Why is recruiting people so hard?

[AntirhinumMajus]

I run a small business

I consistently have a 'shift' that I struggle to fill

I pay over the rates my competitors pay
I have (reasonably) nice people to work with
I have fairly generous holiday

But it just isn't popular - I can't change the times of the shift.

Is this problem solvable?

i thnking this job would appeal to me

i am 45 with grown kids but no qualification,

would be able to offer training or retraining

i have known a lot of the older age people like to do the afternoon shift as they have dogs or other people to care for in morning and evening

One problem with providing training is that once someone is qualified, they may move on to another job. Probably more an issue with younger staff than older, though still a potential issue.

Also in childcare there must be a certain percentage of qualified staff on duty at any given time, so it may not be possible for the person to be unqualified or in-training.

Karen2010 - where would you look for such a job? What sort of places - such as village postoffice / newsagents window, church/village magazine - would you look online... how?
What about how the job was described... would you expect the advert to say x amount per hour, or give an annual gross salary?

nick
where i look for a job would be local paper which is also on line now
and gumtree
learn about gumtree from mumnets
and I look for x amount per hour

but I think the word i would look for in ad is retraining as the word training I think would mean young person wanted.

I understand about training and then moving on but you can write into the contact.
also if you are in place where there are not many jobs once you get someone of certain age they stay.

Thanks Karen2010, I hope that is of some help to AntirhinumMajus. It is useful to know how someone who would be considering such a job would actually go about looking for one and what they would expect to see in an advert.

its been a long time since i have had to use daycare type nursery for my dc. when ds1 was in nursery, they stayed open till 7pm. anything less than that wouldnt have worked for us. which is why i am surprised that you are only open till six.

Only been asked for after 6 once in nearly 8 years & that was til 8:00 - so I said no

Thanks for all this info - it is really great - much appreciated

The main thing that strikes me is that it's probably not enough hours for a lot of people.

You've been given some really detailed advice though, so hopefully that may help you work out what's going on.

Thanks for this everyone

I will be changing the ads & maybe adding in some of the benefits

Plus maybe changing the salary structure

I do appreciate all your help