Businesses lure seasonal help with chances for other jobs

Every fall, the staff count at Fun.com swells from 150 to as high as 2,000, as the online retailer fills orders for Halloween costumes and decor.

The company offers its seasonal staff at the warehouse in North Mankato, Minnesota, an incentive to perform well — those who do will be recommended for jobs at a greeting card manufacturer in town. That business needs between 300 and 400 people soon after Fun.com lets its seasonal crew go, says Joe Riska, the company’s head of human resources.

“Since they’ve already gone through a season and shown they can do good work, now they can go work for another company,” he says.

Small businesses that need extra help during the holidays or other busy times of the year are looking for employees willing to work hard and help the company meet its increased demand for products or services. So some owners approach recruiting and managing with the goal of turning temporary workers into long-term ones, or helping them find other jobs. It’s a strategy that’s critical when a national unemployment rate of 4.1 percent has shrunk the pool of candidates.

It can be hard for a business to find seasonal staffers if it offers them only a short-term paycheck, says Melissa Hassett, a vice president at staffing company Manpowergroup. Many of these workers want to learn new skills. “A lot of people would love more career growth over time,” Hassett says.

But owners need to manage their seasonal workers’ expectations, and be clear what their chances are of getting a permanent job, says Carrie Gonell, an employment law attorney with Morgan Lewis in Costa Mesa, California. Some workers take a job hoping that it won’t end when the season does.

“Make sure you say that you intend for the job to be seasonal,” Gonell recommends to owners who expect to let those workers go when business slows.

At Fun.com, the seasonal workers start arriving in August, and most work until Halloween. About 10 percent will remain through Christmas to handle holiday shipments. Recruiting and managing that many temporary workers can be difficult, so the company increases its human resources staff from three to 15 people each year. It recruits college students looking for HR experience that they can list on their resumes, Riska says.