Take full advantage of the peak season by planning now.
With the Christmas sales period approaching, business is about to hit full throttle for the hospitality and retail industries. For some, it can account for up to 40 per cent of annual sales.
To accommodate the increased traffic over this period, you may need to hire extra casual staff. If so, start planning now. Recruitment processes can take up to six weeks and we are already a week into October.
Here are some tips to get the ball rolling.
Start by checking your 2016 Christmas period sales figures and conversion rates. These will provide a good indication of how many team members you’ll need to bring on board.
The market shouldn’t be too different from last year. While consumer sentiment has decreased marginally, experts are predicting growth to remain stable.
Once you know how many extra shifts you to fill, look internally. You may find current employees looking for extra work, which will save you a considerable amount of time. Your team may also be able to recommend people for the positions.
For an external search, use Scout Jobs. Scout is a specialist retail job board with access to more than one million monthly readers. You can simply place an ad here or contact us at sales@scoutjobs.com.au.
The market for Christmas casuals is very competitive so make sure you promote the job benefits in the ad. Are there flexible hours? Sales discounts? Good commission rates? These will help you stand out of from the rest.
Read: Nine Things to Include in Your Job Ad
Christmas shifts are busier than usual, so focus on selecting candidates who can cope under pressure. To get an indication of how they’ll perform concentrate on asking behavioural questions. For example: “Describe a situation where there has been a crisis in a store and how did you react?”
Also, if time is getting away from you, you may want to look at conducting group interview sessions.
Read: Interview Tips to Find the Best Talent
Start organising your employment contracts as soon as possible so there aren’t any delays once you have made your selections. If you have any questions or need new employee documentation, make sure you seek legal advice.
Remember your employer responsibilities. Casual employers are required to work a minimum number of hours and be paid above an award rate. More information on your obligations is available here.
Given the tight turnaround, you may not have time to facilitate a full induction and training program. You can save time by facilitating group-training sessions instead of individual ones and pairing all new employees with a buddy so they can learn quicker.
Also, consider creating simple instructional guides with answers to troubleshooting queries and placing them at each workstation.
For more tips and advice on how to recruit and train your new casual employees for the Christmas period, keep you eyes glued to Scout over the coming weeks.
