Hiring Pains in Retail
With Christmas creeping near, most retailers are gearing up for the holiday shopping season. That means more merchandise, more foot traffic, more holiday promotions, and more staff needed.
Not enough qualified candidates to go around
That means lots of hiring leading up to the holiday season. We visited several clients in the retail industry to discuss their hiring needs, and they all seem to have a similar problem.
- With so many companies all hiring around the same time, candidates can pick and choose where they’d like to work. This is especially true for very qualified candidates.
- That means qualified candidates do not call back, or show up for interview, or even worse, they’re hired but get a better job elsewhere then just don’t show up for work.
- Companies that do not have competitive hiring structure (i.e. seasonal to permanent hires) or competitive pay will often be left scrambling to staff their stores at the last minute.
That means hiring managers may need to be a bit less restrictive in hiring criteria when it comes to the holiday shopping season. Unless it’s a specialty store, the requirements are largely the same. If the candidate is responsible, has a positive attitude and is willing to learn, that should be all it takes for a successful seasonal hire.
Accountability means Less No Shows
At Workholler, we believe in accountability. It’s easy for someone to be irresponsible, and hide behind the anonymity. But they will think twice if their reputation is on the line, which will impact future job prospects.
We rigorously vet anyone who joins our platform, and only the top 15-20% make it to the final round. These candidates are established to be responsible and accountable. One No-Show means the candidate is barred from applying to jobs through our platform for 2-6 months. Furthermore, negative performance reviews will directly impact the candidate’s ratings on our platform, resulting in less job offers.
This way, retailers can rest assured that their new seasonal hires will be of the top quality, and there will be some accountability at the end of the day.
