Adapting to Seasonal Hiring Surges with Flexibility

Seasonal and high-volume hiring isn’t just a staffing challenge anymore – it’s a core business issue. From retail and logistics to manufacturing and construction, demand surges are becoming sharper, less predictable, and more complex to manage. In the most recent holiday season (October–December 2024), U.S. retailers added about 562,000 temporary roles to cope with peak demand.

These spikes can’t be tackled with a standard recruitment playbook, especially when businesses are under pressure to do more with less.

In recent years, companies have become more cautious about committing to permanent headcount, particularly in regions where economic uncertainty and policy shifts, such as tariffs or tax incentives, are reshaping operating models. However, as Greg Gary, Page Outsourcing’s Director of Client Solutions, points out:

Organisations still need to meet deliverables, even if they’re not ready to bring on full-time staff. They’re saying, 'We can’t take on the burden of permanent hires right now, but we still have targets to hit. Can we get temporary, high-volume support in quickly?' That’s where seasonal models come in.

Crucially, these surges aren’t confined to the traditional holiday season. Warm-weather industries, regional construction projects, and sector-specific production booms – such as semiconductor fabrication in the United States – all generate short-term demand spikes that require a fast and flexible workforce.

For talent leaders, the implications are clear. If you’re not set up to flex your workforce at speed, you're not just risking service delivery – you’re risking your competitive edge.

What are the challenges faced by HR and talent leaders?

Hiring at speed and scale sounds straightforward until you're in the middle of it. HR and talent teams often face a perfect storm during peak periods: urgent demand, a limited talent pool, and internal capacity already pushed to its limit.

One of the core challenges is timing. Seasonal hiring often comes with a fixed deadline – stores must be staffed before sales begin, construction crews need to be on-site before the weather turns. Yet many organisations don’t have the luxury of long planning cycles. “Unless you’ve done some excellent workforce planning – and even the best companies can fall short in this regard – you’re scrambling,” says Greg Gary. “And you’re doing it with the same internal resources already managing present day-to-day operations.”

Even finding recruiters can be a challenge. As Gary points out:

There’s a war for talent at every level, including among the people trying to source that talent. Why would a recruiter sign on for a three-month contract role at a time when people are looking for stability and full-time opportunities are available?

Then there’s the issue of competition. High-volume hiring typically occurs in already crowded labour markets, where multiple employers are seeking to fill similar roles simultaneously. Companies like Amazon or Walmart may be recruiting in the same region, often targeting the same candidate pool. In such situations, when roles are viewed as short-term or transactional, compensation becomes the primary factor. As Greg Gary notes, “You can offer a great culture, but if the company next door is paying a dollar more an hour, that’s where people are going.”

Additionally, high turnover in temporary roles places an extra strain on HR teams. Quality suffers. Candidate engagement drops. And compliance risk grows, particularly in markets with shifting drug testing laws, local hiring rules, and varying standards across states or countries.

These aren’t minor bumps in the road. They’re structural issues that most in-house teams are simply not equipped to handle at scale.

How Page Outsourcing delivers scale without sacrificing quality

Meeting seasonal and interim hiring targets requires far more than simply increasing volume. It demands structure, urgency, and a clear plan to move quickly without compromising on quality. As Greg Gary explains:

This is what we do. While an internal HR team might have two or three people managing recruitment, we’ve got delivery hubs and dedicated teams built specifically for this kind of demand.

Page Outsourcing offers flexible hiring models tailored to these short-term surges, such as Project RPO or Modular RPO. Clients can tap into our global delivery network, which includes both remote and on-site support, depending on the situation's demands. Screening, scheduling, and automation tools keep the process moving quickly, while our teams stay focused on the human side of hiring. Even when you're bringing in hundreds of people at a rapid pace, the experience still needs to feel personal, and we ensure it does.

That approach proved effective when we supported a global mobility client in France, tasked with filling over 160 customer service roles ahead of a seasonal peak. We streamlined the sourcing and assessment strategy, cutting time-to-fill from two months to three weeks and reducing turnover by 18%.

In another case, this time in North America, a client had already exhausted the local talent pool. Our team identified overlooked regions nearby and arranged for workers to be bused in, thanks to a partnership with the regional transport authority. The employer covered most of the costs, and the shared travel provided candidates with a sense of community from day one. As Greg Gary recalls, “You’re not just solving a hiring problem – you’re building a practical solution that works for real people.”

The long-term benefits of short-term hiring

When hiring ramps up, speed is usually the top priority. However, what often gets overlooked is how these brief recruitment periods can influence the broader perception of your brand. For many candidates, a seasonal or interim role is their first real contact with your organisation. If the process is chaotic or impersonal, it doesn’t just deter future applicants – it can also negatively impact the customer experience, especially in public-facing roles.

That’s why Page Outsourcing focuses not just on volume, but on how that volume is delivered. We build talent pools that are specifically aligned with each client’s brand and operating model. That helps ensure consistency across multiple waves of hiring, even when those workers are only staying for a few weeks or months at a time. In many cases, these candidates return the following year, already trained and ready to go – a huge advantage in environments where getting people up to speed quickly is non-negotiable.

Greg Gary describes it as building future value, even when the engagement is short. “You’ve already done the groundwork. You’ve found the people, you’ve onboarded them, and they’ve had a good experience. Now, when the next peak hits, you’re not starting from scratch.”

There’s also a compliance advantage. With temporary and seasonal hiring, especially across regions or countries, regulatory risk can spike. Local drug testing laws, background check rules,and data privacy concerns – these vary widely. An experienced outsourcing partner knows how to manage these risks effectively, keeping the process smooth while protecting your business.

Handled well, short-term hiring can support long-term goals, from workforce planning to employer brand visibility. And in a competitive labour market, every interaction counts.

The strategic advantage of partnering with Page Outsourcing

Seasonal and high-volume hiring can put a real strain on internal teams, and mistakes in these moments can have lasting consequences. Partnering with an experienced outsourcing provider offers more than just extra hands. It gives you structure, speed, and a clearer path to results. Greg Gary sums it up well: