The talent acquisition challenges in the retail industry are as predictable as clockwork, considering its dynamic nature and the high employment rate it entails. Ranging from competition for skilled talent to seasonal hiring hazards, retail has a regular set of challenges to overcome every day and the paradigm shift to online shopping only accentuates the complexity of the industry’s talent acquisition spectrum. While there is a steady increase in talent shortage with 81% of recruiting professionals finding it challenging to fill roles, retail employers and recruiters must look out for viable solutions to tackle the challenges that hinder the flow of potential talent into the retail recruitment pipeline.
To understand what works best for each problem, let’s first look into the major challenges that affect the talent acquisition process in retail and their possible solutions.
1.High Turnover Rates
McKinsey research has found that the attrition rate among retail employees is 70% higher than in other sectors, resulting in an industry turnover rate that often exceeds 60% each year. There is no need to dig deep to find the cause of high employee turnover in retail with the industry being incredibly volatile in terms of employment, consumer preferences, and trends. Adding to this fire is the fuel of competition, which gives enough opportunities for employees to leave their current stores for ones that better cater to their expectations. With this scenario in play, talent acquisition becomes even more difficult as there is no guarantee for new hires’ stay in the company or the value they can contribute.
How to resolve this: Other than having several tempting opportunities at all times, retail candidates/employees become more vulnerable to quitting when there is a lack of engagement within the organization, which can otherwise become a potential reason for their stay. With candidates, this can be ensured by facilitating engaging interactions throughout the recruitment journey, instilling a feeling of belonging in them toward the company and their colleagues. In the case of employees, there has to be a positive working environment that boosts employee engagement and work-life balance, along with competitive compensations and professional development opportunities. Studies by organizations such as Gallup show that engaged and empowered employees resulted in 18% more productivity and 23% more profitability. So, enhanced engagement would mean killing two birds with one stone.
How Hyreo can help you:
- Around-the-clock candidate engagement is ensured by a conversational AI chatbot.
- Efficient brand communication is implemented through automated Nudges.
- Streamlined recruitment is ensured for unforgettable candidate experiences, improving chances of retention and referrals.
Check out our recruiter’s guide to candidate engagement for more insights on the same.
2.Seasonal Hiring
Imagine the chaos brought by holiday seasons or special events that demand more workers than regular numbers. Is there a hiring routine that perfectly executes this? Since the seasonal element in retail involves high-volume hiring, the endless processes associated with strategy planning, scheduling, onboarding, etc. can drive recruiters up the wall. Not to mention the uphill battle of attracting candidates who are open to seasonal job opportunities. A hassle-free customer service during such peak times requires finding the right talent at the right time and creating an additional workforce, capable of managing massive customer footfalls.
How to resolve this: Since seasonal hiring needs are as unpredictable and unavoidable as they can be, what you, as a recruiter can do is ensure that recruitment is perfectly streamlined to accommodate the fluctuating demand the seasonal hiring presents. Though it might seem impossible in terms of the perfection we expect in seasonal hiring, streamlining processes can bring more clarity and perfection to the hiring processes, helping you find talent on time and for the required amount of time. Another approach that helps with bulk hiring due to seasonal demands is maintaining a strong talent pool so that talent hunting doesn’t need to be from scratch every time.
How Hyreo can help you:
- Automated pre-screening with Gen AI-powered questionnaires and CV analysis.
- Automated interview scheduling along with smart integrations (Calendar/video tools).
- Personalized communication to cultivate a diverse talent pool.
3.Dynamic Staffing Requirements
Forget seasonal demands, the industry itself is tremendously dynamic in nature and the staffing requirements on top of it can bring instability to the scenario, depending on the changing market trends and consumer behaviors. For instance, we have seen how the pandemic has ignited the fast-paced growth of e-commerce. By 2025, we can expect shopping on social media platforms to reach $1.2 Trillion globally. While we think e-commerce has taken over brick-and-mortar stores, another survey confirms that 92% of luxury sales today still happen in physical stores. The point is, everything about retail is unpredictable. To overcome the workforce planning challenges amidst these, there is a need for innovative solutions that summon somewhat stability to its precarious recruitment environment.
How to resolve this: Since the root cause always points to technological advancements, whose distant impacts are what we’re seeing as trends in retail, technology should also be the solution to the hiring and staffing challenges it brings along. Predictive Analytics can be of immense use for forecasting staffing requirements accurately. Data on historical sales, market trends, candidate expectations, etc., can deliver invaluable insights, which can help you anticipate the fluctuations beforehand, and adjust the staffing levels accordingly. Candidate recruitment data will shed light on the areas of improvement in your current recruiting approach, helping you craft your pipeline management strategy in such a way that it wins the ideal candidate’s attention when the time comes.
How Hyreo can help you:
- Comprehensive internal and external data on market trends, the organization’s hiring history, and more.
- Data-driven insights to assess candidate sentiments, and their inclination toward joining the company.
4.Hiring Ideal Talents
In the retail realm, academic or professional credentials hardly matter as they have taken a back seat for a very long time. The industry prioritizes skills over anything else, especially customer service skills. On the one hand, this can invite a wider number of applicants. But on the other hand, filtering the right candidates who possess the right set of skills can be quite difficult. Even when you’re successful in finding candidates who possess the skills that match your expectations, you should ensure that they don’t change minds at the last minute (especially after accepting offers), sending your hiring effort down the drain. One of the many reasons why recruitment is difficult in retail.
How to resolve it:
First things first, you must specify your skill requirements in the job descriptions and make it echo throughout the pre-screening assessments. Creating customized screening questionnaires that signify these skills can attract the right candidates. Moreover, keeping the engagement with candidates can also lessen the chances of ghosting and the wastage of recruiting resources that follow. The more you engage with candidates the more information you’ll gain regarding their characteristics and skills to determine whether they are fit for the role.
How Hyreo can help you:
- Pre-screening questionnaires powered by Gen AI, that crafts questionnaires based on job requirements and candidate profiles.
- AI-driven CV analysis that conducts automated assessments by matching CVs with screening outcomes and identifying potential answers.
Conclusion
Though the retail recruiting challenges may seem big from a vantage view, many of them can be easily tackled with the right set of tools and technologies. As you can see, Hyreo’s recruiting CRM offers a broad spectrum of AI-powered functionalities that efficiently resolve most issues in various aspects of retail recruitment, be it screening, interview scheduling, or predicting market trends. This all-in-one solution can ultimately simplify your recruiting processes even during the scariest of seasonal days. Have a quick chat with our expert if want to learn more.
