Top 5 Tips to Recruit Seasonal Staff!

Up your recruitment game by using these strategies to attract seasonal employees.

It’s no secret that recruiting staff is more competitive than ever. With so many options available for prospective employees, you need to be on top of your recruiting game to fill your roster with top talent. Increasing pay and providing incentives are definitely valuable tools to be more competitive, but not every organization has that ability. Below are my top 5 tips unrelated to pay to up your recruitment game and go into the summer feeling strong!

#1 - Make Current Staff Ambassadors

If you aren’t enlisting your current staff to be ambassadors for your organization, you need to start. Work is more fun when you’re among friends! Let your current or returning staff know your hiring goals and ask them to invite their friends to apply. If the budget allows, hook your current staff up with some fun promo items like t-shirts, sunglasses, lanyards etc to represent your organization in the public. A trusted staff member wearing a unique “Ask me about my job”, or “I’m a camp superhero” shirt in their school is an effective way to stand out in the minds of prospective applicants. A bonus tip - have your staff design the promo items! Your Gen-Z staff will love the opportunity to be creative and to have ownership in the recruiting process.

#2 - Provide Unmatched Schedule Flexibility

I once hired the majority of a high school dance team. Most of them still work for me today. How did I do it? Unlike other organizations in the area, I was willing to work with their very limited availability. These dancers had practice every morning AND afternoon. They were out of town consistently at dance competitions. For the most part, I was only able to schedule them for 3 hours at a time, a few days a week. I was the only one willing to hire these athletes because of their limited availability and due to that, word spread like wildfire. Next thing I know, I’m getting staff from the football and wrestling team too! It required more work up front reengineering the schedule, but it was worth it. On the same note, let your staff know you want them to enjoy their summer! Take the vacations, go on float trips, do that spontaneous thing! We just ask that you cover your shift or let us know a couple weeks in advance. You’d be surprised how much loyalty that earns you. Being flexible in scheduling can give you a massive advantage over other organizations competing for the same applicant pool.

#3 - Get in the Schools

I know this is a cliché, but for good reason. To be at the top of your recruitment game you need to actually get in front of your potential applicants. Talk to your local school districts and see if you can come during the lunch hour to set up a table. Even if the schools don’t let you physically inside, they’ll almost certainly allow you to drop off flyers or post a hiring announcement. When in person, if you have the ability for them to submit applications or interview on the spot, GREAT! If not, get their contact information to send them the application once you’re back in the office. The easier the onboarding process, the better. Bring some promo items along - stickers, pens, sunglasses, and fidget toys are great options.

#4 - Focus on Experience

Unfortunately, most municipal departments, ministry organizations, and even private camps can’t compete with some of the starting wages other recruiting businesses are offering. If you can increase your wages, that's awesome! Please do that. But what if you can’t? Put a heavy emphasis on the experience. Working summer camp is FUN! You can work with your friends, go on field trips, play games and activities, mentor youth, learn new skills, and pack that resume with tons of leadership experience. Show regular staff appreciation both verbally, “You are really great making the new kids feel comfortable and included, We appreciate you!” and with small gifts, donuts anyone? Budget for a few staff outings. I like to do a pre-summer event, a midsummer party, and a post camp get together. Take the team bowling, ax throwing, out for slushies, or host a bbq! These strategies for staff appreciation offers a great opportunity for community building, maintaining a strong culture, and drastically increases staff retention. They may get paid a little more at the grocery store, but they’re going to have WAY MORE FUN working for you.

#5 - Crosstrain

Whenever available, cross train your employees. Look at this in two ways, 1) What employees currently work in your organization that can also work camp? 2) After camp, what roles can your counselors switch into to stay on payroll? I feel like this is common sense, but you’d be surprised how many organizations I talk to that don’t do this. There are so many benefits to cross training your staff. For starters, when you keep your staff, you have less recruiting to do. You also have more experience on staff year after year and these staff members are great advocates for your agency. This also cuts down on staffing issues for example: If we’re short staffed in concessions but half of my camp staff is trained in concessions, some of them can pick up those shifts. Cross training is also a great way to introduce people to the field of parks and recreation. Staff being able to occasionally hop between camp, aquatics, concessions, athletics, events, etc gives them a nice change of pace and scenery and can break up monotony of one position.

As you gear up for your summer recruiting, I hope you keep these in mind and maybe implement a strategy that's new to you. Do you have any great recruiting tips and tricks? I’d love to hear them. Drop tips below!