The holidays can bring retailers an end-of-year bump in sales that sees them through the slow-down after the New Year. This, however, necessitates hiring additional temporary staff to ensure that consumers aren’t frustrated by long lines or empty shelves.
To compete and take advantage of increased holiday sales, you need calm, experienced, friendly staff to keep your location organized, efficient, and attractive throughout the holiday season. How do you find these magical unicorns of the staffing world, especially for temporary positions? Here are a few things to consider.
Positions to Fill
How many employees do you need to hire for the holiday season? Which positions should you fill? The number of people you hire will depend on several factors, including the size of your retail location and the number of customers/sales you anticipate. You’ll want to use past sales data to forecast potential sales and extrapolate from there the number of people to hire.
There are several positions you may want to fill. Naturally, you need to make sure you have plenty of sales associates on staff to cover shifts, man registers, help shoppers find what they’re looking for, and make suggestions to increase sales.
You may also need additional staff on hand to keep store shelves stocked and displays neat, as well as track inventory to ensure that you don’t run out of high-demand items. Customer support is especially important during the holidays.
Whether you bump up staff in call centers or add a live chat feature to your website to provide immediate assistance, you could increase sales and customer satisfaction by expanding your customer service staff during the holidays. You should consider keeping customer service on hand for a short time following the holidays, as well, to manage exchanges and returns.
What to Look For
Previous retail experience is a must since you need temporary employees to get up to speed quickly, but personality is equally important. A calm and positive employee can make a huge difference in customer experience when shoppers are stressed and frustrated during the busy holiday season. Depending on where you operate, it might not be a bad idea to consider seeking out bilingual support staff, as well.
Specialized Staffing Platforms
You don’t necessarily want to rely on generic job boards to find seasonal sales associates or other professionals to bump up your staff for the holidays. You want people who have retail experience and who are seeking hourly retail jobs. You need a niche job board.
The best option here is probably a site like AllRetailJobs.com that attracts retail workers specifically. Another good option to consider is job boards that cater to college students seeking part-time and temporary work that fits within their school schedule. CollegeRecruiter.com and FlexJobs.com could both work. Don’t forget about job boards for luxury retail specifically, such as Job-Lux.com.
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