How to Find and Hire Warehouse Staff in a Pinch

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By Megan Lacombe

Topics: Hiring Temporary Workers

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How_to_Find_and_Hire_Warehouse_Staff_in_a_Pinch.jpgYou need competent and efficient warehouse staff who are physically capable, who can work in a fast-paced environment, who are safety conscious, and who can work at top productivity. This is the only way that you can ensure that functions are performed appropriately and in a timely manner—like accepting and processing materials and stock, filling orders, and packing and shipping orders.

If you don’t hire the right candidates for these positions, your warehouse could become disorganized and inefficient. Incorrect orders can be shipped, leading to customer service issues. Safety precautions might not be taken, which increases your risk of workplace injuries and accidents. Stock might not be organized or counted properly, leading to inventory problems. To avoid the consequences of making bad hiring decisions for this department, you have to hire the best people—you can’t settle for mediocre.

Hiring is always a struggle, but when you need to find and hire capable warehouse staff in a pinch, the task becomes even more difficult. Here are two options to consider—but beware, they’re not created equal.

In-House Hiring

Your first instinct when you need to hire is probably to just go through the motions and hire in-house. That means writing and posting a job description on various online sites, social media, and other locations, waiting at least a week, or more, for applications to start rolling in, and then taking the time required to evaluate all resumes, call up candidates, and perform interviews. And even though you’re in a rush to hire right away, you can’t skip any critical steps in the hiring process, or you could end up hiring the wrong candidates that do more harm than good.

And while you’re going through the step-by-step hiring process, your positions are left unfilled. And your warehouse is not performing at optimal speed or efficiency. Productivity is reduced. Orders might get shipped late. Your current staff members might need to work longer hours, take on overtime work, and take on additional duties. This can lead to low morale, stress, higher risks of on-site injuries, and higher costs. You simply can’t afford to spend weeks on your in-house hiring process when you need new staff members on site immediately.

So, although you can certainly try to hire in-house, this isn’t the most ideal solution. It’ll lead to wasted time, reduced productivity, and higher costs.

Your better option is described below.

Engaging a Staffing Agency

If you need warehouse staff in a pinch—and we mean really, really quickly, then your best bet is to engage a staffing agency that is dedicated to placing high-quality workers with clients in the industrial and warehouse fields. Your staffing agency will be able to send over any number of qualified professionals who know how to use industrial equipment, who are trained to spot, report, and avoid safety hazards, and who are efficient and capable to get the job done right. Whether you need one new worker or several, whether you’re in need of temporary workers or long-term permanent employees, your staffing firm will be able to deliver. And deliver quickly.

You see, your staffing agency will have worked diligently over the years to find and recruit warehouse workers, way before your need even comes up. So by the time you call requesting help, your staffing agency will already have a long list of qualified candidates to place at your company. It won’t start the hiring process from scratch because its recruiters will have already pre-screened and pre-approved workers ahead of time. You’ll be able to hire your new workers through a staffing agency much faster than you would if you were to hire in-house.

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Megan Lacombe

Megan is a Media Communications professional at Liberty Staffing. She has experience working as a Freelance Writer for a variety of companies online. In her free time, she enjoys crafting, photography, running, and kayaking. An avid reader, she reads anything, anywhere. She puts creativity and passion into everything that she does. Her favourite quote is “Create the things you wish existed” by Anonymous.

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