Eight tips for successful holiday hiring

The holiday season brings a surge in demand for hot products and attention as busy shoppers seek out great deals and the perfect gifts for everyone on their lists. Retailers often need to hire extra employees to help with the rush of a busy schedule. 

However, hiring for this busy period requires careful planning to ensure you bring in the right talent. Temporary seasonal employees must be able to handle the fast-paced environment while maintaining the high standards your customers expect.

A successful holiday hiring strategy can make all the difference in how smoothly your business operates during the busiest shopping months of the year. You cannot risk a seasonal employee getting in the way of the exceptional service and attention your customers have come to expect. 

These tips for successful hiring will help you find adaptable, skilled, and customer service-focused experts who are looking for more than some extra cash this holiday season.

How do you know if you need additional team members this holiday season?

Figuring out whether you will need additional team members for the holiday season depends on several factors like expected sales volume, foot traffic, and the complexity of your day-to-day operations. Take a look at past data for the holiday gift shopping season of 2023 and before. If your store typically sees a surge in customer demand during this period, and your current staff is already operating at full capacity, it’s a clear sign that you’ll need extra help.

The last thing you want is to end up short-handed without enough help to create the best possible holiday shopping experience. This high-stress time of year is when your customers need the most attention. The right people on your team matter.

Hire for specific seasonal positions

The forecast for holiday hires looks a bit lower than last year, with estimates around 494,000 seasonal workers finding positions. From a retailer perspective, this may indicate that you will have more choices to make in order to find the best support for customer service roles, sales staff, or support workers. 

Hiring the right people for very specific roles keeps everything running smoothly at a fast holiday pace whether you plan to extend business hours, host holiday events, or simply have to deal with increased shopper load.

Eight tips for holiday hiring 

1 – Start early

How early? You know Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, with Cyber Monday right behind. You need the best employees hired and trained before these days. That makes September a good month to start the search and go through all the advertising and hiring processes.

But if you find yourself starting the hiring process later in the year than you would have liked, don’t worry. Part-time employees are always out there looking for work. 

2 – Seek referrals from current employees

If you have an excellent permanent employee who plays an invaluable role in the success of your brand, ask them if they know any like-minded people looking for seasonal work. You may even offer a sign-on or referral bonus if the person does an excellent job or stays on after the holiday shopping season is done.

3 – Use highly targeted job ads

Be transparent, honest, and specific in any ads you put on job boards or your own website and social media. The more details you give about what you're looking for and what the worker can get from the position, the more likely you are to attract the right people. This will cut down on wasted time interviewing unsuitable folks with no interest in a career in retail.

4 – Highlight brand culture

The best seasonal workers understand your business identity and values and align their efforts seamlessly with the rest of your staff. As a luxury retailer, you need someone who will go beyond folding sweaters or tying bows around the gift boxes after a purchase. They will represent your brand as much as any other employee.

5 – Onboarding and training matter

Choosing the best seasonal employees goes far beyond creating the right hiring opportunities. Before you hire anyone, set up a quick, easy, yet thorough training strategy to ensure they know what you expect. More importantly, equip them with the skills they'll need to fulfill your needs or wishes to keep their job satisfaction high.

6 – Advertise merit-based perks

Attract excellent seasonal staff that understands your brand better by offering perks for their best effort. Things like discounts on merchandise can even encourage them to learn about the product lines they will help sell better. After all, employees have their own gift lists to fulfill, and your brand can offer great options for them to consider.

7 – Offer competitive pay

The average pay for retail seasonal employees is quite low across the board, but that includes folks who get short-term jobs at big-box stores or in positions that do not interact with employees at all. This is likely why high turnover is also on the rise. 

As a high-end retailer, you know the value of skilled workers and that they deserve compensation appropriate to their abilities and efforts. When you hire better employees, you end up with better results, and that will make competitive pay rates an investment in your future.

8 – Retain top talent

Promote growth opportunities, career growth, and improve your brand's operations by offering prime positions to seasonal workers who go above and beyond. If someone can truly create memorable customer experiences and positively affect your bottom line, it would be a mistake to let them slip away after the holiday rush is done.

Conclusion

Hiring seasonal employees that start in November and continue through the new year is a sometimes complicated process. Hundreds of thousands of workers look for a little extra cash around the holidays in the United States, but you only need a few who can align their efforts with your brand seamlessly and deliver the best customer experiences. With luck, you will find true jewels that will stay on afterward and continue to boost your brand's success all year round.