With an influx of candidates looking for holiday employment and open retail roles this holiday season, seasonal hiring teams need quick, efficient solutions to hire at scale.
Here are three ways retailers can use AI and other technology to hire seasonal workers before the competition does.
Match skills, not titles
AI allows retailers to widen their recruiting funnel with smart, chat-based job matching. Conversational AI matches candidates to jobs they best fit, not just the ones they search for. And when seasonal job titles vary greatly in name, it’s important to have technology in place that recognizes the skills a candidate has that can be advantageous for major roles.
It may sound simple, but if your candidates are searching for “server” positions, and your company calls them “waiter” or “waitress,” you could be missing out on qualified candidates.
Chatbots match candidates based on skills, so they can access the best fit roles available. The burden of responsibility is no longer on the candidates to ensure they’re searching for specific titles correctly, enhancing your candidate experience in the process.
Offer skill assessments
Making quality hires is one thing but ensuring they stick with you is another. Offering a skill assessment to candidates can give a glimpse into what their day-to-day would look like so they know if it’s something they want to keep pursuing. The right science-backed assessment can help teams understand if candidates are the right fit—helping them discover the potential in each of them.
Start texting
Gen Z candidates, born between 1997-2012, are a digitally native generation. They grew up with the internet, smartphones, and social media. When they prefer texting, it’s important that you meet them there because playing phone and email tag is not only outdated but inefficient.
- Invites & Reminders: Send a text invitation to remind candidates to complete video interviews or assessments. This also includes the ability to reschedule or cancel video interviews.
- Text-to-Apply: Advertise job openings with QR codes or text codes
- Direct Messaging (Text Recruiting): 1:1 or mass text campaigns sent from within a dashboard (not your personal phone). Easily engage your past employees about new opportunities or touch base on last-minute details with new hires.
Texting allows you to engage or re-engage in seconds, so you and your candidates can move quickly.
The Benefit of AI in Holiday Hiring
By allowing AI to take over repetitive, time-consuming tasks, HR leaders and workers are free to focus on more complex, creative tasks.
More than two-thirds of HR leaders in our recent AI survey said they are excited about using AI at work because they believe it helps them get more done. For those who use GenAI at work, 41% say they’re more productive. We found that the top 3 ways HR leaders use GenAI at work are to suggest improvements to job post content (59%), create the first draft of job post content (53%), and summarize job post content (52%).
Similarly, workers are also using generative AI to enhance job-search productivity by updating resumes (53%), writing cover letters (46%), and preparing for an interview (42%).
However, the true competitive edge lies not only in using AI to make our current hiring processes faster and fairer; it’s in harnessing its capabilities to innovate how we hire altogether. Moving forward, this thought should be at the forefront of every hiring leader’s mind: how do we leverage cutting-edge tools to maximize human potential? How do we identify what we’re capable of, instead of focusing only on what we’ve already accomplished?
AI can play a crucial role in helping retailers during the holiday season, especially in areas like onboarding and training. For example, AI can streamline the onboarding process by using chatbots to answer new hires’ questions about company policies, benefits, and day-to-day operations, ensuring a smoother transition into their roles. Additionally, AI-driven training programs can offer personalized learning experiences, allowing new employees to master essential skills quickly through adaptive learning modules. This is particularly useful during peak seasons when rapid onboarding is essential.
Beyond AI, other forms of technology can also make a significant impact. For example, Walmart’s approach to nanolearning—delivering quick, targeted training sessions on employees’ devices—helps to provide on-the-go learning without requiring extensive time away from the sales floor. These short, interactive modules can be integrated into daily routines, helping employees learn critical skills quickly and apply them immediately. This method keeps training concise, allowing employees to stay focused on customer service during high-demand periods like the holidays.
By combining AI with strategies like nanolearning, retailers can create a more efficient training environment that supports seasonal staff and ensures consistent customer experiences.
Dr. Mike Hudy is the Chief Science Officer at HireVue.
Holiday hiring stock image by vectorfusionart/Shutterstock
