Although customers are among the most neglected sources of potential employees, more and more companies are starting to recognize the hiring potential of customers and actively work with it. This is the idea John Sullivan, world-renowned consultant in the field of human resources and current professor of management at San Francisco State University, opens his article about recruiting customers on ere.net with.
According to him, customers are almost ideal candidates to work in your company because the already know your company and use your products. A good thing is also the fact that you already know a lot about them. Reaching customers with a job offer is simple and cheap. In addition, you can expect to find a lot of passive candidates among them that you might otherwise not address so easily. If your customer base is very diverse, there is also the advantage of greater diversity in your teams. Longtime customers will know your company's values and therefore learn faster. Even if you do not hitre them, they can be a valuable source of references for you and become even more loyal customers thanks to your interest.
Sullivan summarized the best practices in recruiting customers as follows:
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Involve employees and teach them how to identify customers to recommend as potential employees.
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Let customers know publicly that you want to hire them. Do not raise general announcements such as "Help wanted." Rather choose a slogan meaning "Great customers can be great employees."
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Place flyers with job offers to your stores and give them to customers while shopping.
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Use social media on which your customers follow you.
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Try printing jobs offers on receipts or use QR codes.
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Focus on the members of your loyalty programs.
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Print job offers for customers of employee uniforms.
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Place recruitment banners on your web sites most visited by your customers.
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Publish a message on customer recruitment in regularly distributed newsletters and promotional materials.
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Involve the message on customer recruitment in your call center communication.
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Organize a recruitment event in one of your stores.
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Offer a discount for the customers who will apply for your job offers.
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If you participate in fairs, integrate the information about customer recruitment in your booths.
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