Coworking spaces yield many benefits to businesses. After all, it’s a facility with state-of-the-art equipment and amenities. It also makes for a great environment where businesses can network for potential leads and referrals.
But you can’t rely on these benefits alone for your coworking space’s success. You still need good people to handle your day-to-day operations. You need good staff for bookkeeping, IT, and marketing, among others. Whether you’re launching a brand new coworking space or already have one, hiring coworking staff is imperative to your business’ growth.
That said, here are four steps for hiring staff for your coworking space.
1. Create Detailed Job Postings
Depending on the workload you’re facing on a daily basis, you likely already have a list of roles you need to fill. Based on your list, create detailed job descriptions that attract qualified applicants.
In your postings, use terms applicants are more likely to use when searching for jobs on your chosen platform. For instance, you might want to use the terms “community manager,” “bookkeeper,” among others, for these posts. This is one way you can make your listing appear on your platform of choice when applicants make search queries.
Make sure you specify the tasks required of each position, too.
This is even more crucial if the job vacancy isn’t something people are likely to be familiar with. Let’s say you’re just setting up your coworking space and you’re looking for an LLC executor. Not everyone knows what exactly that job entails. So, you need to all the more specify that you need someone to give you legal and tax advice, file your articles of organization with the state, and maintain business records. Write these tasks in bullet form to make them easier to read.
Include, too, whether the position involved is a freelance one or full-time.
Specify your services, and your mission and vision. Detail the career growth opportunities awaiting the successful candidate, too.
When hiring coworking staff, you should also let potential applicants know how much they’ll be paid. If you want to attract good candidates, you want to offer more than the minimum wage. Specify, too, the other benefits successful candidates are entitled to like bonuses, leaves, among others.
2. Post and Share Job Listings Across Multiple Platforms
Once you’ve created your job listing, post it on prominent platforms. But don’t just post it on a platform just because. You want to make sure you upload your job listing on sites where your ideal candidates can also be found. This will help you attract the right applicants.
That said, here are some prominent job-hunting platforms you can leverage:
- Indeed
- Glassdoor
- Upwork
Posting on one (or more) of these platforms isn’t enough. You’ll want to promote your listings on your own marketing channels, too. This way, you get to reach more people, and therefore, more potential applicants.
If you have a “Careers” page on your website, you can upload your posting here, too. Or you can announce your job vacancy on your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts. Just include a link to your postings on job platforms so those interested can easily send in their applications.
Here’s another good thing about announcing your job vacancies on your social media marketing channels: you can run ads with tailored targeting parameters. This is another way you can ensure the people apply for the job are actually qualified.
3. Screen Applicants According to Hard and Soft Skills
Once you’ve received applications, you’ll need to perform your initial screening. You’ll want to look at your applicants’ resumes. Then, evaluate them according to their hard and soft skills based on their professional and educational experience. This will help you discard the applicants who probably won’t do well if they get hired for the job.
You’ll put more weight on one type of skill or the other depending on the vacancy you wish to fill.
For instance, for customer-facing roles like sales, you’ll want to look for applicants with soft skills like good people skills.
So, if you don’t have applicants with sales experience, consider those who have had previous experience in customer services who also deal with people. Or, between one new graduate who didn’t join clubs in the university and another who did, you should probably choose the second to move forward in the hiring process.
To fill IT roles for your coworking space, you’ll need to look for hard professional skills. So, for a cybersecurity analyst post, for instance, you should choose applicants with an understanding of how operating systems work. They should also understand the fundamentals of cloud computing and networking.
Some jobs require a mixture of hard and soft skills. For instance, if you’re looking for marketing team members, look for applicants with hard skills such as copywriting and online marketing. They should also be proficient in programs such as Photoshop and Meta Business Suite.
You probably also want someone who has soft skills so they can respond to customers’ comments the way they should on your marketing channels when needed.
Once you’ve properly screened your applicants, you can now send them an email informing them they’ve passed the initial screening. Make sure you verify email addresses before sending your messages, though. You want to make sure your messages reach the intended recipients.
Use your business email address when sending them that email so they won’t think it’s spam.
4. Interview Candidates Based on Culture Fit
When hiring for your coworking office, you’ll likely interview candidates. Interviewing candidates is usually the last step in the hiring process.
But when interviewing, don’t just see if the applicant will be a perfect fit for the position. You also want to ensure they’ll be a perfect fit in your coworking environment.
So, during your interview, you should ask questions to assess for culture fit. Here are some examples:
- How would you describe a successful coworking space company culture?
- How do you handle tight deadlines?
- What motivates you at work?
Assess the candidate’s verbal and non-verbal cues, too, like their facial expressions, body movements, etc… These can give you a glimpse into a candidate’s personality, too.
You should have your ideal employee after the interview stage. Now all you need to do is send a job offer and negotiate. Congratulations!
In closing
Hiring coworking staff with the right skills and attitude is critical to your coworking space’s success. That’s why, as a business owner, you need to ensure your hiring process properly screens applicants.
You learned four steps to follow for hiring coworking staff in this article. Create detailed job posts, post and share those across platforms, and initially assess applicants for their hard and soft skills on paper. Of course you want to give tests, too. Finally, interview your applicants for culture fit.
Follow these steps, and you’ll hire the perfect people who will help you grow your coworking business.
