With the holiday season upon us, many businesses are bracing for an influx of customers and the corresponding need for additional staff. Staffing up quickly and effectively is crucial, but it comes with challenges.

Michael French, Toronto-based national director with Robert Half, sat down with HCM Dialogue to share his expertise on best practices for mass hiring.

A common tactic is to turn to a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) provider for assistance, he says — particularly if the numbers involved are huge or the organization doesn’t have either the expertise or resources to tackle it.

"RPOs are really good at the whole volume and interviewing," French says, adding that a dedicated recruiter may hire more people in six months than a hiring manager or HR professional might during their entire career.

The downside is that organizations need to give up an element of control to the RPOs, and there can be what he calls “culture challenges” between the outsourcing team and the internal team in how they identify and select the candidates to be hired.

For retailers like Walmart or Home Depot — aiming to hire thousands of similar roles for the holiday season — RPOs can be a particularly effective route to go.

"When you're trying to hire 1,000 for the same role? It's really good for that," French says.

But hiring for diverse or more senior roles is more complex and might not be suited to an RPO or mass hiring strategy.

"You're trying to hire 1,000 with each one being different, that can be more challenging, because no one knows your company better than yourself,” he says.

Plus, if you’re looking at the executive level, they don’t tend to apply for positions — it’s more of a targeted recruitment effort. “It’s very rare for VPs to apply for a job,” he adds. “They tend to be approached and you don’t usually hire 100 vice-presidents all of a sudden anyway.”

Strong brands attract more candidates

Companies with strong brands attract a high volume of applicants, which can be a double-edged sword.

"I couldn't imagine what jobs@apple.com gets," French says. "It's an email address that would receive, goodness, thousands an hour. How do I sort and deal with all these people?"

To manage this volume, many organizations are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their recruitment processes.

"Corporations now have gone to software that has built-in AI, has a built-in applicant tracking system (ATS) and a built-in HRIS," French says. "So as you submit your resumé to Facebook, to Home Depot, to Starbucks — the moment you click send or accept, you're in their system. You're now going to be receiving emails, personally addressed to you, thanking you for your application.”

Personal touch lacking

AI will categorize the resumés and sort them to what are the most applicable positions, French adds. And while it can be a huge help in the initial screening, it lacks the all-important personal touch.

“Twenty years ago, a response with your name on it made you feel very special. Now? We know it’s just a computer filling out your name based on your resumé,” says French. “You’re not even convinced that anyone has seen your application.”

And while it might be possible to imagine that a company filling thousands of positions at once might not bother with a face-to-face conversation for every hire, French hasn’t really seen that happen.

"There are opportunities where we do see people go through what could be very quick, virtual interviews,” he observes. “But you generally have met with someone for an interview somewhere in that process."

Cultural alignment

To avoid a culture clash between the RPO and the internal HR and hiring teams, French has one main suggestion — time.

“Get as many people from the RPO team to spend as much time as humanly possible with the organization,” he says. “Not just in meetings, but talking to people who have been successful. The more they can touch and taste that culture, the better you’re going to do.”

How much time to hire?

Timing is critical in mass hiring, especially during a crammed season like the holiday rush. While pre-planning can help, it can be pulled off relatively quickly in a pinch.

"We had a call with a client and within four days we arranged over 200 candidates,” he mentions. “We've done the scheduling. We've already interviewed everybody. Once they make their final choice, we’re making them offers. So within a handful of days, it can be done.”

AI integration

It’s impossible to talk about AI without thinking about risks around bias. But French said AI can eliminate one of the biggest issues in hiring — unconscious bias among hiring managers.

“The AI is programmed not to identify any of those prohibited categories,” he says. “It’s going to be simply looking at the skills the resumé lists.”

But where AI falls short is when it comes to assessing personality and cultural fit, says French.

"AI couldn't say, 'Hey, this is a great guy who could run our organization or run our magazine,' because he has the technical fit based on the AI,” he adds. “We have to assess the personality, and that's going to come by human interaction.”

Post-pandemic recruitment

French also opines on the evolving nature of recruitment, especially in a post-pandemic world.

"I would have said, just a couple of years ago, every hire has got to be face-to-face interviews. Now we see many organizations do a lot of the hiring virtually — as well as terminations," he says. "The world has changed substantially, and COVID has made a lot of things that used to be in person, virtual."

He also cautions against viewing temporary or seasonal hires as only short term — on both sides of the table. There can be some gems in the group that an employer will want to keep on full time, and for the jobseeker it’s a chance to show what you bring to the role.

"Every time you go to work, it's an audition or an opportunity for further advancement in your career," he concludes. "I would never approach something as ‘I'm only going to be here for eight weeks. I'm just going to do the bare minimum.’ Every time you go to work, it's a chance for more."





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