Finding and Hiring Employees from Outside Your Geographic Area

How to attract, hire and relocate the best employees for your small business

By LaRita Heet, Freelance Writer, Journalist, IBT Designer, LMH Communications

You’ve searched the entire city – or so it seems – and still haven’t found the right candidate for the job. It’s time to think outside the box – or at least, outside your geographic area. Here are the top three considerations in hiring out-of-town employees:
1. Cast a broad net in your search.
2. Hire recruiting pros to help you find the best candidate.
3. Offer valuable relocation incentives, including sign-on bonuses and flexible, individualized plans. Here are the most effective solutions for hiring workers from outside your geographic area:

Post job ads online

Run, do not walk, to your computer, and post those ads. Yes, it’s time to hit the Internet, where countless job seekers spend the majority of their time and energy looking for that perfect position.
Try: Top employer resource Vault has 1,000,000+ job seekers visit their Job Boards. Vault is known for its strong college Campus Marketing, too, which reaches colleges nationwide. At Vault, you can post a single job listing for only $125, or unlimited jobs for as low as $99/month. Check out popular Monster to search resumes and post jobs, or Craigslist to post job ads according to industry and within specific cities worldwide.

Appeal to your audience

Place ads with appropriate national or international trade magazines and professional associations so you can appeal directly to the audience of job seekers you’re trying to find.
Try: Visit the Directory of Associations for a searchable database of more than 5,000 worldwide associations and non-profit groups, or go to the Free Trade Magazine Source for a list of free industry and trade publications.

Hire a national search firm

To find the best person for the job, you might need to turn to the pros in matching jobs and candidates. Their fees are easily justified when you think about the time, expense, and aggravation your own nationwide search would have cost you.
Try: Not sure you want to spend the money to hire a firm? Go to Gevity HR, where their Recruiting Calculator can show you the true costs of doing your own recruiting. Go to Workforce Solutions to take advantage of their hiring expertise.

Offer flexible relocation options

Your relocation program should be flexible and as individualized to your employee’s situation as possible.
Try: Leave it to MasterCard to come up with a great, out-of-the-box solution to the ever-changing issues of relocation: The MasterCard Relocation Card, which allows you to consolidate relocation expenses, set individual controls and limits, and empower your new employee to make the move without having to cover costs out of his own pocket. Check out Prudential Financial’s Relocation Services to learn about the ways they assist in employee relocations for companies of all sizes. For a variety of free relocation seminars, click on the “Web Seminars” link in the right margin.

Think smart: Expand your search to include recent college graduates, who tend not to be deeply rooted in one location, and are often excited at the adventure of moving to a new city.
Give them a sample: Many companies provide cost-of-living comparisons and offer pre-decision area tours before the job candidate makes his final decision about accepting the job.
Show them the money: Offer your potential new employee a sign-on bonus (the amount depends on your budget and the job level) that is separate from the relocation package.
Review practices: Make sure you periodically check over your relocation practices to keep your benefits at a competitive level.
Give them a hand: Some relocation packages provide benefits, such as temporary housing, tax assistance, and home finding, designed to minimize the new employee’s out-of-pocket expenditures.