Job ads are advertisements. Seems obvious, right? But job ads for people that want to work in your screen printing or embroidery shop must be written and targeted correctly. Go where the group you're trying to reach hangs out. Speak their language. Mike Chong shows you how to approach hiring for different cohorts. Be ready to speak Spanish. Learn to research, revise, and alter your approach.

1. Hiring Workers for
Your Screen Printing Shop?
Printavo – Simple, online shop management software
www.printavo.com
Speak Spanish and Use Advertising Strategies

2. Introduction
Job ads are advertisements.
Seems obvious, right? But job ads for people that want to
work in your screen printing or embroidery shop must be
written and targeted correctly. Go where the group you're
trying to reach hangs out. Speak their language.
Mike Chong shows you how to approach hiring for different
cohorts. Be ready to speak Spanish. Learn to research, revise,
and alter your approach.

3. Who do you want to hire?
- Do the appropriate demographic research and planning to
find the right employees. Are you near a college campus
with lots of recent graduates, or is there a blue-collar
community near you?
- Wages and competition for workers are high in Oakland.
The labor market is tight and working in a screen printing
shop isn't appealing to everyone. But Mike discovered that
there was a large Latino population that knew how to screen
print near his shop. If present trends hold, by 2030 Latinos
will be the majority ethnicity in Oakland

4. Who do you want to hire?
- Most of his production staff speaks primarily Spanish. As
he's hired more Latinos, being bilingual is an asset. He hired
one bilingual employee who grew into running his
production operation. But Mike is happy to employ workers
that only speak Spanish.
- If you're looking for English speaking staff, Mike advises
using Indeed.

5. How to write Spanish language ads – even if
you don't speak Spanish
- Get help writing the ad. If you already have Spanish
speaking staff, get some help! You can also pay a translator
- Use Google Translate for the basics. You can simply type
"translate English to Spanish" into Google to get a basic
translation.
- Use text or Facebook Messenger instead of the phone. If
you're not confident in your Spanish skills, use that layer to
translate your message.

6. Where to find Spanish-speaking workers
- Target local Spanish language Facebook groups. Local
buying and selling groups can be a great way to get your job
listing out. Keywords: Ventas (sell), compras (buy), la pulga
(like flea market). In Oakland, Mike found ten Facebook
groups with more than 10,000 members. He recommends
posting a high-quality image of the job listing with a brief
description.
- Talk to groups responsible for helping new immigrants
assimilate. Whether that's local churches, nonprofits, or
other outreach organizations, it can be a great resource for
workers.

7. Where to find Spanish-speaking workers
- Post flyers. Simply worded flyers with a tear-away tab and
instructions to text are still an option. Think storefronts,
markets, libraries.
- Go out into the community. Word of mouth from your
current employees and your own involvement in outreach
efforts are the most valuable hiring efforts

8. What process to use for hiring workers
- Post job to relevant Facebook groups. Using the ad he wrote
above, Mike posts to each group and waits for responses.
- Respond quickly via text or Facebook Messenger. Mike
responds as quickly as he can via text or Facebook
Messenger to immediately capture their attention.
- Hold open interviews, not phone screeners. Mike holds open
interviews in the morning and evening. Phone screeners
aren't appropriate for this audience – they take too long and
don't give him the information he needs.

9. What process to use for hiring workers
- Make a shortlist of potential candidates. Take notes. Make
offers quickly and move forward quickly.
- Do a group working interview. You can interview people with
your production team in groups or one-by-one. Read more
about Mike's strategy for in-person interviews below.

10. How to do a group working interview
- Open interviews with your production team are a great
screener. Mike has interviews at 10 AM and 5 PM to
accommodate candidates with jobs.
- First, Mike has the production meet the candidate. The
introduction helps Mike weed out candidates based on
things he may not have noticed. Having more opinions on
each candidate ensures your blind spots are covered. He
takes brief notes on each candidate.

11. How to do a group working interview
- Second, Mike has the best candidates move on to task-
oriented parts of the interview. He'll have the candidates
work with his production team to see how they take orders,
how well they organize and problem solve, and whether
they're a good fit for the team. They'll work for a short
period (15-45 minutes) and then Mike gets feedback from
the team about how everyone did.
- From here, he hires the candidates that fit the team – or
seem eager to learn. Never underestimate someone that
wants to learn how to screen print.

12. Conclusion
- Your goal as a business owner is to find people that can do
the work you need done. You also need people that can do
the work correctly. Whether someone speaks English or
Spanish is irrelevant.
- When you find someone that's enthusiastic, capable, and
focused you can start developing a role for them in your
shop.
- Just like you advertise and market differently to certain
segments of your customers, you should advertise and hire
based on your potential employees' characteristics.

13. Conclusion
- Consider these questions carefully when you're hiring:
• Who your target employees are.
• Where they hang out.
• What they watch and do.
• How you can find them.
• How you can get in front of them.
• How to talk to them so they'll respond.
- The basics of marketing and advertising apply to job
postings. You have to solve a problem and be appealing as a
brand – you can't just ring the dinner bell and expect perfect
candidates to show up.