Small Business Owners Manual for Hiring Seasonal Employees

Hiring Seasonal Employees

When it’s time to hire seasonal employees, it’s best to prepare early. Bringing the right people on board is done with proper planning. Making the right choices for new hires now sets your business up for a smooth and successful busy season.

And, as you probably know, onboarding employees is something that costs time and money. Still, having the right players on your team is a wise long-term investment for your business.

There are essential factors to consider when you’re ready to hire seasonal employees—and, while we’re at it, year-round employees too.

Consider things like revenue in previous years and the terms of employment (start and end dates, for example). With details like this on paper, hiring employees is less likely to wreak havoc on your budget. No one wants to take out an emergency loan to keep up with unexpected labor costs. 

There are simple things you can do now to make sure you have the right number of staff that you can afford.

Without a budget, revenue projections, or a payroll and bookkeeping system set up, it’s difficult to budget and keep up with operating costs.

If only there were a manual for things you must do when hiring seasonal employees.

Oh, look, here’s one!

Things You Must Do When Hiring Seasonal Employees

Have an employee selection process in place.  

The selection process starts with crafting a clear job description, outlining what the employee will do. The more specific you are in the job description, the better the candidates you’ll attract.

Next, know where you’ll recruit new hires. Will you use online sites like Indeed or LinkedIn? Will you advertise in the local paper? Will you ask family, friends, and neighbors? Will you recruit previously hired seasonal employees? 

Then, you’ll conduct interviews. If you need to quickly hire more than one employee, consider running a group interview. Give plenty of time to engage with the candidates, so you both have the information you need to make the best decision.

Hire for potential, not just skills.

As you screen your candidates, remember to hire for personality and potential—not just skills. With enough training (and a positive attitude), the right person can learn anything you teach them. Opening up the job to candidates that might not have the exact skill-set, but are eager to work with you, is something to keep top of mind.

Look back to previous hires.

Are there employees from previous years that you’d love to have back on board? Give them a call and see if they’d like to come back for another seasonal position.

Doing this will save you time and money from creating and purchasing job recruitment ads.

Search for new employees early.

Start your search for new employees a month or two ahead of time. Searching early on gives you plenty of time to choose the ideal candidates. If you wait until the last minute, you’re likely to hire just about anyone to fill much-needed roles. It’s not only stressful, but you may find those last-minute hires aren’t a good fit. Then, you’re left scrambling fill vacant roles.

Don’t rush the interviews.

Give plenty of time to get to know potential employees. Invite them to ask questions, take them on a tour of your store or facility, and don’t rush the process. The more relaxed everyone is, the better the outcome of the interview.

Schedule training days.

Depending on the job description, you’ll want to give plenty of time to correctly train employees on systems, processes, and team organization. Hiring employees, even seasonally, is a long-term investment in your business. And if your employees will interact with customers on a day-to-day basis, they must know what expectations are. After all, they represent your company and brand. Consider that an employee that performs poorly due to a lack of training will cost you more money in the long run.

Get your bookkeeping up to date.

 If you don’t already have bookkeeping software, get one set up before you make your first hire. 

You must know your labor costs and what you can realistically budget. Having up-to-date financials will help to determine these critical numbers. Additionally, it’s wise to have a bookkeeper and a CPA on your team to help you plan for any significant events in your business, like a busy season.

All systems go.

Have a payroll system ready to go before you’re prepared to hire your first employee. By the time you’ve selected the right candidate, you’ll have a payroll system prepared to go to onboard your new employee.

Keep critical dates and tasks front-and-center.

Use project management software to capture recurring tasks, such as “Run Payroll,” so you never miss a thing. Setting this up may take some time upfront, but getting tasks out of your head and into a system saves hours each week. 

Get support. 

Just in case, keep your payroll provider’s support number saved in your contacts. You may need it for employee questions that are out of your scope. (Don’t worry. We get it. Not everyone wants to know everything about payroll as we do!)

Hire Symply to make seasonal onboarding and offboarding… well, simple.

We didn’t name ourselves Symply for no reason. We like to keep things simple. And we want to make sure payroll is pain-free for you whether you’re onboarding or offboarding an employee.

When it comes to learning payroll tax law, processing forms, filing tax returns, running payroll, calculating taxes, and printing checks, Symply has it all covered.

Are you ready to hire seasonal employees? We’re here for you. Contact Symply today and get ready for a busy season you can get excited about.