Franchise Recruitment: Everything You Need to Know

Franchise recruitment is often the biggest challenge for franchise owners, and it’s becoming more and more difficult. According to the National Skills Commission’s annual Skills Priority List, a third of Australia’s occupations face critical shortages. 

Franchise recruitment is a priority. Attracting the best candidates is imperative to your future growth plans.

Additionally, mis-hires can cost you as a franchisor deeply in terms of profits, time, and energy, so take steps to ensure you recruit the right people the first time. 

The idea that those who say they want to run their own business are capable is too simplistic. Also, assuming those who have the means to buy (or raise the money) is no indicator of capability. 

It is important to understand that the franchisee/franchisor relationship is long-term and has consequences for both parties if things turn sour.

People can make or break a franchise, so get franchise recruitment right the first time by following these steps.

1. Create a franchisee recruitment profile

Good franchise opportunities come with excellent training and development. Therefore extensive experience in running a business is not necessary. But there are some basic skills and personality traits that cannot be learned.

By creating a franchisee profile, you can eliminate people who will not thrive as your franchisee, no matter how much support and training you give them, saving you potentially many years of frustration.

There are three aspects to creating a franchisee profile. The first is finance, the second is skills, knowledge, and experience, and the third is personality traits.

Finance 

This should go without saying, but it’s incredible how many people spend time and effort speaking to candidates without finding out if they can afford the franchise fee.

Both parties waste time if the candidate lacks financial capacity, regardless of their skills or personality traits.

Therefore, be transparent from the beginning with the franchise fee and ask questions regarding how they plan to pay or raise finances. 

Skills, knowledge, and experience

As a franchisor, you will likely expect basic skills, knowledge, experience, and business acumen from your potential franchisees.

For example, a van-operated ‘handyman’ service franchisor may expect candidates with manual dexterity and the willingness to work outside in all weather conditions. A management type of franchise could call for operational experience, customer relations skills, leadership skills, a head for sales figures, etc. 

Even sales skills can be a factor. While most franchises will train new franchisees on best practices for selling, it’s almost impossible to train people who have zero previous sales experience. 

Analyse successful existing franchisees

A good strategy to help a franchisor build out their franchisee recruitment profile is for them to analyse existing franchisees who are successful.

What skills and experience did these existing franchisees have in common before starting? What personality traits do these existing franchisees share?

Once you’ve determined the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience, construct a skills matrix. List the skills down the left-hand side and add columns marked 1-5 across the top. This allows you to ‘grade’ each skill. 

Use this matrix when assessing application forms to select candidates worth interviewing. You can also use it for jogging your memory when conducting interviews.

Personal traits

Even with financial capability and the right skills, knowledge, and experience, there is no guarantee of a successful franchisee.

Personality traits are a huge indicator of success. However, they are also the most difficult to ascertain out of all three factors. You cannot accurately judge personality traits as they are not related to education, knowledge, financial capability, or intelligence. 

It’s why psychometric testing is recommended. These tests are designed to give you a window into someone’s true personality. 

Regardless of industry, sector, franchise size, etc., certain personality traits, such as sales orientation, coping under pressure, and working within a set framework, are universally sought. 

Other desired personality traits could be dependent on the type of franchise.

Several great companies offer psychometric testing and grading, and they are worth every cent in helping franchisors find the right potential franchisees. 

2. Attract ideal prospective franchisees to your recruitment process

Now that you have your franchisee profile, you need to attract the perfect candidates to your franchise.

There are two steps - selecting the advertising medium and advertising itself.

Selecting the media

The franchise sector has its own website, magazines, and exhibitions. 

For example, the Franchising Expo is held in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney every year.

Published three times a year, The Franchise Review features news, issues, case studies, and commentary.

And Eden Exchange is one of Australia's premier franchise networks and marketplaces.

Then there are franchise recruitment websites, social media, and traditional offline channels.

Which medium(s) a franchisor chooses will depend on their franchise's sector and the information they gathered when creating their franchisee profile. 

The cost of a stand at a well-known exhibition can run into thousands of dollars but can be well worth it if you know your prospective franchisees will attend. 

Or if they’re likely to ‘hang out’ on an online marketplace, make sure you advertise there. 

Advertise

Franchisor advertisements give potential candidates more information about who you are and what you are looking for in prospective franchisees. 

Use your franchise profile to create tailored advertising that precisely targets your ideal candidates. Remember, quality franchisees are better than quantity. 

Advertisements must be attention-grabbing while avoiding hype. It will take someone five seconds to decide whether to read further or move on. It is best to avoid long sentences and small print.

Make sure you communicate your franchise's unique selling points clearly and simply, such as new products or services, help with lead generation, a long-established business, guaranteed income for the first year, extensive help with a business plan, etc. 

Prospective franchisees want to understand what the business is, what support is available to them, how much it will cost them, and how much income they can expect. 

3. Candidate selection

The final step is to select your candidates. 

A structured selection method in your franchisee recruitment process allows you to find quality candidates that are a perfect fit.

But just as important is the impression it makes on candidates. It will improve trust and credibility in your franchise because it reflects the franchisor's management style.

An applicant's commitment should be confirmed through a deposit at some point. Also, you should put together standard letters for situations, such as confidentiality agreements, legal documentation, disclosure document, response packs, and the franchise agreement.

The interview

Nervous candidates are expected, but interviews can be nerve-wracking for interviewers too. 

This can lead to poor interviewing techniques. An example is talking about the opportunity for 80 per cent of the time, and the candidate only speaks 20 per cent of the time. 

This is an opportunity for you to assess candidates for their long-term suitability for the position. Therefore you must take time to get to know your candidates.

A great piece of advice is to have a slide presentation on a laptop detailing the key points of the franchise and what you wish to cover succinctly. Then let your candidates speak for the majority of the interview.  

Another issue is interviewers asking general questions about experience, strengths, and weaknesses. While these are important, ask yourself what you want to know that is specific to your industry or franchise. 

Also, asking competency-based questions gives a realistic insight into a candidate’s experience and skills rather than just asking them to talk about their experience. 

A great tip is to invite the candidate’s partner or spouse. Becoming a business owner is a huge step, and your candidate will likely need support, especially in the beginning, while establishing their business.

Also, interview a variety of candidates. Don’t just interview two or three people, as you’re not giving yourself a chance to find the best candidates. 

Psychometric testing is a must. However, it’s up to you when you wish to introduce it. 

Some franchisors choose to do the psychometric testing first as a filtering process so there are fewer candidates to interview. This could be a good strategy if you have far too many candidates.

On the other hand, some franchisors will conduct face-to-face first interviews and only ask successful candidates to come back for psychometric testing. The approach is up to you. 

Finally, obtain a second, third, or even fourth opinion from management or other key people in your organisation, if necessary. You can’t afford to recruit the wrong people. 

Selection

At this point, if you’ve followed the above steps, you would have asked the right questions and integrated psychometric testing, which means you will have identified ideal prospective franchisees. 

If your organisation carries out background checks, this is the time to do so. So long as both parties decide to proceed, you will be ready to enter into the franchise agreement.

Franchise recruitment in 2022

Skills shortages are worsening in Australia. During the recent October Federal Budget, additional funds and staff were allocated to help employers fill labour shortages by reducing the visa backlog.

However, as you can see from the above steps, you can attract and recruit the best franchise candidates with a little strategy and forethought.