Seasonal hiring rewards the organizations that plan for it, and it calls for a different approach from year-round recruiting. With Black Friday just over five weeks away, on November 27, and Christmas a little over nine weeks out, many organizations are already hiring. In our summer hiring post, Seasonal Hiring Isn’t a Walk on the Beach, we highlighted the strategic elements of a seasonal hiring program. Now that the days are darker and the timelines are shorter, it’s time to focus on the system and process side: how your ATS and hiring workflow can be set up to handle the holiday rush. We’ve even provided a four-week plan to get you ready for the holiday hiring rush.
Make Applying Fast, Especially on a Phone
How long does it take a candidate to apply for your seasonal roles? Holiday candidates are often comparing several openings at once, and a short, simple application is one of the most effective changes you can make.
Start with the basics. Keep the application short, make the resume optional where it suits the role, and confirm the process works well on a phone. If your career site supports it, a seasonal landing page that goes straight to the open roles helps candidates find what they need quickly. A practical test: ask a colleague to apply from their phone and time it. What you learn from that is usually more useful than any report.
Let the System Absorb the Volume
What happens to the hundredth application of the day? Automation lets your recruiters spend their time on candidates instead of administration.
Screening and knockout questions about availability, shifts, and location can sort applicants as they arrive. Automated acknowledgements and status updates keep candidates informed without anyone having to write each message. Self-scheduling for interviews or group sessions removes much of the back-and-forth.
Texting is a particularly good fit for seasonal roles, because candidates tend to respond to a text faster than to an email. ICIMS Text Engagement is a strong example. It is built into the ICIMS Talent Cloud, so text conversations stay connected to the candidate record, and recruiters can text candidates individually or run a campaign for a larger hiring push. Candidates can also pick their own interview times by text. For a Black Friday rush, that can save a lot of scheduling time. If you already use ICIMS, the holiday season is a good reason to confirm these features are switched on and working as intended.
Shorten the Path from Offer to First Day
Where does time go between a candidate saying yes and their first shift? Seasonal hires are often available for a short window, so every day between offer and start counts.
This matters most for Black Friday roles, where new hires need to be onboarded and ready before the busiest weekend of the year. Look at each step in that stretch. Pre-approved requisitions and a simplified approval chain keep offers moving. Offer templates save drafting time. Background check and I-9 integrations reduce manual follow-up, and capturing the start date at offer makes the handoff to your HRIS or onboarding tool cleaner. A new hire who has a smooth first week is also more likely to return next season.
Prepare Your People, Permissions, and Reporting
Who will be working in the system during peak weeks, and can they do it? Seasonal hiring often means temporary recruiters and additional hiring managers, so it helps to sort out access before the rush rather than during it.
Review user roles, permissions, and available licenses for anyone joining the process. Then set up a simple view of how things are going: time to fill, application drop-off, and volume by location. Having these numbers in front of you lets you adjust while the season is still in progress, including during the Christmas push, when last-minute hiring often continues well into December. Afterward, consider keeping strong candidates in a talent pool and tagging returning seasonal workers, so next year starts with a head start.
(Optional) Take It Further: A Separate Seasonal Workflow
Ready for the next level? Organizations with the time and system flexibility can build a dedicated workflow just for seasonal hires, with its own stages, requisition templates, and pooled requisitions for high-volume roles. Seasonal candidates and reporting stay cleanly separated, and the setup can be reused each season.
Greenhouse is a good example of a system that makes this practical, because it lets you specify the workflow steps on each requisition. A seasonal job can have a shorter set of stages than a permanent one, without changing anything else in your process.
This is an advanced option, and it will not be practical for every organization or every system. Building it well takes planning, configuration, and testing. The first four steps apply on any platform, and if they are in place, a seasonal workflow is a good way to build on them. We are happy to talk through what it could look like in your setup.
Our Four-Week Plan
1. Week of Oct. 19: Review
- Apply to one of your own seasonal roles on a phone and note every point of friction.
- Walk through your current workflow from application to offer and list where candidates wait.
- Check which automations, templates, and screening questions are already available in your ATS.
2. Week of Oct. 26: Build
- Shorten the application and update screening questions.
- Set up or refresh candidate communications and self-scheduling.
- Confirm roles, permissions, and licenses for temporary users.
3. Week of Nov. 2: Test
- Run test applications from start to finish, including mobile.
- Use a sandbox if your platform offers one, and confirm integrations such as background checks and onboarding.
- Check that your dashboard or report shows what you need.
4. Week of Nov. 9: Finalize
- Fix any issues found in testing.
- Brief recruiters and hiring managers on what has changed.
- Set a change freeze for about Friday, November 13, so nothing new is introduced as volume rises.
Nov. 16 -> Blank Friday: Run and Watch
- Review your dashboard on a regular schedule, such as twice a week.
- Make only small, planned adjustments, and keep a list of larger ideas for later.
Black Friday -> Christmas: Keep hiring, keep it steady
- Many organizations continue hiring into mid-December. The same setup carries through, so there is no need to rebuild anything.
- Watch for candidate drop-off and slow approvals, and adjust small things only.
January: Review
- Look at what worked, tag strong candidates for your talent pool, and note improvements for next season.
Where to Go From Here?
A well-prepared ATS makes a busy season more manageable for recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates alike. If you would like help reviewing your setup, our System Audit and Optimization and ATS Reporting services are designed for exactly this, and you can schedule a free consultation with one of our solutions consultants. And if you have already prepared your system, we would like to hear what worked for you. Add a comment on our social media or send us a message.