Over eighty percent of hourly employers expect to face challenges filling holiday positions in 2016, based on data released from online job marketplace Snagajob. According to its annual Holiday Hiring report, 44% of employers cite a lack of qualified workers, while 34% cite a lack of available workers, and 30% report increasing competition with other employers.

Many of the businesses surveyed, however, are well-known big box retailers, and that presents a challenge. As a small business, how can you compete with bigger competitors such as these for a seemingly small pool of seasonal workers this year, and more importantly, how do you ensure that the people you are bringing in will actually do a good job?

5 Steps to Hiring a Great Seasonal Workforce

One of the most important things to remember is that even though the positions you are trying to fill may be temporary, they can have a big impact on the overall performance of your business. This means you need to go into the hiring process thinking about the bigger picture. Here are five steps to consider:

1. Start the process early. Don’t wait till the last minute to begin your holiday hiring. Not only will that create pressure to quickly fill the positions- even if the applicant pool isn’t so great- but it may put added pressure on your regular staff as well since they will need to work with and likely train these individuals. The holiday season is a stressful time to begin with; you don’t need to add to it unnecessarily. You also will want to take your time finding the best people for the job. So, begin your search process months in advance.

2. Create a profile of your ideal seasonal worker. Before you start your search, make sure you are very clear about what you want your seasonal staff to do and when. Then, breakdown the kinds of skills, qualities, and experience needed to fulfill that role.

Keep in mind that there are different ways to hire holiday help:

  • You could bring in temporary employees who perform work on a short-term basis, say for a few weeks or months. You could hire these people directly or rely on a temporary staffing agency.
  • You could hire an independent contractor. These professionals provide their services to on a contractual basis. Some examples are mangers, marketers, and freelance writers.
  • You could on-board part-time staff. Part-timers generally work 10 to 20 hours per week. One benefit to this strategy is that these people could stay on as permanent employees and eventually take on full-time positions.

3. Decide where to look for your seasonal hires. While the majority of big employers consider online job postings to be the best way to hire seasonal candidates, small businesses really need to think beyond the Internet. Here are some effective ways to attract short-term talent.

  • Consider using a staffing agency. As I mentioned above, if you are looking for temporary workers to give you more man power through the holiday season, then relying on a temporary staffing agency may be a good option since they will do a lot of the screening work for you. You can give the agency a list of what you are looking for, and they will sift through the applicants. While you will have to pay a fee to work with a staffing agency, you will free up precious time and other resources, and if one of the workers isn’t a good fit, you contact the agency, and they can send you someone else.
  • Rely on referrals. You can also ask your current permanent staff for referrals. The benefit to this is that your workers already have an idea which kinds of people would be the best fit for your business and the job that needs to be done. To ensure a steady pipeline of referral candidates, you could even start a formal employee referral program that rewards employees for quality suggestions.
  • Tap college students. Another option for businesses next to a college or university or even in a town with a young population is to seek college students for holiday job openings. College students are usually not taking classes during the holiday season and/or they may be in need of extra cash. To reach this population you can recruit on campus a couple of months before the break and also post your openings on college job recruitment sites.

4. Ask for feedback. Once the holiday season is over, ask your staff for feedback on their experience. In particular, you want to know how well they understood the responsibilities given them, how comfortable they felt on the job, how your permanent staff interacted with them, and what things they wish they could change or improve. While this may not help the current holiday season, the information you receive can help you create a better experience the following year.

5. Stay connected with your seasonal staff. Finding quality staff is a challenge for all employers- big and small- throughout the year. Your seasonal hires may be there to fill a short-term need, but they could also become a pool of potential talent for future positions- even permanent ones. So, try to maintain the relationship.

In short, though you may not think of it this way, when you hire seasonal workers, you are making an investment in them and in your business. If you want to get the most ROI from this investment then you need to go into the process with the right attitude from the start.