Recruiting and promoting dynamic CSR even in rural America. (3 easy steps)

If there is a resounding challenge that I hear when I visit agency managers, it is that they are struggling to recruit and retain staff. I have an approach that I believe can allow anyone to hire not just someone, but someone dynamic regardless of the job they are hiring for or where their company is located. I will elaborate some of my theory behind this in the 3 step scheme.

You need people and people are everywhere. It sounds simple, ridiculously obvious even, but don’t give up just yet. Let me give more details. I believe that the way we go about staffing our businesses should adapt to accommodate the many changes that influence life as we know it today. The tried-and-true standard for finding employees would be to post the position or contact a recruiter, with anyone reading this probably already pretty skilled, so my suggestion is perhaps to complete your recruiting process with an alternate approach. And this technique starts with recognizing that you meet potential employees every day, because you have to interact with people every day. Why not slow down and interact with some of these people long enough to gauge potential value?

Let me break them down into steps and examples:

1. Define what you want in your next CSR. Sounds simple again, right? I suggest that you spend a little more time on this particular step, as it will not only help you find who you are looking for, but it will also help you nurture the growth of your already established staff. Think about who would be the best customer service representative within your agency and then take out a notepad (some old-school practices are still my favorites) and write down what attributes or skills you want your potential CSR to have and then rate them on importance. I’ve made a very simplified example below to use when explaining this concept:

1 honesty

2 Positive attitude

3 Friendliness

4 Troubleshooter

5 Indication

6 licensed

7 Previous insurance experience

8 Respectful

9 Quick learning

10 Adaptable

11 Professional appearance

Defining your idea of ​​what you are looking for is half the battle. If you take your time and really think about this step, it will not only help you find an employee, but it will also help you restructure your approach and the expectations of your current staff. Write it. Seriously, this is the key.

2. Keep in mind that the people you meet every day are your potential employees. Now that you have defined what position you are looking to fill, the fun begins. Yes, I said funny. Why does this process have to be tedious? You are looking to bring a person to your workplace with whom you will spend a significant amount of energy and time. Shouldn’t you enjoy the process of meeting people? Hopefully you will. Even those of you who don’t love meeting new people can certainly recognize the importance of the process that I am explaining in this article.

You meet people every day and these are your potential employees. When you run errands, buy groceries, go out to eat, go to the movies, attend social events, or go to church. You meet people and if you start to observe them in a different way you can start a preliminary interview of a possible new employee. Here is an example:

Let’s say you are in a restaurant with a group of friends, your waiter is clearly in a bad place because the restaurant is full and they are 2 short employees. Still the experience is not horrible because of the way the waiter handles the situation. Perhaps he communicates clearly, gives you a snack to keep you satisfied until the food arrives, puts down the pitcher of water, and maintains a good attitude despite the difficult situation he is in because his co-workers did not show up. In this example, your potential employee simply showed you that you had a good attitude, that you were adaptable, and you were also a good problem solver … three of the items on your list (maybe four if your appearance was acceptable). It is worth talking to this person a bit more. Dining in a understaffed restaurant could have resulted in a possible CSR. Seriously, this is really that easy. Is there a super friendly assistant at the dry cleaner that you always hope to see when you take your clothes off? Why? What attributes does this person have that could make them a good employee for you? Think of all the interactions you had in the past week during your daily errands. You can probably recognize some examples even now.

The other wonderful part of this approach is that you can figuratively dip your toes into the water without jumping. You can engage this person in a conversation, ask a few questions, and see if they perhaps employ even more of the qualities that you are looking for. If you like what you hear, ask them to visit your office to see if they might be interested in working with you. Not everyone will be a perfect match or be interested. This is equivalent to running an ad, but your chances are much higher of finding the one that best suits your office.

3. Clearly define your expectations in the role of the new hire. Fast forward: assuming you made it through steps one and two successfully and have now hired a new CSR, the process is not complete. It is equally important to structure the initial phase of bringing someone into a new work environment to ensure that the two of you are communicating properly. Clearly define your expectations within the new hire’s role and let them know what is most important to you and how they can meet your expectations. Commit to a specific time frame in which you will participate in new hire training in daily, weekly and monthly increments and make it a priority. Encourage feedback so the new hire can quickly feel like a part of the new company by engaging in constructive conversations with you and / or supervisors. Lastly, always have the list of what defines ultimate CSR on hand and continually guide your employees to improve in that role. Enroll them in classes, take training, give constructive criticism, encourage them, and reward good behavior.

Simply put, in order for you to have employees who truly follow your company and your expectations, you need to define them clearly and communicate them effectively and frequently.