How to manage seasonal hiring

Seasonal Hiring can be a challenge

Every company with a seasonal hiring push has added strain on those involved with talent acquisition within the company.  As we approach summer (and subsequently winter), companies have the opportunity to drive a significant amount of money to their bottom line by being “better” with their seasonal hiring process.  New video-based job applications are allowing companies to exceed their seasonal hiring goals by 500%.

So what does being “better” mean?  This can mean a number of different things:

• Meet staffing needs in a shorter period of time.
• Delay a start date by one week (or
  more) and save significant money by timing new hires closer to when you
  need them.
• Hire higher quality candidates.
• Fill all positions in a more efficient manner than the traditional job fair, application, and interview process.
• Free up recruiting personnel time to allow them to meet seasonal hiring needs.

A Change Is Needed

Companies need to change their typical summer hiring paradigm of job fairs and interviews only.  They need to treat seasonal hires and the process of bringing them onboard no different than their regular hires, with one exception.  Most individuals looking for temporary (i.e., summer) employment will take the first job they can get.  So asking these candidates to jump through too many hoops (i.e., register for the ATS, fill out a lengthy application and assessment, take too long to make a decision, etc.) will cause them to go elsewhere.  In addition, today’s candidates are primarily made up of the millennial generation.  These candidates have very different needs and expectations compared to the applicant pool of 10 years past.

We all have heard that “tomorrow’s workforce” will be made up of millennials. In fact, within 10 years 80M of the workforce will come from this generation.  This generation has totally different expectations when it comes to the world of work and the application process.  They are used to using the internet for everything and interact in certain ways.  To the extent that a company can mirror those interactions in the application process the company will win the war for that talent.  Millenials are used to video, they are used to interaction, they are used to giving their information on the web but only in return for something.  The traditional text-based applications, and job fair interviews, processes meet none of these criteria.  Therefore, make sure your future application process has video, is interactive, provides useful information to every candidate, is quick and easy to use, and provides immediate feedback.  If you do these things then you will have the cream of the crop to choose from when it comes to candidates.

Video-based Job Applications

Companies need a process that will allow them to become the “summer employer of choice” in a brief period of time, as well as a process that will increase the quantity and quality of candidates to choose from.  Video applications are not as common as video interviews yet.  They differ from video interviews significantly.  The video application is a qualitatively different way of collecting application data than has been done in the past.  It is a shift in how applications should be used and is necessary to keep up with the demands of the Millennial Generation entering the workforce.

The video application is an interactive experience in which the candidate is in more of a traditional exchange with the interviewer (automated).  Active recruiting happens from the very beginning and the process of completing the application is a very different experience compared to the traditional application process.  In the traditional application candidates simply fills out all the questions and receives nothing in return.  In an interactive video-based application, as the candidate answers a question he/she receives information based on his/her answer.

In today’s job market, candidates have choices.  Today’s candidates are looking for technology-based processes that speed up the process.  They are looking to have a web-based application experience similar to their other web experiences.  The want video, they want information in exchange for providing information, they want instant feedback (even at the question level), and they want to have this all in as convenient, and as short, a period of time as possible.

ROI

Posting the job early can get companies on the fast track for seeking candidates, but most companies have to start making offers at the time they start the recruiting and interviewing process, even when they are not needed for the business just yet. They need to start people on payroll so they don’t lose the candidates to other companies that can offer immediate start dates.  This obviously has a large impact on the bottom line.  So with inefficient seasonal hiring systems companies either don’t have enough candidates to fill the jobs, or in many cases payroll increases before it should.  Imagine a situation where “just in time hiring” could occur.  If you could assure yourself that you had a solid and consistent pipeline of qualified candidates that are a good fit for the job.  How much money would you save by delaying putting all seasonal hires on the payroll one week later, not to mention the savings in costs associated with the entire hiring process.

Conclusion

Candidates from the Millennial generation have very different expectations and demands when it comes to the hiring process.  Companies that meet those expectations will be ahead of the game in their seasonal hiring needs – and they will have the cream of the crop to choose from for any season.

So if your company hires for any season, consider what systems you have in place.  Click here to see an example of a video-based job application which accomplishes the above objectives and improves upon what most companies are doing today.  Or feel free to contact us to learn more.

Related Resource: The Ultimate Guide to Pre-Employment Screening

Related Blog Post: Top 5 Benefits of Video-Based Job Applications