Over the past few weeks I’ve received multiple follow-up inquiries about the best way(s) to gain permanent employment after accepting a seasonal position.
First of all, glad many are serious about their career progression and are working during the holiday season. Seasonal work offers a ton of opportunities besides earning a few extra bucks.
Second of all, seasonal employment does not always have to be temporary. For a moment, let’s wear a manager’s hat and consider two advantages of hiring and promoting within an existing seasonal pool:
- Hands on employee evaluation. Think about it, during stressful holiday shopping, employee character and values are constantly tested. Pass this test during the holiday season and you can handle the world. With this said, do you think supervisors and owners do not recognize those employees who work well with customers, who remain calm, and who hold themselves to company standards and expectations, even under the most stressful circumstances? Let me make it clear, they do.
- Precedence equates to prediction. No doubt you’ve heard this before, but nothing is more indicative of future performance than past performance. For those showing professionalism, a solid work ethic, and a winning attitude during seasonal employment, your actions make loud and clear indications as to what kind of permanent employee you will become.
How do the top two bullets help in your quest to gain permanent employ? Glad you asked…
- From the first day of employ, believe in your mind (and actions) your current position IS a permanent position. In other words, visualize and actualize. Here’s a fact: The simple act of visualizing goals and performance enhances the probability the event/outcome will become a reality.
- Referring to precedence equates to prediction, make sure each minute at your seasonal position is spent productively. In other words, unless on a scheduled break and out of customer site, do not become involved with Twitter, Facebook, or any other social/digital site. Customers will not take kindly to being ignored and seeing you hunched over your IPhone instead of taking care of their needs. Truth is, customers may not know you are on break and will express their displeasure with managers.
- Professionalism ALWAYS: At the end of the season, managers/supervisors go behind closed doors to discuss long-term options current and potential employee options. For the record, those currently holding full time positions, nothing is written in stone so you too need to display professionalism at all times.
- Not being watched and evaluated at all times, think again: Need I say more? Nothing says “I am right for the company” than action. Ultimately, what you do on (and to a degree, off) the clock will be used to support your supervisors’ decision to keep you on full time or let you wonder off like an over-licked candy cane.
- Customer feedback: If you are in a retail or consumer-based environment, customer feedback can be the determining factor when it comes job security… just saying.
Transitioning from being a seasonal employee to a permanent one is doable and can be quite rewarding. How far and long you go with it depends (mostly) on you.
With this note and holiday music in the background (Loretta Lynn jamming “Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town”), time for me to sip on my second cup of hot chocolate.
Hoping your career journey is an exciting and rewarding one, I am here to help in the process.
For those interested in developing proven career success techniques or securing cutting-edge career focused material, including interview best practice techniques or how to write effective resume/cover letters? Visit www.edu-cs.com or www.CareerBreakOut.com for a complete listing of available services and support or contact me directly at [email protected].
Danny Huffman, MA, CEIP, CPRW, CPCC
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