more off-beat things I've done, but that have worked:

-Regular recruiting at schools. Now, this is only good if you have an apprentice program. And the trick is to do a presentation there. Faxing a flyer to the admin dept and hoping they will post it is futile. I used to do mini-talks about 2x year (me or a staff member) to recruit, looking for who we wanted to hire. I'd pay attention to their graduaton dates and make a point of contacting them then.

-In the salon biz, I've cruised up to people with nice hair cuts/color and asked if they would give my card to their stylist. Now, this is really close to poaching, which is not cool. But with the client being the go-between, I feel it's less direct. I have found hairdressers that way!

-For management positions, I have recruited from retail stores & restaurants. Again, I justify the poaching in that I wasn't recruting other spa/salon's workers. I was looking for someone in a similar skill set that was "keeping their options open." (As a matter of fact, I was poached out of Nordstrom's cosmetic's that way!)

In general, the best employees come to work because they really really want to work for *you.* Nothing beats a great reputation and being known as a great place to work!

I find this is especially where my networking comes in strong. I have been in the biz a very long time and have colleagues and friends across the counry-I think of all the therapists, estys, spa owners and directors etc that are such great resources. It could be the woman I got to know at Vegas in 2003, the person I got a service with when I was traveling through their town, the group of women I took a 2 week classwith in FL 2 years ago or students I met when I spoke at their school. We are all connected!
Since I seem to find jobs for people in the spa and wellness world frequently, I have a dream of having a website that would be a home for networking and the connections that we all need in staffing.

There is such a huge turnover now in all areas of the business-esp Spa Directors-why do you think that is?

I'm biased - as far as spa directors go - but I think it is because a spa director realizes that they actually have to make money ...for the long haul. It's easier to quit and go somewhere else after a year

I sometimes dream of going to work somewhere where the laundry just miraculously arrives (with no labor, utility or chemical charges), and the rent and utilities are folded into the sqare footage of a resort.

I'll never forget being at ISPA and listing to a spa director at a hotel property gloat about their 35% profit margin (while many of us just kind of shrivelled) .... and then finding out what he *didn't* have to pay for!!!

ValM