When searching for retail talent, the prospect of overcoming both the ever-changing job market and the unique challenges the retail sector faces can make finding top talent a difficult task. To aid in the process, we’ve put together a list of challenges to be aware of, as well as their solutions, to help you achieve your hiring goals.
1. Employee Turnover
The Challenge
High turnover is one of the biggest hurdles in retail recruitment. The average annual employee turnover for frontline retail workers has been at 60%, (and 63% for frontline retail managers) for multiple years, according to a study from McKinsey. A turnover rate that high makes for an unending hiring process, and a frustrating experience for talent acquisition teams struggling to find the right candidates for open jobs.
High employee turnover rates can lead to:
- Retail stores being short-staffed, causing employee morale to decline.
- Poor customer service.
- Decreased employee productivity.
The Solution
To find right-fit candidates, organizations should prioritize employee needs from the time they apply to the time they are hired. This is an opportunity to put your best foot forward and show new candidates what your business has to offer.
To improve your retail recruitment strategy and combat employee turnover, consider:
- Developing a branded career site that informs candidates. A well-made, data-driven career site with tailored content can drive more right-fit candidates to apply by communicating key hiring decision factors with advanced job descriptions.
- Making time for regular communication during the hiring process to establish a rapport with prospective candidates. This shows applicants you are invested in them and care about their development.
- Enabling candidates to provide feedback so you can understand what you’re doing right and how you can make improvements.
- Incentivizing long-term employment via benefits and a positive company culture. Include this content across your career site so candidates will be aware of your company’s investment in its employees.
2. Seasonality and High-Volume Recruiting
The Challenge
In retail recruitment, demand for candidates increases significantly during specific times of year, such as the holiday season. During the 2024 holiday season, retailers added 561,800 jobs. Finding enough staff is a challenge during this time, and managing the increased number of employees in these periods can put extra pressure on hiring managers and talent acquisition teams.
Getting staffing levels just right can be an overwhelming task. Without knowing how to get the balance right, businesses open themselves up to:
- Being overstaffed and driving up operating costs.
- Being understaffed and unable to meet their sales potential.
- Wasting time sifting through a growing number of resumes from unqualified applicants.
The Solution
To get a handle on retail recruiting during a high-volume season, it’s helpful to begin focusing on developing your organization’s talent pools. Retailers can accomplish this by engaging candidates throughout the year, rather than only during peak season. Additionally, retailers can simplify their process using talent acquisition technology, like the Radancy Talent Acquisition Cloud.
Advanced talent acquisition technology enables:
- Automation of manual tasks, like interview scheduling and resume screening, for more effective and cost-efficient hiring outcomes.
- Data-driven decision making through actionable insights, such as marketing and ROI reports, recruiter usage metrics and details on job performance.
- Providing a personalized experience to each candidate while processing a large volume of applications, leveraging user engagement and network intelligence to drive success.
- Keeping candidates and talent teams up to date on the candidate journey through every point in the process with end-to-end candidate intelligence.
3. Retail Recruitment Technology That Doesn’t Fit Your Needs
The Challenge
Though talent acquisition technology can aid in the hiring process for retailers, not all talent acquisition technology is built the same. Many retailers rely on point solutions to handle their recruiting process, which can lead to inefficient processes, disjointed data and increased third-party spending. A recruitment platform that doesn’t offer insight into the entire candidate journey can hinder the process and exacerbate challenges that come with high-volume hiring and employee turnover.
The Solution
To get the most out of your retail recruiting, an integrated platform, such as the Radancy Talent Acquisition Cloud, is the best solution. With an AI-powered, end-to-end platform, talent acquisition teams can maximize ROI, simplify their HR tech stack and hire right-fit candidates faster. Radancy offers an integrated platform solution that enables you to manage the entire candidate journey in one place to optimize essential touchpoints of your retail recruitment funnel, while giving you a clear view into the process.
Our platform leverages targeted audience data, AI and automation to effectively identify and engage talent. Our solution offers:
- Sourcing
- Intelligent Outreach
- Centralized Candidate Management
- Audience Segmentation
- Scheduling
- Workflow Automation
- And more
The Radancy Talent Acquisition Cloud, bolstered by rich data and deep industry expertise, is revolutionizing how employers attract and hire the talent they need. To see if we’re the right fit for your retail recruitment, connect with us today to request a demo.
