There’s a catch-22 regarding the gig economy. Self-employment and temp work are the norm for Canada’s workforce, contributing to the country’s lowest unemployment rate in 41 years. Despite that fact, the market is perhaps the most competitive it’s ever been. If you’re a college student seeking one or more seasonal positions, you’re competing not just with fellow students (both in college and high school) but with employed professionals who are looking for side work as well.
Prepping early to beat the rush to grab seasonal positions has never been more relevant. In order to land a seasonal position, you need to ensure you have a special mix of talent and networking strategies. Want to know three key ways you can improve your seasonal job search? Check out below to gain insight.
Reach Out to Professional Connections
You can cut down on a lot of the time spent looking for available positions by approaching not just your personal network but your network of previous employers as well.
You might be hesitant to do this at the outset. You should keep this in mind, however: if you left those previous employers on good terms, they’ll probably be more than happy to hire someone they’ve already trained.
Even if there aren’t any roles available at your previous workplaces, those connections might have valuable information about where you might find available seasonal positions. Some of your previous employers may be more than happy to refer you to places they know need extra help during the winter or summer holidays.
Job Fairs
Before you head home and start your job search there, visit your career centre on campus to see if there are any relevant job fairs that focus on or include seasonal positions. This strategy operates on a similar principle to reaching out to your previous employers: attending a job fair means targeting an audience that’s actively looking to hire skilled candidates.
There are many advantages to attending job fairs, including meeting face to face with many interested employers who can speed up the process of hiring you with an onsite interview. Most likely, many employers will be at the job fair looking to hire temporary workers to fill staffing gaps while their employees are away on vacation.
Apply to a Staffing Agency
This last strategy can not only help you land a seasonal position in record time, it can offer you flexible options that could lead to a full time job. When you apply to a staffing agency like Liberty Staffing for seasonal work, you’re essentially kick-starting your job search in a way that most regular college candidates haven’t thought of.
Working with a staffing agency to source seasonal work means working with experts who have years of experience in matching people at all skill levels with employers. Proficient staffing agencies will assess what your strengths are, and take stock of your goals to home in on employers that are looking for applicants like you.
Staffing agencies work on the national level and the local level. If you want to find seasonal work that’s not only relevant to your skills but located within your college neighbourhood, we suggest applying to local staffing agencies. These agencies have access to positions that aren’t posted publicly and know local business owners personally.
Agencies like Liberty Staffing have placed over 40 temporary and permanent employees at a company. They’re experts at helping you find seasonal positions and (if that’s your goal) employers who are looking to hire proficient seasonal workers full time after the holidays are over.
At the end of the day, your job search for seasonal work is all about starting early, and accessing the right employment networks.
