Janeen Feine hadn’t planned on applying for a holiday job when she visited Marshall Field’s at Old Orchard mall in Skokie recently to do some Christmas shopping.
But a kiosk beckoned the college student to submit a quick electronic application.
“Why not? They’ve made it easy,” said Griffin, 23, of Glenview. Field’s, which has set up similar computer kiosks in all of its 24 stores, isn’t alone in the use of innovative recruitment tools to fill 6,000 staff positions this holiday season.
Higher wages, online job recruitment, hefty employee discounts, referral bonuses, job fairs and benefits for part-timers are among strategies being used by retailers to attract workers in what economists describe as a job seekers market.
“This is an economy that’s still short on workers and long on jobs,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist for Bank One in Chicago. “Retailers are worried they won’t be able to find enough help. Usually they’re just staffing for the holidays, but they’re already short on workers. If you’re out there looking for a job, it’s a very good place to be.”
This millennium Christmas, sales for traditional retailers are expected to rise 6.5 percent over November and December 1999–a drop from last year’s increase of 9.9 percent, economists say. But further narrowing profits will be higher costs for holiday help, spurred by the lowest unemployment in 30 years, economists say.
Marketers at Chicago-area malls say stores began seeking holiday help prior to Halloween.
“We are definitely challenged with filling positions,” said Maria Berg-Stark, marketing manager for Old Orchard Center in Skokie. “Every single store is looking for help, and you see them getting more aggressive in their efforts. All kinds of stores are offering incentives.”
It’s the same at Yorktown Mall in Lombard said Karen Gallagher, the mall’s marketing director. “All of our stores are hiring. Some are using newspaper advertising. Others are holding job fairs, setting up tables and doing on-site interviews,” said Gallagher. “I hire people to work in customer service, and we offer gift certificates to our employees if they can help us find people.”
Most malls are offering holiday job listings, either through a phone recording or like Old Orchard, through a Web site (www.oldorchard.com).
“We’re generally on plan for our hiring season,” said Field’s spokeswoman Lynn Galia. “We feel the key to being successful is to plan ahead and use a variety of different vehicles, like referrals from current employees, in-store signage and the electronic application process., which is new this year for us.”
Sears, Roebuck & Co., with headquarters in Hoffman Estates, uses similar tools to fill some 48,000 seasonal positions at Sears stores nationwide. However, like more and more retailers, the department store giant is augmenting its efforts with online recruiting, linking with job recruitment Web sites such as Monster.com and Hotjobs.com.
Gotajob.com, for instance, a Web site that attracts a greater number of applicant candidates–as opposed to resume candidates–has signed both Sears and Plano, Tex.-based retailer J.C. Penney, which mirrors Sears in its holiday staffing numbers.
“We have to recruit pretty aggressively,” said Sears spokeswoman Jan Drummond. She said that Sears has also established a toll-free number, 1-888-434-4JOB.
Because jobs are plentiful, retailers are competing with each other for holiday help, said Bank One economist Swonk, noting that stores on swank North Michigan Avenue posted signs as early as September, hoping to beat the competition from the opening of a new mall, The Shops at North Bridge.
But the competition isn’t limited to department stores. Restaurants, smaller specialty retailers and personal-care businesses are also hiring holiday help.
“The jobs are definitely there,” said Debbie Lacki, spokeswoman for the Illinois Restaurant Association
On average, jobs in the Chicago restaurant industry increase by 1,700 additional positions between October and December, according to the Association.
“Generally, we tend to be shorter staffed during the holidays. Business probably goes up about 20 to 25 percent,” said Kevin Peterson, manager of Houlihan’s restaurant at Old Orchard Mall.
In the search for good holiday help, many businesses will try to raid competitors.
“We have employed a number of different strategies, which at times will include our people going out to competitive shop–to see how sales reps at other retailers handle customers,” said Natalie Mirando, marketing coordinator for Sam Goody record stores in Lombard. With U.S. projections shrinking for the traditional pool for retail workers–those under age 25–many retailers are targeting a diverse population, including customers; day office workers who may be able to work evenings before commuting home; and retirees, who, under a revision of federal law this year no longer risk losing their Social Security by working.
