Seasonal Hiring Demand
As a retailer, you know that there are certain spikes in seasonal demand within your business. The increased volume of the holiday season is your #1 time to make a winning impression on your customers. If they have a great experience in your store and with your staff, they are more likely to tell their friends where they shopped and why they’d go back. If for no other reason, this is why it is so important to make sure you are hiring the right employees for your temporary, seasonal positions. Just getting a “warm body” doesn’t work anymore.
It may seem daunting at first, but getting the right seasonal employees hired can be addressed with a few simple strategies: Start early, recruit your customers, and have a process.
Start Early
In order to allow yourself proper time to vet candidates and attract the best, you need to start recruiting and hiring well in advance of the holidays. One reason for this is that it will allow you to get a jump on your competition. Every retail organization is going to see a bump in sales around the holidays and thus have a need for increased staff. Don’t wait until it’s too late and all of the good candidates are selling your competitors products.
Additionally, by starting your process early, you will be able to properly train new staff members. This is critically important to customer experience, as things can become hectic and stressful during a holiday rush. A team member that has not received proper training may add to the customer’s stress level by not providing a great experience.
Recruit Your Customers
Often times, the best seasonal employees may be your regular customers. It makes sense if you think about it – a regular customer is already someone that trusts and is familiar enough with your brand to spend their money at your store, so why not recruit them to create a positive experience for other customers. There are many ways which you can do this, whether it is with signage in the store, flyers you drop into bags, or simply by asking your regulars if they’d like to earn a little bit of extra money during the holidays.
Have a Process
In retail, you have a process for just about everything: opening the store, closing the store, getting cash deposited at the bank, etc. It only makes sense for you to systematize hiring, as well. Having a process in place for your hiring will allow you to make more consistent, predictable hires. This can also help you to save time and money associated with recruiting and hiring.
In order to achieve this, you can consistently prescreen your applicants for certain skills and knowledge required for the job. This way, you don’t have to spend your time with unqualified applicants and can focus your time on those with the skill set suited to your store. You can improve store manager decision making by using benchmark assessments to compare applicants with your best employees. Lastly, having a consistent system through which you are communicating with candidates and tracking your hiring progress allows you to be more efficient and create the predictable results you desire.
With the seasonal hiring push in full swing, CareerPlug can help you to create a process to make hiring easier. While there are many preconceived notions that a software implementation is a long, arduous process, you can have a new careers page and your jobs published on major job boards within 24-48 hours! CareerPlug can also provide tools to help you attract more qualified applicants, evaluate your talent pool more confidently, and ultimately get the right people hired in time for the holiday rush. Contact us today to learn how we can structure a program to help you maximize the hires you are making this holiday season.
To learn more about how CareerPlug can help with your hiring needs, request a demo today or download our free ebook!
