Recruiting really good entry level employees in the car wash industry has always been a challenge because the image of the industry has traditionally not been very high. In most markets in the U.S. in the past 18 months, it has been even tougher than normal.

The other major change in the business in the last several years has been the proliferation of exterior express washes that employ far less people per location than before. Correspondingly, these employees have to do so much more relative to what employees had to do in the past.

These two changes, tight markets for employment, and expanded job responsibilities, have prompted changes in the whole recruiting process. What follows are changes that many of our clients, as well as other car washes, are already utilizing.

Compensation Relative To The Market

To attract the level of customer service attendant (CSA) needed to perform well and remain with the company, the following is required:

Base Pay

The base hourly wage for a CSA has to be substantially higher than the minimum wage to attract the people who you want to be a successful CSA. There are two reasons for this.

First, the job is more difficult than a comparable skilled job. CSAs are outside in all kinds of weather, they are doing physically demanding work, and they have some serious responsibilities in terms of customer and employee safety. Workers in a fast food establishment or in retail don’t have these challenges at the level of a conveyor car wash.

Second, in the U.S. employment culture, it has become promulgated that $15 an hour should be the minimum wage. To that end, several states have passed legislation bringing the minimum wage up to $15 an hour over time. So, there has been wage inflation and this has to be dealt with by any employer. Be ahead of the curve. Many of the most successful car wash companies already pay $2 to $3 an hour above minimum wage to attract strong employee candidates.

Incentives

Almost all full-service car washes have commissions for sales people and tips as incentives for production workers. In contrast, most exterior express car washes do not have any incentives over and above the hourly wages. Incentives are not necessary but always helpful in any situation.

One incentive used is a bonus for a referral for an employee. Often this bonus will be split up three ways: upon someone showing up for work, after 90 days, and after six months. Many car washes fulfill a large percentage of their hiring needs through referrals.

A second incentive that is occurring more often is individual or location bonuses based on the sale of unlimited monthly programs. Often, 25 to 50 percent of the first month’s fee is used as the commission rate range. Monthly location bonuses based on increasing the net memberships usually reward people at the location in the range of $100+ based on hitting individual location targets.

Recruiting Process

There are several aspects to the recruiting process that need to be addressed to maximize the process of attracting the people who will be most likely to fulfill the job description, as well as be a long-term fit for the job.

Job Description

A written job description that identifies a larger purpose for the position, the desired end results, and the key activities to accomplish those results will assist in attracting the people wanted. For example, millennials want to know why something has to be done and what the larger purpose is instead of being told just to do something.

Profile Behavior

What are the characteristics of a person who a company wants to hire? In the car wash business one of the major reasons for turnover is the nature of the physical activity outside in all kinds of weather. Therefore, finding out what outdoor activities a person has participated in and how much they liked physical exertion outside would be an example of a behavior that might be on the list. And obviously, finding out about their overall level of energy would be successful.

If any kind of behavioral survey is used, a job model can be created and applicants can be evaluated in terms of how well their behaviors match the job model for that position. This survey can be taken even before the in-person interview occurs.

Ad Design

An ad has to be utilized that attracts candidates with the profile for that position, including what the new employee receives that is meaningful to them, instead of having only a list of job requirements. For example, if we want people who like to work hard and like being outside, then saying that the position is “fast-paced work outside” would attract those people. If pay is the top factor in attracting the level of person desired, then putting that at the top of the ad would connect most readily with the person for whom that pay level is most attractive.

Media

Depending on the market, Indeed, Facebook, Snag a Job and Craig’s List are some of the best media and each one has to be tested. Facebook is becoming the new internet and is increasingly becoming the strongest medium. Indeed is the best of the traditional job sites and is in more markets than anyone besides Facebook. This is an aspect of recruiting that has to be continuously monitored.

Initial Processing

If a car wash places an anonymous ad instead of directing people to the company website, the ad will almost always generate more responses. This assumes that the name of the car wash and the fact that it is a car wash is not in the ad. Unfortunately, the car wash industry does not have a positive image and leaving this out of the ad will increase the response. Of course, applicants will be told upon first contact that it is a car wash and, although that will cause some applicants to disconnect, many people will like what they hear enough to pursue the position.

First Screening Call

On the first call, the job is explained and that explanation should include everything that is great about the company. For example, most car washes forget to mention that almost all of their managers in the company have been promoted from within, regardless of their education level, and that they make a very good income. This attracts people who want to move up. It also lessens the image of a “dead-end job with nowhere to go.”

The second part of this call has a few qualifying questions to make sure it is appropriate to set up an interview. Items like work schedule availability, ability to reach which locations, availability to attend an interview, what kind of physical activities have they participated in the past, and any other areas that the company needs to check out before offering an interview.

In-Person Interview

The skill of the interviewer is the third major variable in the ability of a company to attract the right people, as well as sufficient numbers of people to maintain the staffing of the company at optimum levels. If the person interviewing applicants is the Site Manager (SM), then that person needs to be trained to:

Conduct a Professional Interview

The SM needs to be able to review a person’s background and be able to understand what a person has done, how they performed, what they were paid, and why they left. They also have to represent the position in a positive and accurate manner.

Answer Questions Well

A critical skill is the ability of a SM to understand questions, answer them in a complete manner, and be able to follow up on the reasons the questions were asked. For example, a frequently asked question is how flexible is the work schedule? An SM needs to follow up and find out the reason for that question and how much change and flexibility is that applicant talking about.

Make the Hiring Decision

One of the key skills a SM needs to acquire is, after the interview is complete, what is their basis for decision making?

Most managers are too lenient, especially if they are short; or too strict, especially if they are staffed sufficiently. In reality, a SM should be always looking to upgrade his team, especially if there is at least one person who is not doing a sufficient job as a team member.

Retention

How Well They Are Initially Trained

To retain the people who have been offered the position and have accepted the job, the first critical variable is their initial job training.

The first day, the first week, and the first month are critical to increasing a new employee’s desire to stay and work at their new job. Being trained well helps ensure that a new team member is productive, which in turn helps the new employee get started the right way with their peers at the site.

So many new employees, especially younger people, are motivated to stay or go based upon how well they are treated by their peers. Getting off to a good start is really important.

How Well They Are Treated by Their Immediate Supervisor

The single biggest reason that all good employees leave their job is because they were not treated well by their boss. Conversely, if a Site Manager treats their people professionally, they are the exception and as such there is considerable motivation to stay and work for them.

Interestingly enough, this is mostly about communication. When an SM has to tell someone that they did something wrong or have to review an area that they have to improve in, it is more about the way in which this information is conveyed than it is the substance of the situation. If an SM treats their employees with respect, they are more likely to get higher retention than someone who does not.

Compensation/Opportunity

After people have been selected for the position, trained correctly, and managed with respect, the next variable that affects their retention is a belief in an opportunity to grow.

If an entry level employee does not really want to move into management, then the opportunity needs to exist for them to experience some kind of growth and for their compensation to go up at some point.

If someone feels as though no matter how long they are with a company or how proficient they become, that there is no opportunity to earn a raise, this becomes a demotivator that can easily lead to turnover.

Helping employees set career goals for themselves helps people to mentally create the opportunity for growth of some kind. So, compensation is a variable in the area of retention but not quite as high as in the recruiting area.

Car washes are changing their approach to how they attract new employees, as well as beginning to focus much more on their retention of successful employees. Although the tighter markets have driven some of these changes, they really make sense to build a better organization no matter what the human resource picture looks like.