How To Hire A Seasonal Retail Worker

A seasonal retail worker has much the same role as a full-time retail worker - they sell goods such as apparel, groceries, vehicles and appliances to customers, but are usually employed only during periods of high trade such as the festive season.

This can be a difficult role to hire for, because a seasonal worker needs all the skills and abilities of any retail staff, but with the added competencies that allow them to learn quickly so that they are able to take on their role with limited training and onboarding.

In this article, we will look at the daily duties that a seasonal retail worker might be expected to complete, as well as the skills and abilities that you should be looking for in applicants. We will also look at the best pre-employment tests you can use to evaluate these specific competencies.

What should a seasonal retail worker be able to do?

A seasonal retail worker will spend time greeting customers and helping them find the things they need in the store. They might make recommendations based on the needs of the customer, or simply help them locate items if they are difficult to find.

The seasonal retail worker might be asked to describe the items and their uses, or to demonstrate how they might be used to their best effect, helping the customer to make the best decision about what product to choose.

Once the customer has made a selection, the seasonal retail worker may need to compute sales prices, total the purchases and take payment for them. They may then need to bag or package the purchase, or perhaps wrap it if it is a gift.

Aside from the direct service of customers, the seasonal retail worker might be responsible for helping customers to complete exchanges or refunds for goods that have been returned to the store, and they may need to deal with customer complaints in the first instance before referring them to a manager.

The seasonal retail worker might be expected to clean shelves and counters, and to prepare merchandise for sale. This might include ticketing, arranging and displaying it to make it more accessible for customers.

Seasonal retail workers will be expected to answer questions about the store and the goods that are sold, and they should be able to demonstrate knowledge of sales, promotions, and security practices - so that they know what to do to prevent security risks such as thefts from the store.

Skills to look for in a seasonal retail worker

The skills that a seasonal retail worker needs are similar to other retail workers - and they might not be easy to spot in a basic resume or application form. Some of the skills that you should be looking for when you are hiring for a seasonal retail worker include:

• POS Software: using cash registers is an essential part of the role, and a seasonal retail worker that already has knowledge or skill in using some form of Point of Sale (POS) software will be able to apply that easily to different systems.

• Service Orientation and Social Perceptiveness: working in a retail environment is all about providing a service to the customers, so a mindset of service and a skill in being perceptive about what people want will help them perform better.

• Speaking and Active Listening: holding a conversation with a customer to better understand what they are looking for needs speaking skills, but also active listening skills - so that there are no misunderstandings and the customer receives exactly what they need from their visit.

• Negotiation and Persuasion: on occasion, depending on the store, the seasonal retail worker might be expected to meet some sales targets - which means they might need to negotiate with customers to get them to buy more.

• Active Learning: this skill is very important for the seasonal retail worker because it will help them to be able to pick up the needs of the role quickly - and that will help them to be successful faster.

Useful abilities for a seasonal retail worker

There are a number of abilities that successful seasonal retail workers need to be successful. These are the inherent competencies that a worker will bring to the role, and they can make all the difference when it comes to successful job completion. Some of the abilities that you should be looking out for include:

• Oral Expression and Comprehension: the ability to be able to express themselves and be understood, and to understand the verbal expressions of others are essential to providing good service, and something that a seasonal retail worker needs to have the ability to do.

• Speech Clarity and Recognition: not only should a seasonal retail worker be able to orally express themselves, they also need to be able to speak clearly to be understood - especially when it comes to giving information about a product or a service to a customer.

• Problem Sensitivity: for a seasonal retail worker, dealing with problematic customers might be more about handing them off to management or to supervisors - but they still need to be able to recognize when there is a problem, even if they are not going to deal with it themselves.

• Information Ordering: providing good service and dealing with different tasks throughout the day needs the seasonal retail worker to be able to use logical ordering of information and tasks.** **

• Written Expression and Comprehension: Being able to understand written information and instructions can mean that the seasonal retail worker is able to pick up more about their role without needing to be ‘taught’ - and they may need to write reports or pass information in writing to other colleagues.

Which soft skills tests could I use to hire a seasonal retail worker?

Soft skills are an important but often overlooked set of competencies that a seasonal retail worker needs.

Soft skills generally outline how a candidate can work with others and how they react in stressful situations, so testing for them in the recruitment process can help hiring teams discover the candidates who have the right level of soft skills to be successful.

Some soft skills tests that might be useful when hiring for a seasonal retail worker include:

• Communication: communication skills are important because the seasonal retail worker needs to be able to communicate with their colleagues and wider team members, but they also need to be able to talk to customers in the most effective way.

• Teamwork: working in a retail environment is all about teamwork, and the most effective teams make the most of each individual’s ability to get the job done - so working as part of a team effectively is an important soft skill for the seasonal retail worker.

• Adaptability: there are a number of different duties that a seasonal retail worker needs to be able to complete during their shifts - which means they need to be adaptable to cope with competing demands.

• Time Management: making the best use of their time is a skill that seasonal retail workers need to be happy using, especially during peak hours - they need to balance the essential work that has to be completed with serving customers to the best of their ability.

• Problem Solving: problem solving abilities don't always have to be dealing with major issues, these skills can be used to help customers find a solution to their particular product (using an item sold in store, if possible).

Which technical or aptitude tests could I use to hire a seasonal retail worker?

While POS skills are an important factor when it comes to hiring a seasonal retail worker. Most software systems are much the same so a candidate who has experience in one should be able to transfer that over - so you may not need to specifically test for that.

There are some aptitudes that you should test for in a potential seasonal retail worker, however, because these are the ones that point to greater cognitive ability and speed of learning. You can choose tests such as:

• Situational Judgement: good judgment is needed when dealing with different workplace situations, whether that is customer-facing or within the team. The candidate’s performance on this test will demonstrate how they prefer to behave at work and their judgment skills.

• Verbal Reasoning: verbal reasoning is a test of a candidate’s ability to read and understand written information, and then use that to make logical and reasoned deductions. It points to critical thinking and learning skills.

• Numerical Reasoning: the numerical reasoning test is a combination of numeracy skills and the application of math principles to solve problems and come to a reasoned conclusion.

• Emotional Intelligence: emotional intelligence is accepted as a good indicator of general intelligence, and is especially useful when dealing with customers. A candidate who has a high level of emotional intelligence is able to recognize different emotions in themselves and others and respond accordingly.

• Spatial Reasoning: spatial ability might not be the first thought when looking for a seasonal retail worker, but the physical side of the role (restocking shelves and arranging displays) needs a level of awareness about how objects move and change in space.

Our recommended test battery for a seasonal retail worker

The tests above take pre-employment assessments to a really granular level, and this is not actually all that useful in the real world - administering so many tests would be a time burden on the recruitment team and is likely to put applicants off applying.

The test battery that we would recommend when hiring for a seasonal retail worker includes:

• Teamwork: in the teamwork test, the candidate is asked to read through several different workplace scenarios, each presenting a problem to do with teamwork. The candidate needs to decide which course of action would have the best outcome in dealing with the problem out of the multiple-choice options available.

• Communication: the communication test is similar to the teamwork test, although the scenarios are different - the candidate needs to decide how best to solve a problem using communication skills.

• Time management: in the time management test, the candidate needs to decide which tasks should take priority according to the fictional workplace scenario presented.

• Verbal Reasoning: in the verbal reasoning test, the candidate needs to quickly read and understand the passage of text presented, and use it to answer the question that follows. This test is all about making reasoned decisions, but also suggests how quickly the candidate can learn.

If you want to learn more about hiring seasonal retail workers, then our retail tests page has details that can help you choose the right candidate.