Seasonal hiring is more competitive than ever before as companies across the country look for innovative ways to staff up ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Mix in a critical shortage of available workers, and many businesses worry they will not have enough employees in place to meet customer demand.
The Struggle is Real
A nationwide labor shortage is causing retailers to get inventive. Employers are offering everything from sign-on bonuses and increasing hourly pay to providing pet insurance and anything more that will ensure there are enough seasonal workers to meet customer demand.
And there seems to be no end in sight. Consider these company announcements from the past two weeks:
- The U.S. Labor Department reports a record-high 10.9 million job openings.
- Walmart plans to hire 20,000 more supply-chain workers.
- Dollar General Corp is offering a 5k sign-on bonus to drivers.
- UPS is hiring over 100,000 essential seasonal workers.
- Amazon says it needs 50,000 more workers to keep up with the demand.
- Kohls announced they are hiring 90,000 seasonal workers.
And, last week, the state of Massachusetts announced plans to call in the national guard to fill vacant school bus driver positions. To say there's a shortage of available workers is a gross understatement.
4 Tips to Hire Qualified Applicants Fast
Here are a few quick tips to help you hire qualified applicants fast.
Text Your Eligible Rehires
Leveraging text message communication ensures you reach all potential candidates, whether they have a smartphone, a flip phone, or a prepaid phone.
The biggest bonus? No app to download means no learning curve, which is crucial for any candidate population, especially in a high turnover environment. For example, 18-34-year-olds, who make up the most significant percentage of hourly employees, already are sending an average of 101 texts every single day.
Go Back to Previous Candidates in Your ATS
If you're like most employers, you have several candidates from months/years past who were hirable candidates but for whatever reason did not accept the job.
Using a tool like our goHappyHub Messaging module allows you to text previous candidates to make them aware of openings, new opportunities, signing bonuses, new hourly pay, and more. And remember that even if they aren't looking for work, they may know someone who is.
Tap Into Your Existing Employees for Referrals
One of the best ways to find a new employee is to look to an existing one—Referral hires stay 70% longer than non-referral hires, and employees who make referrals remain in their jobs 20% longer than those who don't.
It's straightforward. Text your existing employees with the link to your job openings and ask them to share it with their contacts on social media. And don't forget to mention that referral bonus!
Utilize Hourly Work Marketplaces
Make sure you're tapping into the online marketplaces that specialize in hourly work. In our humble opinion, no one does that better than our friends over at Snagajob.
Communicating with potential rehires via text is an easy and simple way to get your hiring message out fast.
Take a look at our frontline messaging tool, and let us help you get your holiday hiring message to those critical workers.
Finally, Kohl's Chief People Officer, Marc Chini, says it best (in part) in a recent press release, "Our frontline associates are pivotal to bringing the holiday shopping experience to life for millions of customers..."
We could not agree more.
Check out our tools to help you activate your workforce in minutes, not months.
