Are you leaving money on the table?

Jordan is the regional manager for the T-Mobile stores in Northeast Wisconsin. I met Jordan last Saturday because my wife and I were tired of the incredibly slow speeds we were getting from our current home internet provider. I started researching major carriers, but the cable companies that have the highest speeds are not available in our town — population 697. What did we expect?

After searching we found one company, T-Mobile, that was able to provide home internet to our house. It wasn't a MiFi device, but a real router and internet device based on 5G cellular service. (You may have heard their ads recently.)

As Jordan's team was filling out the paperwork for the transaction, I couldn't help myself. Here was our conversation:

Jeff: What's your biggest challenge as a regional manager?

Jordan: Finding staff.

Jeff: How many do you need right now?

Jordan: Probably about 20-30 people in the region right now.

Jeff: Wow, that must be costing you a lot in lost revenue and scheduling headaches.

Jordan: Thousands, it's so frustrating, I can't find anyone who wants to work weekends.

Jeff: Where are you looking?

Jordan: The usual online sites where you pay to see resumes.

Jeff: How's that working for you?

Jordan: It's not.

Jeff: Have you ever considered radio to try to find people?

Jordan: Wow, I never thought of it, even though I listen every day!

I took the chance to share the key reasons to use radio to recruit employees:

Radio enables you to recruit from your competitors (listen at work)

Radio lowers acquisition costs and lowers nonqualified applicants

Radio appeals to passive job seekers

Radio can be targeted based on format/audience

Radio has low/no-cost production

Radio creates an emotional appeal

Here's the key takeaway: T-Mobile is a national company. As local media sellers, we generally bypass national companies because those buys come through the rep firm or from national. When I asked Jordan if he had a budget for recruiting, he told me that all he has to do is ask, and they provide the funds at the local level for him to spend as he determines. A national company with a local budget and local decision-maker.

Since I don't currently work in a radio station day-to-day, I sent a note to one of the local managers I know. Kelly had a rep in Jordan's store within 24 hours of getting my email. Dan, the local rep was able to secure approval for a $4,000 recruitment schedule.

Always be looking for an opportunity to solve problems for people, even national companies. Most of them — heck, almost everyone, is looking for employees right now, and that is definitely a problem we can help them solve.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can all so connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.