Some businesses go through cycles when they need a little additional help. For many, this hits right around the holiday season as business ramps up and you are striving to hit year-end goals. 

It may not make sense to bring on a full-time staff of people to assist you just for this short period of time. Instead, you will want to consider the benefits of a flexible staffing model for your seasonal needs. 

As a type of contingency staffing, seasonal employees can fill in the gaps where you need more work accomplished without making a long-term commitment to a staff member you might not need six months from now. 

Here are our best tips for finding and hiring the ideal seasonal worker.

1. Get Started Early

If you anticipate seasonal hiring, the most important thing you can do is start your search as early as possible. Many businesses take on seasonal employees during peak times of the year, such as the holiday season. If you wait too long to bring someone on board, you may find that you have less selection. 

Ample lead time gives you the largest pool of available applicants and provides you with a longer runway of time to vet and train your new hires. Onboarding is less stressful for everyone when you have time to answer questions and acclimate them to your work environment prior to expecting them to perform at their highest level.

2. Work with a Staffing Agency

Finding a seasonal employee can be like searching for a needle in a haystack if you have limited resources to draw from. On the other hand, a staffing agency has the experience and the pool of talent needed to make hiring seamless. 

Staffing agencies like Alaska Executive Search handle the vetting and even the interviewing for you, which proves to be especially valuable if you need to bring on a high volume of seasonal workers. Plus, we already have a network of top FlexStaff talent which means you have less risk of hiring someone who is a poor fit for your role. 

3. Set Clear Expectations

From the very beginning of your search for any employee, it’s essential to communicate clear expectations for everyone involved. Write detailed, honest job descriptions and relay those during the interview process. The role, responsibilities, duration, and performance expectations should be spelled out during this interview process because transparency fosters realistic expectations. 

If you lie or downplay the truth during this stage of the hiring process, it could backfire later on. This can lead to hiring workers ill-suited for their roles. They may even get frustrated enough with the lack of transparency that they leave mid-season. In turn, you might end up in a bind when you’re left with a skeleton crew of seasonal talent in the middle of your busy season. 
Employee turnover is expensive for full-time and seasonal workers alike. Clear expectations will improve your employee retention levels and save you from having to find, interview, and train new workers during your busiest time.

4. Structure Onboarding and Training

As you bring seasonal workers on staff, it can be extremely helpful to build out a consistent training experience. Take some time to compile the necessary resources that help them understand their role better, illuminate their responsibilities, and set benchmarks for performance in their role. 

While it may seem like a huge upfront investment, it pays off over the course of your business. These training modules or cheat sheets might be repurposed year over year if you always hire a handful of seasonal employees to get through a busy time in your business. One year of putting in the effort to train seasonal workers the right way might yield dividends for the next decade. 

Keep in mind that onboarding and training is the first impression a worker has of your company. Start seasonal employees off on the right foot to help them maintain motivation and commitment throughout the season.

5. Create Feedback Mechanisms

You might already know that feedback is a crucial part of your business for both you and your employees. Put a structure in place that allows you to give and receive feedback with your seasonal workers. This gives you a chance to assess their work and point out areas for improvement, and it can even benefit your bottom line in other ways. 

For example, seasonal employees can give you a fresh perspective on your business and identify key opportunities for improvement. This type of feedback serves two functions: it gives you new perspectives and it also makes employees feel more valuable. The result is that it encourages them to remain motivated.

6. Cultivate a Supportive Work Environment

A welcoming and inclusive culture can improve employee satisfaction and productivity. As with most things in business, there are multiple ways to approach this, so you may have to figure out what works best for your business. A supportive environment can include verbal encouragement, but it can also include financial incentives, such as competitive compensation and spot bonuses. 

Keeping a good relationship with employees can encourage them to return next year when your business again needs a little additional help. This is great for business because it cuts down on your future training time. These seasonal workers are already familiar with your business and standard operating procedures. While they may need a refresher, you will not have to completely reinvent the wheel. 

Hire the Best with Alaska Executive Search

Contract staffing for your business’s seasonal needs is a powerful way to scale up operations without overloading your available resources. That said, whether you need dozens of seasonal workers or just a handful, the process of finding, interviewing, and hiring seasonal employees can eat into your valuable time.
Alaska Executive Search can help you recruit top talent for your next seasonal hiring experience. We have more than forty years of experience providing staffing solutions to businesses from coast to coast. If you think that your business could benefit from bringing on seasonal workers, reach out to us today to learn more about how we can save you time and effort in finding the perfect flex staffing option!