You Can't Find Good People (Because They Can't Find You)

"I can't find good people."

I hear it everywhere. Facebook groups. Industry events. Text threads with other owner/operators. It's become the universal complaint in our industry.

But here's the thing. It's not just us. Talk to anyone running a small business that hires hourly workers and they'll say the same thing. Restaurants. Retail shops. Cleaning services. We're all fishing from the same labor pool, and we're all saying the same thing.

So either there's a nationwide shortage of good human beings, or something else is going on.

I've been thinking about this differently lately. What if the problem isn't finding good people? What if it's attracting them?

What Franchises Figured Out

There's a lot of debate in our industry about whether franchising makes sense for laundromats. That's not what this is about.

What I'm interested in is what successful franchises in other industries have figured out about hiring. Because whatever you think about the franchise model, companies like Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, and Southwest Airlines have clearly cracked something when it comes to building teams. Their turnover is lower. Their employee satisfaction is higher. Their service is more consistent.

What do they know that we don't?

Here's a question I started asking myself. We obsess over what clients see when they look at our business. Google reviews. Social media presence. Clean stores. Professional websites.

But what do potential employees see?

The research on this surprised me. 75% of job seekers look at a company's reputation before they even apply.¹ 86% check reviews when deciding whether to submit an application.²

And here's the one that really stopped me, 67% of people would accept lower pay if the company had positive online reviews.³

Think about that for a second. People will take less money to work somewhere that looks like a good place to be.

That's not a small thing. That's a real opportunity sitting right in front of us. If your laundromat looks like a good place to work, you might not have to outbid everyone else for talent. You just have to look like somewhere worth showing up to.

So when you post "Now Hiring" on Facebook, what does someone see when they click through to learn more? Does your social media ever speak to people who might want to work there? The holiday party. The team wins. The moments that make someone think "I'd want to be part of that" before they even see a job opening.

The Job Posting Challenge

Then there's the job ad itself.

I've seen laundromat postings written like corporate HR documents. Jargon heavy. Endless requirements. College level vocabulary for a role that doesn't require a degree.

But I've also seen the opposite. "Open laundry position. Afternoon shift. Must have experience." That's it. An email address or a phone number.

Both extremes miss the mark.

If you're hiring an attendant, your ideal candidate might read at a high school level. Maybe less. There's nothing wrong with that. They don't need a literature degree to provide great service. But if your posting reads like a legal contract, you've already filtered out good people who couldn't figure out what you were asking for.

And if your posting says almost nothing? You're not giving them enough to know if the job is even right for them. What's the role actually about? What are you looking for? What's the pay?

Speaking of which, if you're not listing pay, 66% of candidates are less likely to even apply.⁴

The Walk-In Trap

Here's something that happens all the time. Someone walks into your laundromat and asks, "Are you hiring?"

No sign in the window. No job posting. They just walk in.

And sometimes, if you need help, it's tempting to say yes and setup an interview.

I've done it. It rarely works out.

Here's the pattern I've noticed. When someone walks in cold and says "I really need a job" or "I'll do anything," they're usually in a desperate spot. And desperation on their side often means a bad fit on yours. They're not choosing your laundromat because they want to work there. They're choosing it because it's there.

That's different from someone who saw your posting, looked you up, and decided to apply. The intention matters.

The Referral Goldmine

Here's something I overlooked for way too long. Your best employees know other good people.

The data on referrals is wild. Referrals make up only 7% of applicants, but they account for 30-40% of all hires.⁵ They convert at a completely different rate.

Even more telling, 45% of referred employees stay four years or longer, compared to just 25% of people hired from job boards who stick around two years.⁶

Your current team is your best recruiting tool. Are you asking them? Are you making it worth their while to bring in people they know or know of?

What If It's Not About Skills?

Here's where it gets interesting.

Research shows 46% of new hires fail within 18 months.⁷ That's nearly half. But only 11% fail because they lacked technical skills.

The other 89%? Attitude. Coachability. Motivation. Temperament.

What if most of us have been selecting for the wrong things?

Chick-fil-A's founder, Truett Cathy, put it simply, "You can teach skills, but you can't teach character."⁸ Their franchisee acceptance rate is 0.5%, more selective than Harvard.⁹ They look for character and chemistry first. Competency comes second. And they're willing to wait for the right person.

In-N-Out runs a similar playbook. All their managers start as hourly associates and get promoted from within. They never hire directly into management. The result? 91% employee satisfaction, the highest in their industry for ten consecutive years.¹⁰

Southwest Airlines built their entire culture around this idea. Their motto: "Hire for attitude, train for skill." They figured out decades ago that you can teach someone to do a job, but you can't teach them to care about doing it well.¹¹

I was talking to Mark Csordos recently on my podcast. He owns a laundromat in New Jersey and wrote a book called The Laundry Bible. His hiring philosophy? "Hire for friendliness. You can teach everything else... I can't teach you to be friendly."

Same insight. Real owner/operator. Not franchise theory.

It echoes something I've said since my days as a elementary school teacher, I can teach you anything except how to be nice.

The Desperation Trap

I've made this mistake myself.

A shift needs filling. Someone quits without notice. I hire the person in front of me even though my gut says it's not right. I tell myself it'll work out.

Nine times out of ten, it doesn't.

Here's what I've learned to do instead. If I'm in a bind and I need to fill a gap fast, I'll bring someone in knowing they might be short term. But I don't stop looking. I keep the search going. And when the right person shows up, whether that's a week later or a month later, I make the switch.

Hiring from desperation is expensive. The average cost of a bad hire runs around $15,000, and that doesn't even count the toll on your team's morale and your clients' experience.¹²

Thinking about the thinking of laundry:
When you realize you can't find good people because good people can't find your laundromat.

The Real Question

Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, and Southwest aren't winning because they pay more. They're winning because they've figured out how to attract quality and select for character.

What would change if we applied that same thinking to our laundromats?

The question isn't whether good people exist. They do.

The question is whether they can find you, and whether you'd recognize them if they did.

That's all I got for you today.

Waleed

PS: A private network for laundry entrepreneurs, get notified when applications open: joinpressed.com

Echoing the thoughts of Simon Sinek.