In such a tight talent market, it’s crucial to review your current recruitment strategy for casual employees. It shouldn’t be a set and forget process. So if what you relied on in the past isn’t giving you the volume of applicants you need, it’s time to look at different ways to do this.
What About an Open Hiring Strategy?
When we’re in such a tight candidate market, consider broadening your pool of potential workers. An open hiring strategy is one approach. This is where the first person who applies gets the job, without a resume, interview, or any pre-requisites of experience and skills.
This recruitment strategy is meant to remove the barriers of employment some marginalised groups face – like those with a disability, homelessness, or who have been previously incarcerated. Not only are you providing opportunities to people who wouldn’t have been considered for a role before, but it’s also a way to uncover great talent your competitors aren’t reaching.
In Australia, the first retailer who introduced open hiring was The Body Shop. They established this policy for their open seasonal positions. Applicants only had to answer three questions – if they could work eight hours in one shift, lift 11kg, and if they were legally allowed to work in the country. The first person who could answer yes to all these questions was then invited to have a conversation with the store manager on what the role entailed. If the applicant was happy with this, they got the job.
If open hiring is too broad for your business, why not take a less extreme approach? You could remove the requirement for experience and instead put in place processes to upskill on the job. Eliminate the need for a formal interview for casual roles, or replace it with a short trial instead.
Review Your Recruitment Channels
As competition for casual staff gets tougher, it’s important to review your advertising channels. Our tips to do this are below:
- If you’ve decided to broaden your pool of potential workers, check if you’re reaching them with your current promotional channels. It’s one thing to say you’ve now established an open hiring approach, but is your message reaching those marginalised groups?
- Can you make improvements to the job section of your website to put forward the most compelling reason to work for you? Is your employer value proposition (EVP) being communicated effectively? And are all open roles listed on your website?
- Have you reviewed your application process recently? If it’s not straightforward and quick to apply for jobs, potential employees will apply elsewhere.
- Using job boards like Seek is nothing new. But are there any new job boards you can try, or any niche boards relevant to your pool of potential workers you’re not aware of?
- It’d be rare if an employer isn’t already using social media to reach consumers. It can also be an effective tool to reach potential employees as well. Company account posts, as well as paid promotion, should be considered if you’re not already doing it. And if you are, conduct a review of the social accounts you’re using to see if they’re still relevant to the audience you’re hoping to reach.
- Hiring parties could be another option to attract future staff. In a bid to help reach it’s target of 100,000 new employees, Taco Bell instigated these parties and offered free food and games to entice potential staff.
- Previous seasonal, casual employees are often forgotten about, but can be another source of applicants in a tight market. With so many options of casual work open to them, don’t assume they’ll seek re-employment for the next season with you. It’s cheap and easy to send out an eDM showcasing open opportunities. And if their experience was positive, it might nudge them to reapply.
- Finally, the humble ‘We’re Hiring’ sign in the shop window may not seem like much, but it could be another tool to catch the eye of passive job seekers who are just walking past or shopping in your store.
Download ‘The Complete Guide to Attracting, Onboarding and Retaining Your Workforce’ for more tips on recruiting casual employees this holiday period.