Five top tips to attract the right Christmas talent

With one of the busiest working periods nearly upon us, Kristian Poliszczuk of Workango, gives his top tips on attracting the right Christmas staff.

There are many benefits to employing casual workers in your business at this time of year, including reduced cost; no burden or stress of employability contracts and law; and also a quality talent pool when it comes to longer-term recruitment needs.

Recent statistics show that the casual workforce in the UK is a huge industry, with over 697,000 reported in April 2015 to work under casual employment contracts.

With Christmas being one of the busiest seasons for many businesses it’s easy to get staff simply to meet demand, but how can you ensure you are recruiting the right staff who may also have long term potential should you need it?

1. Create a relevant advert

The job advert not only needs to portray exactly what you are looking for – but also needs to be placed in the right channels – consider if you are looking for students, then a student newsletter would be a great way to reach them – or if it’s mums, then why not promote through an online parents’ forum or social media.

2. Consider the skills you need for the role

Is it important for your role that the candidate has excellent grammar and literacy skills – or are they just things you would ‘like’ the person to have? For your company, it’s vital to have the skills you NEED, and any extra that you want is just a bonus!

3. Location-based marketing

Do they have to be local for example, if you run a restaurant, shop or bar, you will likely need them at short notice too, so make sure your advert states where you are based and the type of distance that would be suitable for immediate working/ late notice hours.

4. Don’t forget social media

We touched on this above, but you need to understand that the market we are living in now has a huge impact online – the likelihood that your candidates and future employees is online is high, so you need to make sure you have this covered if you want to attract the right people.

5. Be clear about availability and contract information

Usually, within the casual vacancy market, it’s natural to skip the interview stage and go straight to employment. But, we would always recommend you have a good chat with them over the phone at least to get a feel for them and the reasons they are looking for work – this way you can work around their other commitments and agree on an informal contract (what you want them to work/ notice to work, etc.) which will mean a much better working relationship in the future for you both!

These simple tips are neither costly nor difficult to do and will help you secure the right casual workforce!