Seasonal Hiring: 5 Mighty Recruiters Tell You How to Do It Better

For many industries, it’s seasonal hiring season! The Wall Street Journal reported hiring booms of delivery giants FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc. Chron reported hiring booms for Macy’s, Target and Toys “R” Us. And one presidential candidate said, “We’re going to have job growth like you’ve never seen. I’m very good for jobs.”

Needless to say, jobs are on the minds of the masses, and now, let’s look at how recruiters and talent acquisition leaders across the country make sure the right people fill those jobs as quickly and efficiently as possible.

First Things First. Be Prepared.

“Deep breath,” said Michelle Gutowski (@recruitatamazon), who is a recruiter that recruits recruiters. “Assure your pipeline is in order so the team has a great base of candidates before the peak hits. Keep it fun, divide lists and reach out as a team. Make what seems impossible fun and completely doable!”

More than one-quarter (26%) of HR managers said their organization typically increases hiring in the fourth quarter, according to a recent survey by OfficeTeam. Of those, 69% indicated they bring on staff at year-end to fill vacated positions, 62% address upticks in business, and 51% add new positions. So be ready for what’s coming.

“Check if your company has a ‘use it or lose it’ policy when it comes to budget and headcount if you fail to spend or hire by December 31,” says Brandi Britton, district president of OfficeTeam. “To stay competitive, companies should ramp up and get fully staffed so they can hit the ground running when the new year starts. Being understaffed can severely impact productivity and existing team morale.”

Don’t Forget Best Practice.

Even though this is seasonal hiring, the underlying truths of hiring still matter. If your existing staff likes working at your company, it’ll manifest within their interactions with candidates.

“In a very candidate-driven marketplace, recruiters will need to shift how they are recruiting and retaining talent,” said Kristen Silva, Business Development Manager at Ajilon Professional Staffing. “Finding candidates that have both the necessary hard and soft skills has become increasingly challenging. In order to combat this, recruiters should keep their bench warm, think proactively (if your company didn’t have a budget, what other roles might they hire for, or what roles have high turnover?) and hire for the future. Keep up to date on the current on hiring trends and projections in your area and industry to strengthen your pipeline. Recruiters should be willing to get creative while remaining sincere and building relationships.”

How Should Job Offers Change?

As the demand per candidate increases during high season, the compensation offers need to change.

While the job fair still has a place – for example, both Toys “R” Us stores and all 1,800 Target stores hosted these kind of events in October – compensation packages can create the competitive advantage a company needs. Other than just putting forward a higher base salary, companies can ‘get creative’ in their offer to candidates. For example, Macy’s, which is hiring 83,000 temporary workers for the holiday season, is offering employee discounts typically reserved for permanent employees to seasonal workers.

This trend is not just for large corporations. I caught up with two growing companies – one based in Texas and the other in Ohio – to get a taste of how companies across America are getting creative in their compensation packages.

“Recruiters should improve their seasonal hiring habits by offering sign-on bonuses and remaining proactive in the season,” said Academic Director of Suprex Tutors AJ Saleem, who is based in Houston, TX, and plans to increase hiring by 20% this quarter.

“When looking to hire for seasonal positions, a company should be willing to think outside the box with its hiring efforts,” said Brad Stultz, Human Resources Coordinator of Totally Promotional. This Ohio-based company has hired for 100+ positions over the last year. “We offer retiree, college and other seasonal programs that have served us very well over the past several years.”

The takeaway here: creativity in your job offers can give more benefit to the candidate without increasing the salary of the job. This can increase your ‘yes rate’ to job offers, and if you publicize it in your recruitment marketing, creative compensation plans can also increase your seasonal candidate volume.