‘All sectors’ hiring for seasonal jobs: Agency

Area job seekers looking for seasonal employment should look beyond traditional opportunities in retail and hospitality and also consider prospects in administrative, sales and medical fields.

According to Robert Half International, a multinational staffing agency, companies are beginning to gear up for the holiday season when employees start using up vacation time and set aside time to complete year-end projects.

“It runs across all sectors,” said Sharon Maslen of Robert Half. “At this time of year, there are opportunities in sales, administrative and medical sectors along with distribution, shipping and logistics.

Anywhere there are people, there are people taking time off which need replacing at certain peak times of the year,” said Maslen.

“This goes beyond the retail sector which most people think off when it comes to seasonal hiring.”

But retail still plays a major role in seasonal hiring activities, said Karen Niforos, marketing manager at Devonshire Mall.

“I would say about 60 per cent of our retailers add staff for the holiday season,” said Niforos. “We add people in our mall services department as well because we need extra people to answer the phones and help with the sale of gift cards.”

Much of the hiring and training has been completed but Niforos said there are still retail opportunities listed on the mall’s website

Robert Half offers the following tips to job seeks who have been out of the workforce for awhile: think beyond retail; start applying now; put on the polish; return to former employers; show hiring managers you have what you want; and register with a temp agency.

“People looking for these kinds of positions should be doing so now because there’s generally an influx of temporary employees and seasonal workers into these roles around the end of October and into midNovember,” said Maslen.

“Seasonal hires give people a foot in the door which can be important later on.”