Denver, Colo. (August 22, 2022) – What’s the use of opening a new franchise location if you can’t staff it?
That point isn’t lost on WellBiz Brands Inc. Vice President of Talent Acquisition Tony Zak. He’s well aware of the demand for workers in a post COVID-19 environment – the most demanding economy for workers in decades.
“You can’t open any news source and not see something related to recruiting and workers out there,” Zak says. “I think, in a sense, WellBiz Brands is pretty lucky that it has such an intense focus on recruitment and understanding of who the service providers are and where they apply for jobs.”
But Zak has solutions that can help franchise owners, both old and new, be successful if the franchise owners choose to use them. He knows franchisees across the franchise systems need specialized, licensed talent. And since you can’t pluck just any person out of a job fair to fill a vacancy, it offers unique challenges.
Zak, who has focused on talent acquisition since 2003, got his start as a massage therapist and eventually began working at the school level, focusing on massage therapists getting their first jobs after graduation. Now he is entrenched in everything about talent acquisition with the WellBiz Brands portfolio, including providing resources to help franchisees source talent, engage talent, select and onboard new talent, and also help franchisees engage their existing talent.
WellBiz Brands has always placed a priority on providing resources to help franchisees recruit service providers, a strong selling point for prospective franchisees. It’s about recurring revenue membership and people, Zak says. All new franchise owners learn this through their respective brand’s extensive training course, which covers everything there is to know about talent recruitment, hiring and retention.
From the start, franchisees meet regularly with WellBiz Brand’s Support Center representatives to go through every step of the process including recommended how-to’s of recruiting and retention of service providers using and advertising on job boards and talking to potential candidates who might still be in school.
“You really have to go out and find where these service providers are. You have to get them interested, and that’s what the franchisees learn,” he says. “A lot of the focus is on passive recruiting rather than active recruiting. Go out, find people and get them interested in the business so they eventually come over to work for you. It’s an A-to-Z program.”
While the pandemic has continued to challenge franchise owners who need to hire employees, WellBiz Brands continues to invest in resources for the recruitment team to assist franchise owners in their efforts. Part of that is an investment in technology.
The talent acquisition team’s program uses a top talent acquisition software suite called iCIMS®. iCIMS offers an applicant tracking system and allows franchisees to create a database for recruiting, deploy recruitment marketing materials and keep them organized when working with candidates.
Not all recruiting is done online, however. Building personal relationships is paramount to sustaining a service provider base, Zak says. Getting into local vocational schools to develop relationships with instructors and students is vital for franchisees.
“Just make sure you build meaningful connections with those students so that when they walk across that stage, they’re walking right into your location,” Zak adds.
The learning doesn’t stop after the initial training. Even established franchisees need help, and they can take advantage of smaller, more focused groups with fellow franchisees to discuss specific topics that impact their business.
Some franchisees might need to develop a better resume flow. Others might want to focus on a better selection process, employee retention, deploying drip campaigns or the text message system.
Whatever the need, Zak and his team want to develop what is needed to help support the network of WellBiz Brands franchisees.
“It’s a process that is constantly being refined as WellBiz Brands hears from its brands’ owners,” he says. “WellBiz Brands wants to provide the support that’s really needed.”
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: ©2022 WellBiz Brands, Inc. (“WBB”). Each franchisee location of a WBB portfolio brand is independently owned and operated. Franchise owners (or their designated hiring managers) are solely responsible for all employment and personnel decisions and matters regarding their independently owned and operated locations, including hiring, direction, training, supervision, discipline, discharge, compensation and termination of employment. WBB is not involved in, and is not responsible for, employment and personnel matters and decisions made by any franchise owner. All individuals hired by franchise owners’ studios are their employees, not those of WBB. Benefits vary by independently owned and operated studios. iCIMS® is a registered trademark owned by ICIMS, Inc.
Media Contact:
Jody Ryan
Jryan@wellbizbrands.com
Senior Director of Communications
602.614.0744
