Seasonal recruitment in 2017: are you on-trend?

When everything's ticking along nicely, it's easy to put off thinking about seasonal recruitment. But then it's way too late!

Like snowflakes, every company's unique. Hiring drives are timed to match up with the ebb and flow of business. This can be a pain in the proverbial. But, in 2017 there are so many nifty tools you can use make things run like clockwork.

Wrapping your head around your seasonal recruitment cycle

Most companies get the gist of a recruitment cycle.

Seasonal sectors like tourism, construction and retail love hiring in autumn and spring. Big companies might crank the recruitment engine up to coincide with budgeting, a planned project, staff holidays or the availability of certain people (like students after graduation).

Candidates can even call the play themselves. Ever heard of 'Blue Monday'? It's the day when recruiters can look forward to a flood of applications from grumbling employees, and it happened earlier on this month.

Getting your seasonal recruitment game on point

Nailing seasonal recruitment is enough to give you a migraine. You've gotta supersize your hiring resources to land the folks you need, when you need them.

But, what are you gonna do for the rest of the year? Just let your stuff sit there gathering dust bunnies?

Of course not. Just like a Pokémon, you need something that's small and easily managed most of the time, but ready to jump out and save the day when the time's right.

And, that thing, my friends, is recruitment tech. It comes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours, but here's a cheeky intro to the tech features you need for seasonal recruitment:

• Job-posting: You'll be on the lookout for more people, and probably using resources you wouldn't otherwise to land a different type of employee (a young grad or part-time bod). You need software that'll let you post job ads across a whole stack of job boards and social media channels at once.

• Talent pool management: Keeping your talent pool topped up will put a massive smile on your face come the recruitment rush. Having candidates who've worked for you before or been pre-vetted means you won't need to look all that far. Just dive on in and see what you come out with.

• Auto-schedule: Chatting with candidates about dates and logging all those little details can be a massive time-sink. But, not with auto-scheduling. Shortlist your candidates, then let the software do all the planning, scheduling and booking legwork.

• Auto-interview: Keeping it to just a few interviewees is the way to go. Record and share some interview questions, or set up lightning-fast Skype interviews to whittle down your list. Reject or progress them through your process now, and after the formal interview stage with minimal admin.

Seasonal recruitment's a doddle when you know how. Get into the techy groove and use recruitment software to make your hiring strategy look great all year round.