Event planning is all about teamwork. When you assemble a team with the right skills and experience, your event can run smoothly and leave a positive and lasting impression on your guests. Each team member plays a vital role in executing different aspects of the event, from food service to guest interactions, ensuring its overall success. PeopleReady is here to make event staffing easier with our expert tips for finding the right event staff for your venue.
How to find the right event staff for your venue
Whether you’re staffing for a conference or have arena and stadium jobs to fill, you can set your workforce up for success. Here are some tips to help you get started:
Create a work schedule
Maintaining a reliable and motivated workforce is possible even during the busiest times of year. When staffing for events, it’s crucial to take your peak seasons into account and ensure scheduling flexibility.
Additionally, offering scheduling options like flextime or self-scheduling can improve employee retention rates and help attract more applicants to your open roles. The Society of Human Resource Management notes that flexible schedules not only boost productivity but also result in fewer employee absences.
Ask your applicants the right questions
Interviews provide valuable insights into your potential candidates for event staff jobs. They serve as a tool to assess whether your candidates have the right skills and are a good culture fit. While different roles may call for specific skills, there are some traits that all workers should have. For example, event jobs require collaboration, so your team members should be friendly and have the ability to work well with others.
When staffing for events, you need to make sure your workers can get the job done right. Consider asking these questions:
- Are you comfortable working in a fast-paced environment?
- How do you manage multitasking?
- What do you do to prioritize safety?
- How do you handle challenging situations with customers?
Complete a thorough vetting process
When you have the proper vetting process in place, you ensure that all your candidates are qualified to fill your open positions. You can also reach out to your applicants’ references for valuable insights into their work ethic and reliability.
Sometimes, you may need to confirm a worker’s certifications. Checking these credentials will help you narrow down your applicant pool, streamlining the hiring process.
Ensure proper training and onboarding for your team
Even if your workers have previous event experience, they will need to follow your unique standards. That’s why it’s important to provide role-specific training for your live event jobs.
In some cases, you might be able to train your workers to perform duties outside of their usual job description. This can help in case of no-shows or unexpected absences. When you’re short-staffed, you can plug in members of your current workforce and not miss a beat.
Provide ongoing feedback and support
Making sure your team is on the same page is crucial to delivering exceptional service. Remember to communicate consistently throughout each event to keep everyone informed.
You can start by conducting pre-shift meetings to offer feedback to workers or informing them about new procedures. These meetings not only help your team understand their roles and responsibilities, but also boost their engagement. This benefits your team and your overall guest experience.
Recognize your team for their hard work
Rewarding your team for their effort and dedication goes a long way in fostering loyalty and one of the best ways to reward workers is by offering incentives. These incentives may include free meals or gift cards, for example.
Plus, working at the event can be its own reward. You might want to consider offering workers complimentary access or discounted admission to the event during their non-working hours. This allows them to enjoy these fun events and is one of the many ways to boost employee morale.
How an event staffing agency helps you find event workers
Filling event staff jobs can be time-consuming, especially when factors like your location or event size make it difficult to find the right candidates. If you need to hire quickly without sacrificing quality, a staffing agency gives you the best of both worlds: a top-notch workforce delivered at the speed your business demands.
Whether you’re looking to hire concession workers for arena jobs or servers at a banquet hall, an agency staffing for events helps ensure you have the workforce you need. Here are some of the benefits you can expect:
Expert insight
Staffing agencies often have years of experience filling event staff jobs. Their expertise can help you develop a staffing plan customized to your venue’s specific needs.
Easy access to workers
Last-minute callouts and no-shows may leave you with no time to hire replacement workers. That’s where staffing agencies come in. They provide workers who are available now, allowing you to fill roles even on the day of the event.
Stronger candidate pool
Event staffing agencies understand that different events will have different staffing needs and will match you with the right workers accordingly. You likely won’t get this kind of service from a general staffing agency.
Flexibility and scalability
Many staffing agencies can staff any size of event while taking your specific needs into account. As a result, you can easily scale your workforce from event to event.
Reduced hiring risk
Staffing agencies can take the time to vet candidates to ensure they have skills and experience specific to your event. Agencies also handle related administrative tasks, including onboarding, payroll processing and compliance matters.
PeopleReady staffs for stadium or arena jobs and other event jobs in your area
Our event staffing tips can help ensure that your event is a fun and memorable experience for everyone. If you need extra staffing support, PeopleReady is here to make event staffing easier than ever. We fill various special event jobs, so you have reliable workers even at a moment’s notice.
Our local teams in 600-plus markets throughout North America, along with our JobStack app, ensure that you always have access to our staffing solutions. PeopleReady can help fill a variety of event staff jobs for your company. For example:
- Banquet servers
- Bartenders
- Cashiers
- Concession workers
- Parking attendants
- Prep and line cooks
- Ticket takers and ushers
- And more!
So, if you’re asking, “Is there an agency staffing for events in my area?” check out our locations page.
