As organizations start to wrap up their summer hiring campaigns, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on seasonal hiring and its unique challenges and opportunities. Whether an organization is in hospitality and ramping up for the summer or winter season, or a professional one is taking advantage of summer break to bring in and develop new young talent, they must constantly refine and update their attraction and retention strategies. Employers that fail to do this will face high turnover, a poor return on their TA (Talent Acquisition) investments, and steep opportunity costs as roles go unfilled and the best talent flows to their competition. What can employers do to build a sustainable and effective seasonal hiring program?
The Challenges of Seasonal Hiring
First, you have to offer compelling opportunities for your seasonal hires. The wages must be competitive, the hours must be reasonable, and the benefits must be market-appropriate and fair. Whether someone is a summer programming intern or selling Popsicles on the Boardwalk, they will expect fair pay. We were all kids once, and we all remember that one job you knew you could get at the last minute if you were too lazy to look for a good one. The job had terrible pay and hours, but was always hiring after everyone else had a good job lined up? Whether running a Fortune 500 Company or a hot dog cart, you don’t want to be that employer.
Second, you must have the right resources and processes to handle the ebbs and flows of seasonal hiring, which is where consultants like Velocity HCM can help. Whether you’re hiring a big batch of summer students for your office or staffing up your retail operation for the Holidays, your systems and personnel need to be flexible enough to accommodate the increased volumes at peak season, while staying efficient during slower periods. Your ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) should have dedicated workflows optimized for your seasonal hires, and you should have a process optimized for higher volumes and quicker turnarounds. You may need to assign dedicated personnel.
Most importantly, as with all recruitment, you must find your candidates where they are. Doing so requires targeted outreach at their schools and homes, communications strategies that align with their expectations, and the ability to respond quickly. Having a way for applicants to apply for your seasonal jobs quickly and easily is no longer a luxury.
In addition to the above, you still need to do everything you do for your regular hires. A user-friendly recruitment and onboarding experience will help to ensure higher-quality hires, better retention, and a higher rate of return. Whether investing in future superstar employees or looking for dependable seasonal hires who will return year after year, please don’t wait for their first day to give them a good first impression.
If you think your company could use help with any or all of these critical seasonal hiring topics, or if you’d like to talk through what you’re currently doing to ensure you’re staying current, click the link to schedule a free consultation with one of our solutions consultants. If you’ve already figured this out without our help, we’d love to hear about it; add a comment on our social media, or drop us a message!
