After the busy holidays, hiring new employees may not be at the top of your to-do list. But January is actually peak hiring season in many industries. Candidates are eager to find new work, and companies generally have fresh budgets to spend. If you want to take advantage of this season, here are a few tips.
Get Your Company Ready for Peak Hiring Season
Plan Ahead
The best time to hire employees is when you have something for them to do, but before you become desperate for help. Recruiting, interviewing, and hiring can easily take a month or more. So even if you don’t quite need the help yet, it makes sense to get the ball rolling. Starting early will also help you get a better handle on hiring budgets and schedules for the rest of the year.
Follow the Numbers
Take some time to revisit last year’s hiring data. How many candidates responded to your job postings? How many of them did you interview, and how many did you ultimately hire? Which months saw the biggest jumps in hiring? Let your numbers from last year guide your decisions for the upcoming year.
Focus on Passive Recruits
Passive recruits are already employed and not necessarily looking for work. But they might be open to a change if the right offer came along. In a tight labor market, these potential candidates can be essential to your hiring success.
Reconnect with Your Network
The New Year is a great time to reconnect. Reach out to your existing contacts with a soft email that mentions the holidays and the upcoming year. Mention your hiring goals, but don’t do a hard sell. If someone knows of a candidate who might be perfect for you, they will let you know.
Work with a Staffing Agency
Many companies slow down near the end of the year and then hit the ground running in January. Your HR team may not have a lot of spare time or energy to dedicate to recruitment. Working with a dedicated staffing agency lets you hire new workers without putting too many resources into the process. We can provide you with a short list of well-qualified candidates to consider, and can even help with the onboarding process. If you need someone to fill in, we can also provide temporary or temp-to-hire workers on short notice, allowing you to plug the gaps in your team while searching for the right full-time employees.
Need New Talent?
If you’re ready to bring on new temp-to-hire, temporary, or permanent employees, Pirate Staffing is here for you. Learn what we can do to help, and then contact us to get started.
