NewsSeptember 30, 2016
Area retailers preparing to hire scores of seasonal workers
The air has gained a chill only recently, and the fall leaves have yet to turn, but despite the lack of strong meteorological indicators, it’s hard to deny the holiday season is nearing. One group of people acutely aware of this are retailers. ...
The air has gained a chill only recently, and the fall leaves have yet to turn, but despite the lack of strong meteorological indicators, it’s hard to deny the holiday season is nearing.
One group of people acutely aware of this are retailers.
According to the National Retail Federation, the holiday season can represent as much as 30 percent of annual sales for a store.
The months of November and December in particular can be crucial to a store’s bottom line. So each year, hundreds of thousands of jobs are created specifically to handle the inevitable rush of holiday shoppers that already have started to trickle in slowly but will burst forth en masse through early-morning unlocked doors on Black Friday.
Local retailers are working to beef up their workforce, opening up a variety of possibilities for Southeast Missourians in need of a job.
The Associated Press reported Macy’s intends to hire 83,000 people nationally to work at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores, call centers or at the company’s shipping facilities during the busy holiday shopping season.
Locally, this translates to about 25 new sales, support and stocking positions, said Dan Lambert, human-resources manager at the Macy’s in Cape Girardeau.
“We’re in the middle of a national hiring event,” Lambert said.
On the other side of West Park Mall, J.C. Penney is preparing for its own hiring push next week.
General manager Brandy Reddy said her store is seeking about 60 employees for the holiday season, with a big push beginning next week and carrying through October.
Kohl’s plans to hire more than 69,000 additional workers for the upcoming holiday season to meet demand at more than 1,100 stores nationwide, according to The Associated Press.
Store manager Russell Brown said roughly 50 people will be hired before the holiday season at his store.
“Basically every position in the store, we’ll be pumping up a little bit,” Brown said.
The holiday-shopping season, retailers tend to agree, begins in October and really picks up in early November, so many stores already have holiday stock front and center, and some have done so for months already.
Hobby Lobby, for example, began clearing the way for Christmas trees in June.
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Celebrate the Season also has fall and Christmas fare, but the majority of its shelves are dedicated to Halloween, a holiday not necessarily included in the traditional “holiday season,” but one nonetheless important to the retailer and its need for temporary employees.
“Halloween and Christmas are our biggest seasons, so we start anywhere between late August and early September,” said Brandon Meschell, the store’s general manager. During the quieter months, Celebrate the Season has four to six sales associates; Meschell is hiring five to 10 more for the holiday season.
The applicants for the temporary positions come from a variety of backgrounds.
Brown said he frequently hires students and teachers, two groups that often have time on their hands and a need for extra money over the holiday season.
Reddy, too, said she frequently has local students work over the holidays, some of whom temporarily replace university students who leave town for break.
“It all evens out,” Reddy said.
Although the jobs are convenient to those who need a little extra spending money, Mike Berry of the Missouri Job Center said such positions can carry more weight than that.
They can act as a stepping stone for the unemployed or underemployed.
“These jobs provide more work experience, especially for younger people,” Berry said.
The longer a person is out of work, he said, the harder it is to get another.
Temporary positions keep people in the market, give them the opportunity to learn a skill and earn recommendations, Berry said.
Plus, he said, seasonal jobs often offer the possibility of more permanent employment. Most stores make room in their permanent workforce if the right person comes along, he said.
Retailers agree.
Meschell, Brown and Lambert all said it’s not uncommon for a few seasonal workers to become permanent.
Reddy, too, said permanent positions sometimes are offered to seasonal employees.
“Obviously, if they do a fantastic job, give great customer service and are an excellent employee,” Reddy said, “we do everything in our power to make sure we find a spot for them.”
bbrown@semissourian.com
(573) 388-3630
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