You’re not alone if you’ve been searching for new truck drivers or other seasonal workers as the weather warms. Many co-ops are in the same spot, and the challenge is even greater if the hires you’re trying to find are seasonal. Employees who work for you for a season or short-term assignment can be hard to come by.
6 Tips for Recruiting Seasonal Workers
- Target people who only want seasonal work. This may sound obvious, but many organizations spin their wheels interviewing candidates who want permanent work. Search for people looking to work around school schedules, or others who want less of a commitment as they consider their next step (such a recent graduates). Make sure you’re up front in what the job entails, both in the work itself and the length of the assignment. Consider offering a referral bonus to existing employees to refer quality candidates for seasonal jobs.
- Invest in resources for successful onboarding. One common mistake made for seasonal employees is not providing adequate training. The rationale could be that they are not employed for the long term, so why take the time to fully train and onboard. However, minimal training contributes to mistakes and can send a message to your customers about the quality of your staff. Providing the necessary tools and resources will be worth it in the long run, specifically for repeat hires.
- Repeat hires season after season. Hiring the same seasonal workers each year will decrease training and onboarding time, while increasing overall efficiency in recruiting and productivity. Create a plan to stay connected and give preference to prior employees, particularly those good performers.
- Money can talk, especially for in-demand seasonal employees. Employee referral programs for both regular and seasonal employees will reward people for helping you find talent in a tight employment market. And to increase retention for the current year, use bonus or reward programs as an incentive paid to those who work until the season ends. Paying returning employees a bonus when they return the following year is another way to build loyalty and show the employee they are valued by your co-op.
- Operate above board. It’s tempting to bypass some of the necessary paperwork for seasonal employees to save time. However, you may be walking on thin ice if any labor laws are violated along the way. So do everything on the up and up – use the normal payroll process and other systems as you would with any other employee.
- Don’t rest once the initial group is hired. It would be nice to have all your seasonal workers stay for the season as initially planned, but life hardly goes exactly as we expect. So keep the pipeline of potential new hires open, just in case it’s needed along the way.