Expert Roundup: Hiring Tips for Moving Companies

We asked the experts: What hiring tips do you have for moving companies? Below you’ll find tips from experts at moving companies and recruitment firms that will help you attract, hire, and retain new team members.

1. Kate Hart, Removals and Relocation Manager, Fantastic Services

When looking for members for our teams, there are three requirements that have to be met:

a) A Clean Driving Record

No endorsement of the license, penalty points and so on. We are checking for any kind of “red flags” before handing over the keys to a branded vehicle.

b) Calm and Relaxed

The person we are hiring must be “untiltable” as they say nowadays. The movers are constantly on the road, dealing with traffic, dealing with clients, doing some heavy lifting and on top of it all on the schedule. You need to keep calm and effective.

c) We are Not Looking Only for Muscles

Some of the guys interviewed in the past thought that muscles are all you need to do this job. That is not the case. We are looking for people who lift smart, not hard.

2. Sophie Miles, VP of HR and Co-Founder, CalculatorBuddy.com

How to Find, Hire and Retain Good Team Members

Strategically speaking, effective talent acquisition — attracting and hiring top talent — is all about employer branding.

Moving companies, especially large ones, wisely spend a lot of time, creative brain power, and money on their branding in order to set and convey high expectations for their services. Your moving company also needs to define and communicate to potential candidates who you are, why they should want to join the team, and what employees can expect, thereby initiating a compelling candidate experience.

a. Focus on the Person, not the Current Job Opening

When looking for new team members, I often look for people, not only the position or preparation. It’s easy for people to talk about skills and work experience, but you get a more complete picture by going into behavior that describes how a person thinks and what they like to do outside of work. Will they be a fit with the company?

b. Build a Long-Term Relationship

The days of post and wait are gone. Recruiting has become an art of relationship management. Candidates can be found in social media forums, through networking, by research, or by referral. When you contact your candidates through these platforms, you are beginning to build a relationship right away. Invest yourself into getting to know them — it will help you make a successful hiring offer, as well as help them decide to work with you.

c. Hiring Future Leaders of Moving Companies

One recruiting tactic that works especially well is offering a concrete opportunity of growth in your company, through a commitment to teaching and advising them in a specific area. If you commit to helping a new team member grow within the company, for example from packer, to driver, to estimator or manager, they’ll be more emotionally invested in your company.

3. Sharon DeLay, MBA, GO-HR

The employer actually has a lot of work to do before posting the job ad, including clearly identifying and articulating WHY someone would want to work for the employer. This information can be conveyed through the Employer Value Proposition (EVP) that is stated on the company’s social media sites, website career page, job posting, and any marketing literature, including any “best employer” recognition applications, etc.

The EVP includes information about the total rewards (compensation and benefits), culture, values, vision, mission, etc. It should be presented from the employees’ perspective, not HR’s or the employer’s.

Establish an Interview Process

Include WHO will be doing all of the interviews, WHAT questions you will ask, and other details that will allow the interview process to flow smoothly and rapidly. It’s a candidate’s market and if employers don’t move fast, they’ll lose out on good candidates.

Have a Plan

Have a development plan identified and ready to go before the person is even hired. This is important to people and they will ask about this during the interview process. People want to know what opportunities they will have.

Compensation Research

Do salary surveys and understand what the market is paying for similar work, not just what other moving companies are paying. Consider your compensation strategy and define a pay range of about 20%, that is competitive, and so you’ll know your playing field.

The entire recruiting process is as much an opportunity for the employer to sell itself as it is for the candidate to sell him/herself. Look at it with a critical eye and look at all the candidate touchpoints. This will matter when trying to keep a candidate engaged.

Communication

Communicate throughout the process. Invite employees (good ones) to participate in interviewing candidates. It says a lot about companies who do this.

4. Danielle Kunkle Roberts, Co-Founder of Boomer Benefits

When consumers are choosing a moving company, they are considering two primary factors: cost and trustworthiness. So how do you hire employees that you can trust at the right price? College students!

One of the best things that moving companies can do is position themselves as a college-friendly workplace. You will find students that need extra money but are also counting on getting an excellent reference from you one day when they move on in their career.

If you treat your employees well, you can count on your student employees referring their peers when they move on.

Lastly, this approach to hiring also gives you an excellent angle to market. Customers will love to know their local college students are the ones helping them move!

5. Kelli Gardener, GroomandStyle.com 

What does the millennial generation look for when applying for a new job?