Shelby County Schools Part I: Recruiting talent in a crunch

ServiceMaster by Stratos recently began working with Shelby County Schools. To highlight the relationship and everything that went into starting off the partnership on the right foot, we are publishing a four-part series focused on recruitment, training, operations and scope of work.

With the Shelby County Schools partnership, Stratos increased its service partner roster by more than 72 percent! Currently, Stratos provides custodial services for 45 schools throughout the county, reaching from Downtown Memphis up to northwest and northeast corners of Shelby County. After the contract was inked, more than 200 new service partners had to be brought on board to assist in servicing the facilities. Boy, did we have some quick work to do!

Before Stratos began working with Shelby County Schools, applications were only taken during a two-hour period on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once school officials called on us to handle the professional custodial services, recruitment efforts had to be put into overdrive to say the least. Through word-of-mouth from current service partners, our human resources department interviewed close to 400 applicants!

Stratos first held a three-hour job fair at Messick Adult Center on a Saturday, giving us  the chance to meet with potential team members face-to-face to share what the company is all about. More than 350 people showed up! Thankfully, Stratos leadership had pushed to have applications available online to help streamline the hiring process. A dozen iPads were set up for attendees to complete applications. And, when the lines got long, they hopped on their smartphones. Technology in the form of WiFi and paperless applications definitely came to the rescue that day. Our team experienced just how progressive we have become in the world of business.

Additional interviews were held at Stratos’ office in waves as we learned of new facilities we were taking on under the Shelby County Schools’ umbrella. Since the position requires individuals to work in close proximity to thousands of children, each candidate undergoes a fingerprint scan and a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation background check as part of the screening process.

Believe it our not, our talented team was able to get all of this done, in addition to their usual day-to-day tasks, in just three short months! With hiring taken care of and no time to waste, our training staff got to work preparing the new team members. Stay tuned for Part II of this series to learn how we made sure our service partners were ready to rock before the first school bell rang.