How to find good staff.

[Marley&Me]

When I look for jobs I like to get the local paper first. I find all the good jobs are in the local paper. I also check online, seek and career one mostly.
But one thing I always check is how long and detailed the job advertisement is. If I see a two liner in the paper that is very brief about the position I will generally give it a miss unless I'm desperate. This is because IMHO the employer is too tight to pay for a decent add therefore will pay terrible or they are just plain lazy. Nothing worse than a stingy boss who will probably cut heaps of corners in the workplace!

[Phteven]

Personally I like to spend money where I think there is a good ROI. Bonuses for staff and quality equipment pay for themselves. Paying for extra lines in job ads doesn't seem like a good investment to me and nor does spending my time writing long ads.

K2B, we're still tossing up whether to put someone on in Sydney or Canberra but if we go with Canberra I'll PM you

[kitten2b]

thanks

[LuluHB]

I've used to always used consultants/agencies on the basis that while they cost a fortune, if the person you hired is not as good as their resume (and hey, that never happens does it?!?!) then you don't have to pay the fee and the agency is the one that wastes most of its time in finding someone to fit.

We then switched to Seek when it grew in popularity.

TBH the most success we've ever had with new people other than one brilliant receptionist through an agency was word of mouth. The industry I was in was so small, so you got to know everybody quite well and it was relatively easy to put the feelers out and occasionally poach ;-) Not sure if your industry lends itself to this though.

Good luck. I hope the process isn't too painful. I think getting good people is right up there as one of the hardest things about doing business.

[Muppity]

Canberra is a really hard market to find good staff for a reasonable price because the commonwealth pays so well. We have a lady in my office who is effectively a receptionist and she is on $55k plus 14.9%super and while she is great I think it is a huge amount to open mail and take phone messages.

That probably isn't actually much help for you though.

It may be easier to open an Adelaide office

[Phteven]

Sydney is looking good. For same price as our large, attractive office in Sydney we can rent a small, dark place with old carpet in Canberra.