by David Riel

Created on: February 10, 2008

I help my dad run his Christmas tree business and he has to deal with the problem of finding seasonal employees every year, at a time when everybody is looking for them. Because he needs to hire a lot of people to make his business work my dad's developed the hiring of seasonal employees to a fine art. Here's what we do to ensure we have the staff to meet our needs for our short but busy Christmas season:

TEN TIPS FOR FINDING SEASONAL EMPLOYEES

1. Start early. My dad is talking to prospective employees on Boxing Day (typically these are current employees; see tip number 2). Dad knows that you can't start early enough when it comes to finding seasonal staff.

2. It's a lot easier to keep staff than replace them. Seasonal employees are harder to retain than regular employees. They don't depend on your company for medical benefits, they may move in-between seasons, they may find a regular full-time position - there are a million reasons why they may not return next year. Still, some will return year after year if they are treated well and like the work. Dad treats his seasonal staff well, as though he expects they'll be back next year. He maintains their contact information. He even offers to hold mail for them or do other favors for them if they'll be moving from our area. As a result he has many seasonal employees that have been with him so long they feel like relatives.

3. Use your seasonal staff as recruiters. One of the best way of getting seasonal employees is by asking your seasonal workers if they have a friend or family member who would like work. They often do, and a bonus of this practice is that you are getting someone who comes with a reference you know. It also helps with employee retention when employees have friends or family members working for you.

4. Offer bonuses and other benefits to returning workers. Give your employees a reason to come back to you and not got looking for greener pastures. The amounts involved can be very small, involving as little as a few dollars, but they do give a tangible reason to your employees to return to you. Most of us prefer the familiar to the unknown, and it doesn't take a lot to keep us from making changes. Seasonal employees are no different.

5. Keep your pay levels competitive. If you pay less than competitive wages you'll not only have trouble hiring seasonal employees, but you'll find that you lose the ones you have.

6. Pay your employees on time. You'll have an easier time finding seasonal employees if you have

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