Tis the Season to Hire the Best Seasonal Employees

 In mid-October, far before the ghost and goblins of Halloween would descend, I walked into a store and saw full-out Christmas displays. As soon as the air gets chilly, you know the holiday season is right around the corner. Along with the holidays comes seasonal staffing, when organizations of all sizes need to take on additional help in order to get through the crazy winter season.

This year, holiday hiring is expected to increase, with 40 percent of retailers looking to beef up their seasonal staffing. In fact, technology giant Amazon.com alone is looking to hire an additional 70,000 seasonal staffers this year. For staffing companies looking to find the best talent for clients, a chill in the air signals a very busy time of year.

Finding the right seasonal hires for your clients can be tough, especially when the turnover rate for industries like retail can be as high as 57 percent. Increasingly, staffing companies and employers are turning to new technology solutions in order to hire the best people before the competition.

So how can staffing companies and employers find the best people for their open seasonal jobs before fall turns into winter? Here are some tips for finding the seasonal talent you need:

Utilize Tests

With the cost of hiring a single hourly employee ranging between $600 and $1,000, the high price of turnover becomes clear. Just because a position isn’t permanent doesn’t mean high turnover rates can’t significantly set a company back.

Utilizing testing technology in the hiring process for seasonal workers can ensure your clients end up with better fitting employees. Using situational questions and testing for concrete skills can allow staffing companies to get a better feel for candidates before bringing them on board as seasonal workers.

Personality factors such as conscientiousness, for instance, can be the difference between an all-star employee and an employee who skimps shifts. If candidates pay attention to details on the test, they’ll most likely be similarly conscientious on the job.

Connect with Video Interviews

There’s a reason six out of 10 employers are currently adopting video interviews into their recruiting process. The reason is because video interviews can help you connect faster with potential talent and cut out the inefficient middle steps of the traditional hiring process. Instead of wasting time on a phone screen or trying to interview several seasonal candidates at once, the video interview allows you to get a more personal feel without spending time connecting with the wrong people.

The biggest helper in the seasonal staffing game is probably the one-way video interview. In these interviews, candidates answer employer’s written questions on video. These video answers can then be viewed at any time by employers or staffing professionals.

This means if a candidate is immediately all wrong for the job, you can simply move on to the next person. Whether you’re hiring a large volume of seasonal workers or just a few superstars, one-way video interviewing can help you avoid wasting time on the wrong people.

Source from Different Talent Pools

When it comes to seasonal or temporary employees, the hidden benefit is your ability to take a dip into expanded talent pools. For instance, perhaps the right worker is younger than your usual hires. Or perhaps the perfect employee is actually a retiree.

In fact, many organizations are already targeting these lucrative seasonal candidate pools. This year alone, 45 percent of organizations will look toward college students for their seasonal jobs, while 50 percent will chase retirees and other experienced workers. These talented workers are looking for good seasonal and temporary jobs, and they could be exactly the right talent for your client’s open positions. Best of all, some of these workers might even stick around to become year-round MVP employees.

Start Early

If you want to beat the competition to the best seasonal workers, you better take a page out of the retail playbook and start early. Like so many stores putting up holiday decorations before trick-or-treating has even begun, it’s time for you to get a jumpstart on seasonal hiring. If you hire the best people before the competition, your clients will definitely be in good holiday spirits.

Finding the best people for seasonal jobs isn’t always simple, but if you utilize new technology, start early, and expand your reach, you’ll increase your odds of making your client’s holidays merry and bright.

What do you think? How do you hire the best seasonal employees? Share in the comments!