'Tis the season to think about holiday hiring -- Career Center Blog

September 25, 2009

'Tis the season to think about holiday hiring

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By Randy Woods
NWjobs

In a year that has had some notable extremes regarding the job market, I noticed another one a few weeks ago. It was late August, in the thick of the back-to-school sales frenzy, when I saw it on TV: the first Christmas shopping advertisement of the season. I believe it was for a Macy's Holiday Gift Card. That has to be a record to see this a full week before Labor Day.

Such are the telltale signs of what may be a panicky fourth quarter for the nation's retailers, and also for those who count on seasonal jobs to get them through the end of the year. We may start seeing stores become more strident in their efforts to bring back shoppers, but will this translate to more job opportunities for Seattle workers?

At the moment, the signals are a bit mixed.

Wall Street responded favorably to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which said that retail sales had increased by 2.7 percent from July to August this year. Even with the anomalous effects of the federal "Cash for Clunkers" program taken out of the equation, August sales still rose by 1.1 percent, month to month, easily beating the analysts' expectations of just 0.4 percent.

"Shoppers were a bit more comfortable digging into their wallets last month, and retailers are hopeful that we've turned a corner," said Rosalind Wells, chief economist at the National Retail Federation (NRF). "It is encouraging to see some momentum building as retailers anticipate the all-important holiday season."

However, these raised spirits were dampened by a sobering report issued this week from the Hay Group, showing that 72 percent of retailers predict that holiday sales will be about the same or lower than last year. The 25 top retailers who responded said they are still smarting from losses suffered from the deep discounts during last year's bleak Christmas period and, as a result, will cut back on inventory and extra staff. According to the survey, 62 percent of retailers said they are seeing an increase in job applicants this year, but 57 percent said they plan to reduce holiday staffing levels; in last year's survey, only 29 percent planned to decreased staffing levels.

Many of the larger retail chains in the Seattle area, who usually beef up their staff by 25 to 30 percent over the holidays, were mostly mum about future plans.

"There may be markets who will need to hire more seasonal employees based on their sales volume," says Sophia Terada, a spokeswoman for Costco Wholesale. "However, as usual, our focus is to provide our part-time employees with increased hours prior to hiring on additional employees."

Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson also failed to elaborate on the department store's immediate hiring plans for the holidays other than to say he anticipated that there would be "some hiring here and there" toward the end of October in anticipation of Nordstrom's annual sales event in the first week of November.

At least one smaller retail chain, Oil & Vinegar in Bellevue, which sells gourmet cooking oils and herbs, said it planned to boost its holiday staff this season--albeit only by one or two employees. Matt Stermer, the upbeat CEO of Oil & Vinegar, says that because his store places a high emphasis on personal customer service, he is increasing his usual November/December seasonal hires from the usual four part-timers to either five or six this year. "I expect business to actually be better this year," he says. "Since June, the business has turned positive and I think we're all going to see that across the board."

Check in with Hire Ground next week, when Aon Consulting plans to release the results of a survey about seasonal retail hiring trends. For this entire week, Aon has been asking retailers to share their plans for this year's holiday staffing plans via LinkedIn. Their answers will surely go far in determining how "green" a Christmas seasonal job-seekers will get this year.

Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.