Recruiting Strategy

Ramping up your seasonal hiring

Ramping up your seasonal hiring
Orla Hodnett

Orla Hodnett

HireHive

With the holiday season fast approaching, it may be time to start hiring temporary staff to meet the seasonal increase in business. It is no small feat to hire a team of seasonal staff, train them, deal with onboarding, integrate into your existing team and meet workplace needs.

This is part of our Recruiting Strategy series

It has to be said, there is no easy way to plan for your fluctuating needs, but with a bit of planning, you can recruit a seasonal team that will knock it out of the park. Seasonal recruiting needs a bit of a different approach, with a few extra considerations. Here are a few tips to help you with your seasonal recruiting drive.

By using online recruiting software, you can manage all communications, filtering of candidates and interview scheduling

Utilise an ATS

Take any help where you can get it! Employing recruiting tools is advisable when you have a very brief time in which to hire your seasonal staff. By using online recruiting software, you can manage all communications, filtering of candidates and interview scheduling. It will also make drawing from your talent pool much easier. On top of that, all data is securely retained.

Entitlements

It is always good to know your stuff. If you have not run a recruiting campaign before, or you have not hired temporary staff before, it is advisable to do a little research into the statutory entitlements of temporary staff. For the most part, they are the same as full-time employees, but on a pro-rata basis.

Candidates referred by current staff are quicker to hire and will likely understand the culture of your organisation already

Referrals

Employee referrals are among the most effective ways of finding candidates. Temporary staff are no different. Candidates referred by current staff are quicker to hire and will likely understand the culture of your organisation already. Reducing time to hire is probably most significant here, as your requirements might change mid-season. Referrals are of a much higher quality and are a very reliable means of sourcing.

Former temporary workers

Keep up contact with your previous employees, as you never know when they might come in handy. If they already have been trained and are familiar with your processes, onboarding will be so much easier for you and your team. If you did not have a long-term opportunity to offer a candidate, it might be a great way of getting a great team-mate back in the fold. It will be like they never left.

Know what you need

If you are hiring the short term, you have probably focussed your efforts on finding a very specific set of candidates, with a very specific set of skills. Experience is very important, but there are other secondary skills you might need to meet the challenges of seasonal work. In addition to that, you may have extremely varied needs from your candidates. Flexibility and attitude could be as important as experience here.

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