Recruitment for retail chains

The retail hiring calendar

Plan hiring around the trading year, not around resignations. Festive hiring starts in August and September, so new associates are trained before Navratri and Diwali. Stores that sell wedding wear hire again in October. End of season sales in January and July need temporary cashiers and stock associates for three to four weeks. A new store needs its store manager about two months before launch and its team three to four weeks before, so they can train at a nearby store first.

Sourcing close to the store

Candidates who live near the store tend to stay longer and arrive on time through the monsoon. Put a hiring standee with the careers page QR code at the store entrance and the billing counter, ask current staff for referrals, and share the link in local job groups. The public careers page takes candidates through a multi-step application form, and each application lands against the requisition for the right store. For store manager roles, look at assistant managers ready for promotion first, and at competing chains second.

Screening for the shop floor

A store associate's CV says little. Screen for what the job needs: comfort standing through a long shift, willingness to work weekends and festivals, clear speech in the local language, and quick arithmetic for cashiers. The resume match score, with its breakdown by skills, experience, role fit and education, is useful as a first sort for experienced roles such as store manager or visual merchandiser. For associates, a short phone screen and an interview at the store work better. Candidates pick an interview slot from those the store manager offers, and screening notes stay with the candidate.

• Can you work Saturdays, Sundays and festival days?
• How would you handle a customer who wants to return a used item?
• A bill is ₹1,365 and the customer pays ₹2,000: what change do you return?
• Which shift can you do: opening, closing or both?

Fixed-term hires for the season

Festival and sale staff can be hired on fixed-term contracts. Under the Industrial Relations Code, fixed-term employment is allowed and a fixed-term worker holds full employee status, and gratuity for fixed-term employees is paid pro rata without the five-year minimum. Issue an appointment letter that states the end date, run their attendance and payroll exactly like permanent staff, and keep the good ones in your previous employees list for next season.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. Raise a job requisition in the Recruitment Hub for each store and role, with the number of openings, so it closes when filled.
2. Publish the public careers page and print its QR code on standees at store entrances and billing counters.
3. Move applicants across the pipeline board, New, Screening, Interview, Offer and Joined, and keep screening notes on every candidate.
4. Offer interview slots that suit the store manager, and let candidates pick one themselves.
5. Send offers with the online accept or decline page, then move accepted candidates straight into onboarding.
6. Review recruitment analytics each month for the funnel, open requisitions and pending offers.

Read more about recruitment in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions