Considerations for companies that recruit Christmas staff

Despite the most recent growth and employment figures suggesting that the economy is stabilising and the ‘double dip’ recession is a thing of the past, few employers are recruiting staff in anything more than piecemeal numbers, with many expecting 2013 to be little less tough than 2012. This begs the question of how best to approach Christmas recruitment, with the recent increase in part-time roles adding an interesting context, says webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk).

In many ways, it seems that 2012 has been the year of the part-time, casual and temporary worker, as the UK workforce becomes ever more flexible in response to the ongoing economic uncertainty. Other examples of this include the increased tendency for many to work from home, as well as for time and money-deficient firms to outsource services. Nonetheless, it is the proliferation of part-time work that probably particularly interests recruitment experts, and there’s no reason for this trend to relent over the final months of 2012 and early 2013.

Depending on a company’s exact nature, its bosses may opt to take a Christmas break, which will influence how and when they recruit staff on a temporary and/or seasonal basis. Firms that provide a service to clients may need to take on such staff if clients are likely to need them over the winter. Such staff may play a mere supporting role to a more senior member of staff who remains on call to respond to any work emergencies and check over email.

One sector that is especially likely to enlist the services of a recruitment agency ahead of the festive season is, of course, retail, with many shops also placing seasonal advertisements in their windows. Although a seasonal employee may not have the same level of responsibility as a permanent one, they are still a representative of the company and should therefore possess the right skills, experience and attitude, as such characteristics will allow them to provide a high quality of customer service at the same time as integrating without fuss into the rest of the team.

However, much as people who were once January shoppers now eye up big discounts in online and high street stores the moment Christmas is over, many recruiters are starting what may have once been a January recruitment drive a month early. Such employers are defying the traditional ‘fresh start’ of the new year to snap up the best candidates, in acknowledgement of the reduced competition for permanent roles and the all-year-round nature of social media – a key frontier in the early 21^st century online recruitment process.

Indeed, many companies may even take advantage of the leading candidate sourcing tools of webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) to find their perfect next permanent employee in their new ‘temporary’ recruit, which is even more reason to take the seasonal staff recruitment process seriously. After all, who knows what unexpected talent you might find?

Editor’s Note: webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) is represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Please direct all press queries to Louise Byrne. Email: louise@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.