Define Your Retail Recruitment Goals
The first step you need to do when recruiting in retail is to outline your hiring goals. This means defining how many people you are looking to hire, what positions you are filling in, and what is your timeline for hiring. You should do this step even before you decide whether to use in-house recruiting vs. agency.
Establishing these needs at the start allows you to develop a clear strategy focused on addressing your company’s requirements. Other members of your recruitment team will also have a clear-cut understanding of what they need to achieve when screening applicants.
You should remember that your retail store’s needs may change over time based on the season and additional store openings. Because of this, you need to anticipate your business’s future needs when recruiting retail employees.
Begin by looking at a big picture that is related to your general business goal. Then, break down your goals into timelines that you can follow and accomplish. You can get back to this timeline every time to see how much you have achieved and if you are still on track to reach your goals.
Know the Candidates You’re Targeting and How to Reach Them
The retail industry provides a lot of opportunities to a wide range of talents. This makes it difficult for recruiters to pinpoint who their ideal candidate really is.
As a retail recruiter, you might consider hiring high school or college students who are looking for a part-time job. However, your business might need experienced full-time employees who can help make your store more successful.
Depending on the kind of candidate you are looking to hire, you need to adjust your hiring strategy. Each category of individuals has to be approached in a certain way to entice them to apply to your company.
If you need to hire part-timers, you can advertise your job openings on standard job boards, where students can easily see them. On the other hand, if you are looking to recruit more experienced retail employees, you need a different approach.
You will have better chances of reaching full-time experienced retail professionals when you post your job ads on targeted job boards. Contacting talents on LinkedIn is also a great way to reach experienced retail employees.
Invest in Recruitment Marketing
Another retail recruiting tip that you should try is recruitment marketing. Even if you do it on your own or work with a recruitment services agency, promoting your brand as an employer will help you attract more qualified candidates and encourage your current employees to stay in your company longer.
One way you can achieve this is by promoting your business on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Make sure to focus not only on the products or services that you offer but also on your company culture, awards and recognitions, values, and history.
You can also encourage your team members to spread positive stories about your company to their peers and family. Then, provide them with an incentive if they were able to refer a qualified candidate who was a successful hire.
Lastly, make sure that your brand is well-known in your community. To accomplish this, you must participate in different community events, such as the following:
- Charity events
- Fundraisers
- Contests
- Fairs
- Concerts
Engaging in these activities will help you promote your brand not only as a retail business but also as an employer. By investing in recruitment marketing, you can show prospective applicants what it’s like to work in your company and entice them to apply.
Make Applying Easy
Nowadays, everyone is looking for the fastest way to do something. This applies even to retail recruitment.
This means that as a recruitment professional, you need to provide talents with an easy way to apply to your company. Otherwise, you might lose their interest, which can cost you highly qualified retail employees.
Go Online
One thing you need to do is go online. Aside from posting your openings on traditional job boards, you should harness the power of social media.
The main social media platform you should use in retail recruitment is LinkedIn. This website provides you with an avenue to get in touch with several retail professionals from different parts of the world.
You can also use other social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, to reach talents. Although these sites were not designed for recruiting retail employees, you can use them to spread the word about the opening in your company and easily answer applicants’ questions about your business or the job.
Don’t Add Repetitive Steps
When recruiting through online job boards, make sure to avoid repetitive steps that can discourage candidates from proceeding with the application. One mistake you can commit is asking candidates to upload their resume or CV and then requiring them to fill out a profile that contains the same information.
Encourage Virtual Interviews
To save the time and effort of everybody involved in the retail recruitment process, opt for video or telephone interviews whenever possible. This can help applicants avoid having to travel to your office for only a few minutes of an interview, which is a plus for them.
Set Realistic Expectations
As a recruitment officer, one of your main goals is to sell your business to attract candidates and convince them to apply. However, it is also your duty to provide every applicant with a realistic portrayal of the position they’re applying for.
When telling the applicant more about the opening, you should be honest about the ups and downs of the jobs, so they can brace themselves for the expected stressful seasons or situations. Doing this will also allow you to identify the candidates who are not ready to handle high-pressure scenarios in the retail industry.
You can also opt to provide them with a situational assessment, similar to call center pre-employment testing, where they need to deal with a stressful retail situation. The goal of the examination is to see how well they can handle the pressure without losing their patience.
Provide Pre-Employment Tests
Aside from a situational assessment, there are other types of tests that you can include in your retail recruiting strategies. One of the most important kinds of examinations that you should provide to candidates is a pre-employment skills assessment. This allows you to see if an applicant has the right set of skills that will help make your retail store more successful.
You should also determine if an applicant has the required soft skills to work in a retail store. You can accomplish this by providing them with a personality test for employment, which will also tell you if a candidate is culturally fit for your organization.
For more information and inquiries about employee recruitment, don’t hesitate to contact Aptitude today.
Hire Personalities
As a recruiter, you might focus a bit too much on an applicants’ hard skills and forget how important their personality is. Having a great personality is essential for providing excellent customer service to your patrons.
When you’re recruiting customer-facing retail employees, you should find a candidate who has a personable, friendly, and fun personality. When customers are regularly attended to by a positive and enthusiastic employee, they will think the same of your brand and keep coming back to your store.
Here are some of the specific characteristics you should look for when recruiting in retail:
- Emotionally intelligent
- Good around people
- Eager to learn
- A great team player
- Patient
- Empathetic
Have an Established Onboarding Process
Prepare the candidates you’ve hired for the tasks they will be doing by giving them the resources that they need. Some of the documents you can provide are an employee handbook and a code of conduct.
You should also provide your new employees with enough training to familiarize them with their daily tasks and responsibilities. The training should also inform them about the basics and workplace frameworks that they need to know about before they start working on your retail store.
Revamp Retail Recruiting Strategies
When you establish your goals before starting the recruitment process, you can focus on what matters the most for your organization. This way, you wouldn’t waste any time and resources when recruiting and hiring retail employees.
So, it’s time to look at your current retail recruiting strategy and see how you can improve it. Having a solid structure when hiring in retail will help your business become more successful.
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