Chicago, IL, – Denise Foy, president of PeopleScout, a leading provider of outsourced candidate screening and processing solutions, says there are several challenges and one key solution involved in successful employer recruitment during the busy holiday season.
"There are three main challenges employers face during the holiday season when warehouses and retail outlets are heavily stocked with new merchandise," said Foy. "First, many companies have to increase the number of employees on staff in anticipation of serving more customers. This is further complicated by the fact that companies often lose a number of short-term employees, such as college students, during peak seasons as they return home, leaving positions that need to be refilled.
"A second challenge is presented by the fact that most companies can't afford the significant expense that comes with building the infrastructure for screening candidates, hiring large volumes of employees and training them in short time frames," continued Foy. "Some large retailers have to double and triple staffs to meet customer needs during the peak season, which can involve adding thousands of employees within weeks. The degree of screening and processing of candidates that is required today presents a third challenge. Companies must know their new employees have been fully and carefully screened – not only for credentials, but also drug testing and background checks prior to being hired."
While these are serious problems to deal with, the key to meeting the challenges of seasonal hiring for many companies increasingly lies in outsourcing human resources and candidate-processing requirements, maintains Foy. Firms that specialize in short-term and large volume staffing, can greatly alleviate employers of administrative burdens, high costs, overhead and corporate stress associated with hiring numerous seasonal employees in a short period of time.
"Comprehensive short-term candidate processing and staffing is the field in which PeopleScout excels," said Dave Coons, vice president of sales for PeopleScout. "Internally, we ramp up to handle increased holiday recruiting as early as April of each year, and once our in-house preparation begins, we begin urging our clients to get ready for the upcoming peak season. We recommend that employers start preparing for seasonal staffing no later than the beginning of the fourth quarter of each year. By that time, companies can usually estimate how many employees they will need, what features of our customizable technology they would like to utilize, and most importantly, how we can work with them to support and guarantee the results they pay for."
"The best results come from a mix of pioneered technology and hundreds of personal in-house interviewers," said Foy. "The ideal process also includes tracking and reporting all aspects of the recruitment program to ensure optimal results and continuous process improvement. PeopleScout's proficiency is based largely on our ability to foresee the challenges and match candidates to positions, providing a smooth seasonal hiring process for our clients while recruiting and hiring the right number of people at a reduced cost. Many companies come onboard during a peak season, and after seeing the value that outsourced recruiting can provide, remain loyal clients with improved built-in hiring and business practices year-round."
PeopleScout is a pioneer in the recruitment industry, with innovative solutions in high volume candidate processing services. For more information, please visit http://www.peoplescout.com or call 800-966-4803.