The last of the spring weather is (finally) in the rearview mirror. For most people, that means looking forward to summer; for us lucky few in the Talent Acquisition profession, it means preparing for “summer hiring”. For businesses large and small, summer student hires represent opportunities to increase sales, develop new talent, and respond to seasonal market behavior.
How you prepare for summer can make or break your program, or potentially your business. In today’s article, we look at some common hiring challenges facing businesses and how to best prepare for them. We might even toss in a free hint or two about how to best use your technology.
Summer is Coming...
Summer is looming on the horizon, and summer 2025 brings with it both old and new hiring challenges. Whether you’re hiring skilled workers through internships, summer training programs, or unskilled labor to handle the summer rush, it’s essential to understand these challenges.
Almost every sector of the economy faces a labor shortage, and that trend will not abate in 2025.
- For organizations hiring skilled workers, this means outcompeting similar employers in employment terms and in how your program is constructed. Are you targeting the right schools? Are you communicating your message effectively? Are you first off the starting line?
- Many of the challenges for unskilled workers are the same, but the specifics require a different strategy. In a competition for warm bodies, the best way to achieve success is to be fast and agile and to provide a user-friendly way for candidates to apply.
The days of students taking the first job that fell into their laps, offering pocket money, have long passed. Everyone from highly talented technology interns to lifeguards and wait staff comes into jobs with measurable salary expectations.
- Salaries for skilled summer hires must outclass industry rivals and be commensurate with the hire’s skill and training level. Your skilled summer hires aren’t a gopher, and they’ll demand to be paid accordingly.
- The dynamic is different for unskilled hires, but the challenge remains. Where summer student hires used to be happy with a bit of extra cash in their pocket, increasing tuition and housing costs have motivated them to seek out jobs that pay living wages. This is no longer negotiable in most major employment markets.
One of the byproducts of an extremely tight and competitive labour market is that compensation and convenience aren’t the only factors that new hires will consider when choosing an employer. “Fit” is critical for every role:
- For skilled labor roles, summer hires will expect roles where they get meaningful opportunities to engage in technically challenging work. They want the opportunity to learn and develop, and will expect mentorship and potentially post-graduate career pathways. They may prefer (or demand) remote working opportunities.
- For non-skilled roles, the biggest challenge will be meeting changing expectations about work environments. Some candidates will expect remote/hybrid roles even when they are impractical. Others may lack customer service skills or experience in a professional environment. Hiring plans need to account for potential gaps between skills required/available and between expectations and reality of the workers.
... are you ready?
So, how can your organization prepare for these challenges? The specific solutions will vary depending on the industry, market, and nature of the role. There are, however, some common points to consider:
- Ensure that your application process is as lightweight and easy as possible. Patience for lengthy application forms is at an all-time low, and the tight market gives applicants more power than ever.
- Ensure that your compensation and workplace environment are competitive and that you are open about them. If your compensation and work aren’t a selling point, you’re not going to hire the best.
- Lastly, be prepared! The best day to plan for new hires is always yesterday. The next best is today. The will market will not let you be slow out of the starting block.
If you follow the steps above, you can build a summer hiring plan that will attract the best possible candidates and ensure a rewarding engagement. If you need help developing a strategy or deploying it, we are always just an email or a phone call away.
