If your business is focused on hospitality, weddings, outdoor activities or other summer favourites, you may be considering hiring seasonal help to cover your busiest months ahead.
Staffing up can be a tricky task. While a sense of urgency may make you want to hire the first person you interview, taking the time to find the right person will really pay off. The key is zeroing in on seasonal employees who will help boost sales and take some of the weight off your shoulders.
Here are some tips to help you do that:
Ask your employees.
Referrals are usually the best hires. Plus, the people who already work for you have a good idea of what you’re looking for and will be able to help with training. Sweeten the deal by offering employees some kind of referral bonus.
Invite last year’s favourites back.
It’s much easier and more efficient to hire people who already know the ropes than to start from scratch. Let good seasonal helpers know you’ll keep them in mind for future openings.
Zero in on students.
College students are usually looking for ways to make a few extra bucks over the summer. Plus, they are often used to off hours and late nights — times that are less desirable to other hires. Reach out to nearby schools and ask them to share your job listing on their email lists.
Blast all your channels with the job listing.
Make sure the job is front and center on your website, post it repeatedly on social media and reach out to loyal customers on your email list to see if they can refer you to anyone who’s looking for work or if they are looking for work themselves.
Consider hiring customers.
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, put a “we’re hiring” sign in the window and leave a stack of applications near the entrance. Make sure this messaging is also on your website’s homepage. Your best customers are already big fans of what you do. They’ll likely need less training and should be more effective at making sales.
Differentiate between what you want in an employee and what you need.
You may want someone with tons of retail experience and a college degree, but you need someone who’s high energy, respectful, punctual and a fast learner. If you can, extend the interview to the sales floor and see how candidates perform in a trial run before offering them the job.
Good luck staffing up!