Local retailer bucks trend by adding jobs -- Career Center Blog

February 27, 2010

Local retailer bucks trend by adding jobs

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By Randy Woods
NWjobs

After a week that saw more bad news on the economic front, with higher-than-expected jobless claims, I feel it's important to point out some positive news this weekend about a retailer that is actually hiring and growing, not just for seasonal work but for the long haul.

Sleep Country USA, a mattress retailer known for its ubiquitous TV ads, says it is planning on fluffing up its sales and operations staff by around 10 percent. Considering Sleep Country currently employs a staff of 338 workers in 75 stores in Washington and Oregon, that translates to roughly 34 new positions for the region, mostly in sales but also in operations, which includes warehouse workers and drivers.

Mike Estes, vice president of Kent-based Sleep Country, told me yesterday that, in the next two months, about 15 of those jobs should be filled for stores in Washington, which lie along the I-5 corridor from Bellingham to Chehalis. At the beginning of the year, Sleep Country opened a new store in Oregon and will open another outside of Portland in the next 30 days.

So, is Sleep Country experiencing any major surge in sales to justify this increase? Not really, Estes said; just the opposite, in fact. "Sales have been flat, and we're seeing fewer customers than we did before," he admitted. "Five years ago, we'd consider ourselves in real trouble, but given the state of the economy right now, we're proud that sales are only flat."

The main reason for the mattress retailer's optimistic outlook is based more on seizing future opportunities rather than on short-term gains. Unlike other retailers that go on layoff-rehire cycles, Estes said, Sleep Country has been dedicated to steady growth. "We're trying to secure the customer experience," he said. "This is a good time to grab market share, when others are laying off."

Just as important as bottom-line numbers, Estes said, is the quality of the work-life balance at Sleep Country. Having a larger sales staff can lead to a lower earning potential, since the percentage of customers each salesperson can interact with is smaller. However, a smaller staff can lead to stress and burnout.

"We want to make sure our people can still go to a soccer game or be their for their kids' birthday parties," Estes added. "We invest a lot of money up front in our staff, so we want to give them every opportunity to succeed."

Many of the jobs that Sleep Country posts say "no experience necessary," Estes said. The company mostly wants people with a basic understanding of the retail environment. To help "buff out the rough edges," he said the company has a two-week training course for sales positions.

"In our training classes, we hear about a lot of negativity about the economic downturn," Estes added. "We're proud to say we're continuing to hire and grow during the recession."

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