The state of seasonal hiring: Identify the right talent

Tis the season to be… jolly? Stressed? Exhausted from the constant change of seasonal hiring needs?

Seasonal hiring in 2023 has presented a different landscape than in years past.

The New York Times cites, “The career site Indeed said that searches for seasonal jobs were up 19 percent from last year, but that listed positions were down 6 percent.”

The past few years have been impacted by the pandemic, and in 2022 retail employment was up by 22,000 in July and expected to be even higher from October through December. But this year, experts compare the landscape to those of pre-Covid years.

But a decrease in hiring doesn’t mean retailers don’t still need qualified talent.

• While 3,000 less than last year, Macy’s is still hiring nearly 40,000  seasonal workers.
• Dick’s still needs 8,600 seasonal workers.
• UPS announced its plans to hire 100,000 seasonal workers.

So while the landscape has changed a little, the stress of seasonal hiring remains the consistent constant for many. If you’re overwhelmed by the need to hire for your peak season, we have a few tips to help ease the burden.

Audit your entire process.

If you’re spending too much time stressing about your hiring, there’s a good chance you’re spending too much time on manual processes.

The United States Postal Service was planning to hire 10,000 seasonal workers this year and when these workers are tasked with processing nearly 12 million packages, smart hiring is a critical piece to efficiency.

HireVue helps automate your entire process:

So if you’re spending too much time scheduling interviews or (*shudder*) phone screens, start considering what AI-driven tech can do for you and your team.

Make sure candidates start on the right foot.

Part of providing a positive candidate experience is ensuring the experience starts on the right foot. 

With HireVue, you can present candidates with all roles that they fit—not just the ones they search for. Find My Fit is an assessment that helps easily identify what roles best match candidate potential. Quickly assess skills, interests, and even personality to present candidates with more opportunities—many times ones they would not have considered in the first place.

Not to mention, candidates frequently don’t know what role they’re looking for. But that shouldn’t limit quality applicants. HireVue’s conversational AI Hiring Assistant takes the guesswork out of hiring. By incorporating a chatbot that can “think” outside the box of just showing one role, teams can scale hiring by matching candidates with roles by skill set and provide all the options. 

With Hiring Assistant, candidates type in a position of interest and even upload their resume. The chatbot compares the job across all jobs and job descriptions in our library to determine similar jobs based on skills, tasks, or even work activities. Our solutions review customer specific job requisitions and then display job recommendations to the candidates.

Let seasonal workers know what to expect.

Many of your seasonal workers may not have experience working during peak season, so providing them with as many details as possible on what to expect will help teams make smart hiring decisions.

The Virtual Job Tryout® is designed for a specific job and customized with a realistic job preview to help candidates further understand the position. It goes beyond conventional cognitive and behavioral assessment by providing innovative candidate exercises that simulate the job and offer evidence of how the candidate will perform against competencies proven to be crucial to on-the-job success.

When candidates know what to expect, you can cut down on the risk of unexpected candidate drop-offs or new hires who quit unexpectedly because the job isn’t what they expected. Increase your ROI by making sure your candidates are happy in their roles and motivated to work the job.

Learn more about how HireVue can make your seasonal hiring less stressful and more productive. Request a demo today.