Some retailers hiring more seasonal workers

Posted at: 09/26/2012 6:05 PM | Updated at: 09/26/2012 6:13 PM
By: Beth Wurtmann

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COLONIE - Stuffed animals and Lego sets aren't the first thing you see when you walk through the doors at Toys R Us.

It's the signs that say the retailer is hiring, starting interviews this week to fill 45,000 seasonal job openings; an opportunity that sounds good to Natasha McMillan who's looking for work.

"If someone was to offer me even just a part time, I'm definitely going to take it," she said, while filling out paperwork at the NYS Labor Department One Stop Career Center.

The number of temporary openings at Toys R Us is up 13% over last year, and up 4% at Kohl's, a retail chain now hiring nearly 53,000 seasonal workers nation wide, an average of 41 per store.

"It tells me they're looking forward to a good holiday season which is good news," said Dan Moran, career management expert and owner of Next-Act.com.

Moran said most of the jobs pay minimum wage, but that it can get a job seeker back into the workplace and fill a void.

"Once you pass that one year mark, there is a stigma it may be wrong but there is a stigma. Get something on your resume so you show that you know what? I've been working," Moran said.

That seasonal job can turn into a something long term. At Toys r Us ,15-percnet of the holiday workers were hired permanently.

That sounded good to Jim Jenkins who lost his job as a social worker more than a year ago.

"I was working as a substance abuse counselor so the bar wasn't set high when it comes to salaries. But yes, I need to get back into the rhythm of working and see what happens," he said.

Not all retailers are hiring more seasonal workers this holiday.

Target plans to fill slightly fewer positions nationwide than last year.

But the company noted that 30-percent of those workers ended up getting permanent jobs.