The idea of summer recruitment may send shivers down your spine. Worse than the dreaded silence of the pre-Christmas period? It is certainly a contender! Indeed, there are several problems businesses may encounter when searching for IT talent during summer. The following post will identify why this is the case and explain how to turn summer recruitment on its head and beat the competition for the best available talent.

Why is Summer so Slow for Recruitment?

The season tends to be a slower period for most firms for several reasons:

Children are on school holidays
The weather is at its finest
Summer is an obvious time for workers with families to book annual leave
Some workers may even reduce their hours to part-time during the summer months

With a reduced summer working team, businesses tend to cut back on recruitment activity, making summer a snail’s game.

How to Make Summer Recruitment your Secret Weapon in the Search for Talent

We have found that with proper planning, it is possible to counter this summer lull and achieve great results! Below are our top tips for using this ideal time to secure the best available talent!

Three hiring managers in the race for top talent - could the answer be a savvy summer recruitment strategy? — Could a savvy summer recruitment strategy be the way to beat your competitors in the race for top talent?

1 – Start Planning Early

Unfortunately, the current recruitment market is candidate-driven and valuable skills are scarce. Therefore talented people can afford to be pickier than ever. Your business needs to secure the best talent in order to stay ahead of the competition. Without proper planning, many businesses struggle with recruitment in the summer due to the absence of hiring managers.

That’s why late spring / early summer is a great time to brainstorm your summer recruitment ideas. Aim to have a plan in place before the summer holidays are in full swing. A summer recruitment strategy can maximise the chance of your business snapping up the hottest talent in the jobs market.

2 – Anticipate Vacancies Before They Arise

Let’s say, you’re an Internal Recruiter of a large firm. At the start of August, the IT Director requests a .NET Developer to start mid-September. However, if he/she is going on around the world cruise for four weeks. How are you going to fill that role?

Well firstly, don’t panic. Let’s step back and see how you might be able to plan a summer recruitment strategy to avoid such a scenario.

Liaise with HR. Make sure you are aware of any big projects, maternity cover, anything that might create a skills gap come autumn
Internal communication is key. Encourage Hiring Managers, Team Leaders and other experts to make their holiday requirements clear early on
Call for backup. Does the Hiring Manager have to be in on all the interviews? If the Hiring Manager is unable to attend in person, find out whose opinion they trust
Spend your time wisely. Many companies are obsessed with a three-round interview process involving a telephone interview, technical test and final interview. Recruitment consultants can carry out many of these tasks for you. This minimises the time you spend interviewing and free up the precious time of your Hiring Managers
Make use of technology throughout the hiring process. Your Hiring Manager will undoubtedly want the final say to anyone they could potentially be working with. Alternatively, you could consider video interviewing technology, which makes it possible for a Hiring Manager to ‘meet’ a candidate from anywhere in the world

3 – Focus on Attracting Graduates

At the beginning of every summer, there is a new influx of talented graduates in the jobs market. Graduate programmes from previous years also often come to an end around the end of the academic year. Those who have previously worked in graduate roles, often have the most up to date and sought after skills. So what does this mean for me? It means you have a fresh pool of talent actively seeking their next role!

Graduates are a great investment for your business as they are used to learning new skills and producing work to a deadline. In short, graduates could be an asset to you as they are easy to train, having no prior bad habits, only a willingness to learn.

4 – Get Help From Recruitment Experts

A female office worker doing yoga on her desk whilst our recruitment team take the pressure off her summer hiring strategy — Allow our recruitment consultants to take the pressure off your summer hiring strategy

With summer recruitment being so important to get right, it could be worthwhile enlisting the help of an experienced recruitment consultant. Recruitment agencies have access to a huge pool of active talent. Not only that but they have extensive knowledge of their sector and, therefore, know where to place your advertisement to target the right people with the right skills. Under these niche searches, they are able to reach high calibre candidates, quickly!

For example, a consultants database houses candidates of differing skills, experience levels and qualifications. For this reason, connecting with a recruiter may make your summer recruitment search a lot faster but more importantly, a lot less stressful. A Recruitment Consultant can help you coordinate a recruitment plan to help you through this crucial time and find the best available talent, for you.

A Few Final Thoughts

Hopefully, after reading this article, you now have a better understanding of summer hiring tactics. Most notably, how to take advantage of the summer lull to gain an advantage over your competitors.

If you found this article useful, please share it on social media where others can benefit from it too. They will be sure to thank you for it!