The “I can’t find staff” narrative has been a dominant conversation among salon owners since the return from Covid closures. It’s been going on longer than that though. Talent Match data shows that the shift from the biggest problem is I can’t keep staff to I can’t find staff happened in late 2017.
We work with salon owners all over North America to solve this problem and that has given us lots of places to test what works. Today I want to simplify it for you because the most common pushback I hear from salon owners is “I need staff now. how can I speed this up?”
There is only one way to make this go faster and that is to get started. Every single day you delay hoping for a “magic fix” or “fast solution” is a day longer that you won’t have a solid recruitment pipeline. Building a recruitment pipeline takes work, but it should. Did you come up with your commissions structure quickly? Did you decide your pricing menu over night? Did you build your training program fast? The answer to all of these business operations is no- you took your time to do it because it was an essential business process to your success.
Well, recruiting is the #1 Business process you need to master if you want to grow a sustainable business because staffing is the top driver of revenue growth.
We have been working with salons for 5+ years teaching it and we’ve seen a lot of salon coaches tag onto this. No other salon coach focuses exclusively on recruiting. Humble brag- we helped salons hire over 1800 people last year and 2024 is off to an amazing start.
If you follow these steps, you will start seeing new applicants, come in.
- Understand why this matters: The number one branding strategy of 2024 is Personal Branding. If you translate this to your brand it means that your clients and your future staff want a peak behind the curtain on what is happening in your brand and who you are. They are tired of just seeing what you do.
- Create a plan: The number one thing that stops salons from executing this well is they don’t create a content plan. Meaning they just wake up and decide that day, or at best that week what they want to post about. This doesn’t work. You have to build out a strategy where you decide each day for a minimum of 30 days what you are sharing.
- Why do you need such a detailed plan: You need this plan because you are going to need the support of your team to help you collect content. AKA the videos and pictures to create your posts. You don’t have to do this alone, and you shouldn’t. (in our Bootcamp we teach you exactly how to get your disengaged team, engaged in helping you! But you can start by simply asking them for exactly what you need.
- Start posting: Your posts should showcase your team. I like to think of this as “make your employee the hero of the posts.
- How many should we do: The first answer is just get started and the be consistent. If you can post one time a week then do that. If you can post two times a week then do that. But here is what we have found works based on the size of recruitment pipeline you need.
Salons that are “on the march to a million” or under 1M in sales should post 1-2 reels about their team per week on Instagram.
Salons that are single locations doing 1M-2M should post 3-4 reels per week about their team on Instagram.
Salons that are 2-8 locations doing 2M-50M should be posting 5-7 reels a week about their team on Instagram.
I’m just talking reels, but you should include other types of content as well in your strategy. Posts, stories, shares, etc.
If you are dreaming of your salon growing, then you have to get focused on building a recruiting process. This is the only way you can hire. I know there are a million things in the way of it, but the only way out is through.
Common barriers
- I don’t have time
- There is no one to help me
- I don’t know what to do
- We aren’t Instagram savvy
We help you solve each of these in our Salon Recruiting Bootcamp, available on-demand for salons that are single locations or in a bootcamp for salons that have 2-8 locations. Visit Talent Match Academy to learn more.
