Summer is almost here, and your time sheets will shortly show it.

A majority of workers save vacation time for the summer, but you need to keep everyday work and vital projects moving forward.

Luckily for you, you know it’s not unusual to find yourself short-handed during the summer and can prepare. When a situation like this arises, seasonal employees can play a critical piece to your hiring puzzle. Seasonal employees can help bridge productivity gaps and help critical projects stay on schedule.

Whether you have a few employees, or a few hundred, you need to implement a complete strategy to attract, hire and train seasonal employees. Here’s how:

Find the skilled talent you need.
You’ll never reach your productivity goals if you try and make finding the talent you need your full time job (which in this employment environment is definitely a full time job). Establishing a partnership to help reach your goals is critical. That’s where ETS comes in, allowing you to address those talent shortage issues fast and enhance your workforce when you need it the most. All without adding to head-count. With our extensive talent network and local marketplace data, we can make the process much easier and faster.

Act fast.
Speaking of faster. Time-to-hire is critical when it comes to seasonal employees. Before you start, make sure you have a full picture of what you need. The positions you need to cover, the requirements for that position, performance expectations and the personality and culture fit of the right candidate. Most importantly, make sure you have an understanding of the pay range you will be offering – ensuring that it meets the market standard. Once you understand what you’re looking for, and you have identified candidates who are the right fit, make the job offer immediately. Top applicants usually have multiple offers and choices to make, so even a short delay could cause you to lose them.

Be transparent.
Seasonal employees understand that this gig isn’t intended to last forever. Be upfront about the time frame, specific duties and responsibilities of the position, and avoid giving them random assignments that don’t fit the original job description.

When your strategy is set in place, take the time to evaluate your company needs to ensure your operation will run smoothly for the rest of the year. If it turns out your seasonal employee is a great fit, and you see the upcoming need to grow your workforce, you can easily convert these seasonal employees to full-time team members.

Give your employees the time off they deserve, without sacrificing productivity. Request seasonal staff now.