Now Hiring? 8 Creative Ways to Advertise Your Open Positions
Whether your business is struggling with the Great Resignation or you re expanding and need more skilled staff on your team, successful hiring always starts in the same place: by getting the word out.
Your pool of applicants will only be as wide and as deep as your efforts to market it so start with the marketing tips and strategies below to make sure your now hiring ads are seen by all the right people!
Curious about the must-have information for a now hiring flyer, poster, yard sign, or other ad? Check out our companion article with tips for copywriting and design!
1. Start at Your Location
The first and most obvious spot to post your now hiring ads would be your physical location (if you have one!). Depending on the nature of your service and the physical layout of your business space, you could post any combination of the following:
- Exterior posters: If you re located in a pedestrian zone, consider hanging some eye-catching now hiring posters from the building s exterior walls. In a more car-friendly area? Then upsizing to a much larger now hiring banner will work better to attract the attention of drivers speeding by.
- Yard signs: If your office or retail space has its own patch of grass and frequent foot traffic, consider staking out a few now hiring yard signs! Depending on the type of business, you could even ask to post yard signs in adjacent neighborhoods or commercial zones.
- Flyers: A stack of now hiring flyers outside your front door, by the cash register, or right inside your store s entry can go a long way toward getting the word out. Be sure they re stacked in a highly visible location with friendly signage directing visitors to take one (or more!).
- Table tents: Need help staffing your kitchen or front-of-the-house positions? Consider setting out a now hiring table tent that highlights your open positions, job benefits, and how to apply.
2. Put Now Hiring Ads in Packaging
Do you do food delivery or local drop-off? Then stick a few now hiring flyers or brochures in your packaging! Whether it's a box, a bag, or an envelope, there's always room for a flyer.
To increase the chances of someone grabbing the flyer and taking a closer look, you could even add an incentive to catch the eye. For instance, a large BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE headline would definitely make someone look twice, giving you a captive audience for any additional text you put on the flyer like a secondary headline advertising your open positions.
If you design your now hiring flyers online with MyCreativeShop, it s super easy to add customizations like this. You can use our online editor to insert text, images, branding, and more.
3. Attend In-Person or Digital Events
One cost-effective way to spread the word about your company s open positions is to go where the applicants already are! If you don t have any industry-specific expos or exhibits coming up, consider inquiring about general hiring events with these local institutions:
- High schools
- Universities
- Community colleges
- Vocational schools
- Post-graduate licensing/certification schools
- Business associations/bureaus
- Local chambers of commerce
- Employment-focused nonprofits
- Community/business development centers
Once you ve signed up for an exhibition or job fair, be sure to stock your booth with print flyers, business cards, and now hiring brochures. A large now hiring banner can also help attract attention to your booth!
4. Find Local Partners to Spread the Word
In addition to the dedicated training and educational centers covered in the previous tip, you may also find a pool of great job applicants by working with complimentary service providers in your local area.
For instance, if you own a gym or a yoga studio, consider partnering with a local nutrition/supplement store. In exchange for the business displaying your now hiring posters, you could offer a small discount to their patrons. Mutual partnerships like these can grow over time, helping both businesses reach more customers (and more qualified job applicants!).
A similar option would be to partner with local community events. By paying a small fee to sponsor an event, you can advertise your business generally and your job openings at the same a win-win!
Not sure where to start? This article has lots of tips and ideas for finding local community events.
5. Post Now Hiring Ads Locally
Especially for local positions, it will be helpful to canvas your community with ads describing the job openings available. Here are a few places to get started:
- Community bulletin boards
- Local town hall or government buildings
- Nonprofit community centers
- Churches
- Coffee shops
- Laundromats
- Announcement boards at grocery stores
- Public gyms or parks (if allowed)
You could post flyers or posters on walls, set out stacks of brochures, or even go door-hanging in local neighborhoods!
A door-hanging initiative would be most successful if you re fairly certain that the residents of a certain neighborhood are likely to fit your ideal candidate. For example, if you re looking for teenagers who want a part-time job, you could leave door hangers in local neighborhoods that are particularly family-friendly or near a good school.
Get more tips on neighborhood marketing with door hangers!
6. Rely on Your Network
Another effective way to find qualified staff is to tap into the network of employees you already have. Do they have friends, family members, or spouses who are looking for work?
You can make it easier for your current employees to refer people by providing a now hiring flyer for them to hand out. The easier you make it for your employees, the more likely they are to follow through. You could even sweeten the deal by offering some kind of bonus (whether a financial bonus, a services coupon, or an in-kind gift) for every successful hire they refer.
Your personal network can be a rich resource, too! Don t be afraid to ask around your own friends and family. Again, providing a simple flyer can help the person spread the word without having to remember a bunch of details about the job opening or how to apply.
7. Take Your Efforts on the Go
While the most successful marketing efforts are planned and purposeful, sometimes you just get lucky. If you happen to run into someone who s looking for a job and who seems like a good fit for your business, make sure you re prepared!
At the very least, try to have business cards available wherever you go. If you re carrying a purse, briefcase, or laptop bag, you could keep a stash of your now hiring flyers or brochures in there, too.
Don't have a business card you love? Check out some awesome business card ideas, or get started designing a business card online to match your now hiring flyers.
8. Combine Print and Digital
In-person advertising is a fantastic way to find local job applicants, but it s never a bad idea to cast a wide net. In addition to all of your in-person marketing efforts, be sure to make use of digital channels, too! These could include:
- Posting on your social media page (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Sending out your job posting via your email newsletter
- Running paid advertisements on search engines or social media
- Asking your social network to share your now hiring posts
- Posting job advertisements on dedicated hiring sites
Did you know? When you design your now hiring flyers with MyCreativeShop, you can easily use the same design for digital marketing, too. Once you've finished customizing your flyer, simply choose the download option to get a web-quality image that you can upload to social media or any website!
Design Your Now Hiring Flyers, Posters, Banners, and More
From giant banners to portable business cards, you can design all of the now hiring materials listed above with MyCreativeShop. Check out our now hiring poster templates, customize the design in your browser, and order professional prints. You'll be ready to start your hiring push quicker than ever!