Top Tips for Recruitment

Previously we’ve shared with you our top tips for surviving the British weather when out doing recruitment work.  This week Amy in our recruitment team shares her top five tips for a better recruitment campaign.

As we look ahead to 2013 there is a clear aim at the forefront of NHS trusts agendas – to build a membership that is representative of the local community. In advance of submitting reports and plans to Monitor, NHS trusts are reviewing the representation of their membership.

MES are currently working alongside South Western Ambulance Service to recruit over 1000 public members. We have been visiting trust sites, libraries, supermarkets, shopping centres and leisure centres in order to speak to members of the public.

Within the next few months, we will also be carrying out targeted recruitment campaigns for Dudley & Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, North Bristol NHS Trust, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership NHS Trust. The majority of NHS trusts are finding that young people and men are not well represented in their membership, and are therefore looking at ways to increase these two groups. To help you achieve this we’d like to share our experience of membership recruitment (we recruited 53,000 members for 20+ Trusts in 2012) and below are 5 top tips for recruitment:

1.     Approach members of the public in a polite, friendly manner and with a big smile on your face

2.     When targeting men arrange to recruit at locations where you will find a high footfall, such as gyms, homeware stores and sports stadiums  

3.     When aiming to recruit young people in the community try and begin the recruitment work during half term. Organise bookings at cinemas, leisure centres and skate parks

4.     Members of the public are extremely fond of promotional materials - provide them with pens, hand-outs and information sheets

5.     Thorough research and planning leads to successful recruitment. Build a good relationship with the lead contacts at venues and ensure that they are fully informed of the benefits of becoming a member of the trust

 

We hope that these tips will be helpful for you in terms of recruiting new members.