Many businesses require extra staffing around holiday times, so as to handle the extra volume of business being conducted. If you have not yet hired the extra personnel that your small business will need through the season, you should definitely pick up the pace, because most hiring managers began their employee search last month.
A survey conducted by Snagajob found that almost 70% of all hiring managers will be taking on extra employees for the holidays and that the number of extra staffers needed would amount to 28% more than last year. The urge to find qualified employees is in full swing, so you may find yourself competing with a number of other managers in your immediate area. Here are some tactics you can use to still secure the needed extra staffing, which will allow you to handle the holiday rush of business traffic:
Temporary Agencies
You can completely avoid all the hassles of searching for additional staffing by working with temporary agencies, and you’ll be able to bypass all the paperwork as well. If there is a good temporary staffing agency in your local area, just tell them what you’re looking for, and they will undoubtedly be able to come up with some viable candidates for you. It works out to be a pretty simple arrangement because you pay the temporary agency, and then they pay the worker.
They will also handle the necessary payroll and tax withholding considerations, as well as all the necessary documentation, and that takes it off your plate. This may be one of the best solutions for hiring seasonal workers, because you simply don’t get that involved with the hiring process, nor are you involved with the ongoing payments to employees.
Social Networks
Assuming you have a website, posting any temporary job openings there is always a great idea, because that is a window to the world, and anyone who follows your website at all will be aware of the job openings. To reach an even bigger audience however, you should post the openings on social networks as well, because the audience will be vastly larger. Of course, not everyone who sees the job opening on social networks will be in the immediate area and can apply for the job.
You can improve your chances of attracting good employees by posting images and videos of behind-the-scenes activities at your company. When people see what it’s like to work with your company, some of their initial fears are overcome, and they are much more inclined to seek employment with you. You should also use social networks to check in with any contacts you have on the various platforms, to see if they’re aware of people seeking employment.
Check with Schools
Local schools such as high schools and community colleges will generally have enormous numbers of potential workers, and some of them may be seeking some income around the holiday season, especially since there will be a break from school at that time. A good strategy is to contact counselors at the career centers of high schools and community colleges, to let them know about seasonal openings.
In many cases, colleges have job placement centers that are eager to make such contacts and provide the information to their students. Older teenagers in high school are capable of performing most types of work for small businesses, and they often make good temporary employees. The high schools and colleges in your region can provide a huge source of talent that you can use to fill your seasonal openings, so they should not be overlooked as potential providers.
Seniors and Others
Of course, not all seniors are looking to go back to work even on a temporary basis, but some are interested in earning some extra income around the holidays, and this is another source you can tap into. Depending on the type of work you do, and the kind of tasks that need to be performed by your temp employees, seniors may be perfectly suitable to increase your temporary staffing pool and accomplish everything that needs to be done.
Another good source in the same vein are those mothers who stay at home to watch the children. Many times, mothers are very interested in earning extra income around the holiday time, and they’re willing to have a friend or relative watch the kids for a few hours, so they can get a temporary job.
You’ll have to advertise in a way that would reach these stay-at-home moms and seniors, which means you’ll have to find out where they hang out, so you can get to them. It could be that you can contact these individuals through social media, or you may have to advertise on radio and television, and in some cases, classified ads in local newspapers will be the right way to reach them.
Virtual Employees
Sometimes an actual human being is not needed to perform the type of work tasks needed at your small business. For instance, your biggest need maybe someone to handle phone calls, and to manage incoming questions and inquiries from customers. Tasks like these can be handled by virtual customer service representatives, and there are a number of companies that provide this very type of service.
The fee that you pay for your virtual employees will probably be less than what you would have had to pay an actual person, and you don’t ever have to worry about them being tired on the job. If the kind of work that needs to be done at your company is suitable for virtual employees, this can be a great way to satisfy your holiday work needs, and stay on top of the holiday business traffic.