Online recruiting lends a hand on hiring efforts
The nation has a severe shortage of workers, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Even in Texas, which has one of the healthiest labor markets in the county, job openings easily outstrip the number of unemployed.
But that hasn’t held back holiday hiring, local and national retailers say, especially with the help of online recruiting.
The shipper UPS said it has already hired about 1,000 seasonal workers in the Houston area and plan to hire 2,000 more as the season goes on — putting its total at about 750 more local jobs than last year.
“While the labor market is tight, we're confident we'll be able to fill these positions because UPS has a track record of turning seasonal jobs into careers — nearly a third of the company's U.S. workforce started in seasonal positions,” the company said in a statement.
Ahead of the holiday season, UPS made investments into its online hiring system. Because 80 percent of its seasonal positions do not require an interview, candidates can apply and receive a job offer in just 25 minutes, according to UPS.
Academy Sports + Outdoors has also turned to online recruiting to help fill the 900 seasonal positions it has opened across its stores and distribution centers, consistent with its hiring last year. Along with hosting on-site job fairs and using the job posting website Indeed, the Katybased retailer said it's invested in advertising open positions on recruitment websites. So far, a spokesperson said, the sporting goods chain has done well with staffing in the Houston area.
Houston-based Francesca's used social media to tackle hiring issues in the retail industry, according to Chris Kaighn, the clothing and accessories retailer's senior vice president of boutiques, real estate and strategic partnerships.
“As we geared up for the busy holiday season,” Kaighn said, “we began our seasonal hiring outreach even earlier using our social channels to connect with potential associates where they are spending their time most.”
The company posted videos on TikTok and Instagram to promote open seasonal positions, and employees sounded off in the comments promoting the jobs. Targeted online recruitment has also led to successful results, Kaighn said.
Job seekers are also increasingly turning to the internet to find seasonal employment. In late September, holiday seasonal job searches on Indeed reached their highest level since 2019 and were 30 percent higher than at this time last year, according to the job posting website. Retail sector jobs accounted for over half of those postings.
Lower numbers
Other retailers have announced lower holiday hiring numbers for this year, compared with last. Walmart said it plans to hire 40,000 new associates — less than a third of the 150,000 it sought last year. Macy's is also advertising around half as many open positions as it did last holiday season — 41,000. Nationally, holiday hiring postings on Indeed are down 8.2 percent from last year.
The decreases don't necessarily reflect difficulties finding new workers but may be the result of robust hiring last year as companies rebuilt workforces after the pandemic.
In August 2021, even before the holiday hiring season traditionally begins, retailers had nearly 1.2 million open job postings in the United States. Many local retailers said they were understaffed and struggling. Big chains turned to selfcheckout lanes to ease staffing shortages.
While the worker shortage persists, this year isn't as bad as last, according to Scott Nelson, a Houston-based labor and employment partner at law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth who advises companies on employment issues.
“Last year, we had a lot more pandemic news, and there were other issues going on affecting the country,” Nelson said. “From the Houston retailer standpoint, I think they're still going to have a hard time, but maybe not quite as hard as last year.”
In September, employment in Texas hit an all-time high. Rapid inflation may also be motivating some of the record number of workers who quit their job during the pandemic to seek work again to earn more cash, according to Nelson.
“Utilities are up, cost of groceries are up, so a lot of people's discretionary income is down,” he said. “Inflation is going to be a huge driver this retail season.”
With more permanent positions filled prior to the holiday season, retailers don't need as many holiday hires to fill in the gaps. This year, Walmart has maintained much higher staffing levels than in 2021, the company said in a statement, which is why it has sought far fewer seasonal workers.
And though Macy's sought 76,000 new workers last holiday season, only 48,000 of those were seasonal workers. The other 28,000 were permanent positions that weren't filled earlier in the year. Over 10,000 of last year's seasonal hires also stayed on with the company in permanent positions, the company said in a statement.
The next saga of the retail employment story is set to play out as the holiday season ends, Nelson said.
Retailers have traditionally advertised that many holiday hires are offered permanent jobs, presenting a potential solution for those who have struggled to fill open positions throughout the year. But with consumers expected to spend more to buy less this year, it's unclear how many seasonal workers will be kept on, and how many will choose to stay.