Recruiting is like bathing — it's only effective if you do it every day. If you recruit only "when you have the time," you severely limit your ability to attract and hire the best.

If you don't make any recruiting efforts until you actually need to hire someone, it's just like grocery shopping on an empty stomach — you'll grab the first thing that looks good. Feeling pressured to hire someone causes you to be less selective and often results in a bad hiring decision.

Effective recruiting is an ongoing process. It is the same as — and just as important as — your marketing efforts to attract new customers. Effective recruiting is proactive and consistent.

Recruiting doesn't have to be a time-consuming process either. Simply print a recruiting message on the back of your business card:

"We're looking for great people to join our dynamic, fun-loving team. If you'd like to explore employment opportunities with us, call me for a confidential interview."

Give this card to outstanding people you meet when doing your personal shopping and errands as well as at industry events, meetings and community gatherings. Give some to your employees to use, too.

You'll get even better results if you make recruiting everyone's responsibility. An employee referral rewards program is a great way to get your entire staff involved. And be sure to ask your customers and vendors if they know of any good people they could recommend.

You could also give all team members buttons to wear that read, "Ask me about a great place to work."