Attracting Younger Employees to Your Operation

As independent retailers work to find quality employees, one audience that can be tapped into is teenagers and college students. While many in the independent home improvement channel already utilize a younger workforce, for those who don’t, here are some ways to attract these employees.

Thomas Rose, vice president of sales and operations for Weaver’s Ace Hardware in Pennsylvania, turned to technology to attract younger job applicants. In 2021, Rose added a Careers Page to the operation’s website, including the ability for job applicants to submit a video application, an idea he got from a lecture he attended. Along with the video, applicants can apply an online form or bring a paper application into any of the stores.

The Careers Page outlines what Rose is looking for in the video application, which he recommends is 60 seconds or less. In the video, applicants share their name, where they live, phone number, store they are applying for, areas of interest, whether they are currently employed and any special qualifications. Video applicants also share why they want to work for Weaver’s Ace Hardware and a personal goal they hope to achieve while working for the operation.

“I think I’ve had four video responses, and I didn’t hire any of them because fortunately, our operation just doesn’t have a lot of hiring needs,” Rose says.

Rose says that while he hasn’t gotten as much traction from the page and the video application as he had hoped, he believes it will be beneficial in the future to attract young employees. The Careers Page has also allowed Rose to more easily share the company’s culture.

“Culture is brought into the conversation from the very beginning and is a big part of what we do and how we do it,” Rose says. “For us, behaviors supersede KPIs, because KPIs will come with the right behaviors.”

For Buck Hurst, owner of Buck’s Ace Hardware with four locations in Utah, attracting younger generations starts by providing an excellent work culture and building into them as employees. Hurst relies on younger workers to fill spots at his stores and strives to provide the best environment possible for these employees, who for many of them, this is their first job ever.

“I believe in the youth and believe we have a responsibility to them by providing a safe, secure and upward learning place that advances their personal skills in multiple ways and gives them a strong foundation for their future life’s goals,” Hurst says. “That’s the best training ever.”